twainia.com

Posts Tagged ‘Twain’

Mark Twain House and Museum

April 13th, 2011 | admin

The famous ‘Mark Twain House and Museum’ was where famous American humorist and author Mark twain lived between 1874 and 1891. Due to poor financial investments, Mark Twain along with his family moved to Europe in 1891. In 1900, when he returned to Connecticut, he lived in Redding. It was here when Mark twain died in 1910. Mark Twain house and museum is located in Hartford, Connecticut in USA.

Mark Twain home functioned as apartment building, library and school. In 1962, the house was declared as ‘National Historic Landmark’ and since 1974 it has been renovated and expanded to show the life and work of Mark twain.

The house has 19 rooms in total and the architectural style is Victorian Gothic. This house is also where Mark twain wrote his master pieces The Gilded Age, Life on the Mississippi, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Tramp Abroad, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and Huckleberry Finn.

The design for Mark twain was done by the architect Edward Tuckerman potter. Constructed on 3.5 acres, the house had seven bedrooms and bathrooms, plant-filled conservatory and carriage house. The bay windows extended all the way up to form turrets that were then topped with porches. This allowed the Mark Twain and guests to have a view of pastoral area of the Hartford. The legend says that the Mark Twain House was designed to give a riverboat look as it had a typical steeped pitched roof, asymmetric bay window and Victorian Gothic architectural style.

The top floor had the billiards room as well as private study. This was where Twain wrote late at night. It is said that this room was off limits to everyone except for the house cleaners. This room was also used to entertain the male guests with liquor and cigar.

Mark Twain children also had a separate area to themselves. This area had a classroom, playroom and nursery. The daughters were tutored by Mrs. Clemens on second floor. Twain along with his children played in conservatory. It is said that Twain pretended to be an elephant.

Twain loved living in his house. One of the reasons was that many of his friend-authors lived in neighborhood namely Isabella Beechar Hooker and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

In 1881, the home underwent renovation in 1881 when adjoining land strip was purchased. It is believed that he was inspired to renovate because of the success of ‘Adventures of Tom Sawyer’. During renovation, the kitchen was rebuilt and its size was doubled, the front hall was also enlarged and the driveway was also redrawn. Also, burglar alarm, heating and plumbing was installed. Twain was also a fan of new technologies and so he also installed early telephone in entrance hall.

After returning from Europe and death of daughter Suzy, the house was sold to Richard M.Bissell in 1903. After this it was again sold in 1922 and 1929. In 1955 till 1974, the restoration process if house began. It was opened as museum in 1960s. As of today, Mark Twain House and Museum attracts lot of tourists. It is said that five million dollars are generated in tourism. Currently, the house is said to be facing financial difficulties.

Find More Mark Twain Articles

Do You Know: Mark Twain Interesting Facts

April 13th, 2011 | admin

Mark Twain, a famous American writer and humorist, wrote many popular novels including the classic ‘Huckleberry Finn’ which earned him great respect. Mark Twain was born in Florida in 1835. His work earned him word wide respect in a short period of time. Till today, Mark Twain remains a popular figure throughout the world; especially in America. He is said to have introduced the colloquial speech concept in American fiction.

There are numerous interesting facts about Mark Twain that most of us are unaware of. Here are some interesting facts about Mark Twain:

Mark Twain was born. 75 years later when the comment appeared again, Mark twain worked as a printer. During American Civil War Mark Twain also performed other jobs from time to time namely gold prospector, steamboat pilot and journalist during the period of Gold Rush in Nevada and San Francisco. Twain was also said to be a famous lecturer who was known for his art of storytelling and stage presence. Olivia was the wife of Twain for 34 years, after which she died. She gave Twain four children: Jean, Susy, Langdon and Clara Clemens. Twain adopted his pen name in 1863 in Nevada. This was the time that earned him fame now and in later life. He became a notable writer and earned his name as an individual famous writer.  Twain became famous quickly with just over thirty pieces of his writing that were published. He wrote about satire literature, short stories, historical fiction and non-fiction. He is the one responsible for writing classics namely Huckleberry Finn, The Prince and The Pauper and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain during his visit between Western US and Asia. The Classical Huckleberry Finn has the honor of being as the fifth frequently challenged book by American Library Association. He was vice president of American Anti-Imperialist League during his last few years of life. He became the vice president in 1901.

 

Mark Twain is considered as not only a famous American literature writer but also considered as a true hero. In his life, Mark Twain went through a vivid journey and is also known to help shape the country. Mark Twain remains with us even today.

Find More Mark Twain Articles

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

April 13th, 2011 | admin

Autobiography of Mark Twain Book

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) has been likened to Walt Whitman as one of the most quintessentially American writers this country has produced. While this book does not contain Mark Twain’s complete autobiography, the stories do leave us with more of a flavor for the man and the legend. As Charles Neider writes in his introduction, “Mark Twain’s autobiography is a classic of American letters to be ranked with the autobiographies of Ben Franklin and Henry James… It has the marks of greatness in it—style, scope, imagination, laughter, tragedy.”

It becomes clear that Mark Twain was much more than just a writer. He was a father, a husband, a son, a brother, a friend. With these bits of memory, we share the tragedies, triumphs, and adventures of his life. These memories are colored by emotions, and tempered by the fact that the book appeared only after he was dead. As he says, “Now then, that is the tale. Some of it is true.”

Early Life & After

Mark Twain helps us to imagine what his childhood was like: the embarrassments, the pranks, and the sibling rivalry… But, as he writes, “a boy’s life is not all comedy; much of the tragic enters into it.” Twain writes, “I was always told that I was a sickly and precarious and tiresome and uncertain child and lived mainly on allopathic medicines during the first seven years of my life.” “My mother had a good deal of trouble with me but I think she enjoyed it,” Twain writes. In his many misadventures, we are sometimes reminded of Tom Sawyer. Throughout Twain’s narrative, characters from his novels continue to pop up here and there: Huck Finn, Jim, Injun Joe, Aunt Polly, Colonel Sellers, and so many others under other names. Life appears to be much stranger and more imaginative than fiction for the young Samuel Clemens.

Writing & Life

After Mark Twain survived childhood, he led many different lives. He lived and worked all over the world, writing about his many experiences. Even when there’s obvious bitterness related to some of his experiences, he infuses the narrative with humor. Even in tragedy, he’s able to triumph through the power of language. He does, after all, have the last word.

Charles Neider writes, “Mark Twain’s life was a long and rich one; it seemed to him an inexhaustible mine of recollection. The associations streamed out from it in a million directions and it was his quixotic hope to capture most of them with the irony and humor and storytelling gift which were his own way of regarding human drama.” The Past, Present and Future Merging in the End

Mark Twain writes, “I am grown old and my memory is not as active as it used to be. When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.” Great men often write about their lives as they near death. It may be a way of coping with their inevitable demise. Mark Twain, the great American writer and hero is facing the end as he pens the words.

We can hear him crying out in words when he experienced the deaths of his wife and daughters. As he writes about their deaths, so it becomes clear that not enough could ever be written about his life. The spirits of the dead seem to surround him, weighing him down. He remembers all his friends and his enemies. All are dead.

“The storm raged all night,” writes Twain. “It has raged all the morning. The snow drives the landscape in vast clouds, superb, sublime…” It’s the end.

Autobiography of Mark Twain Book

The world’s largest archive of Mark Twain’s writings is located at The Bancroft Library on the UC Berkeley campus. Working inside this archive is an award-winning team of scholars dedicated to collecting, preserving, understanding, editing and publishing authoritative critical editions of everything Mark Twain wrote, both in print and electronically as e-books and as an online reference (www.marktwainproject.org). The Mark Twain Project’s editors are now producing the first complete and reliable edition of the Autobiography of Mark Twain. www.thisismarktwain.com

Mark Twain Complete Works

April 13th, 2011 | admin

Mark Twain, pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) was an American writer, philosopher, journalist and humorist, who gain such appreciations, applause and respect among people world wide in such a short interval of time that is unbelievable. Mark Twain once said, “To believe yourself to be brave is to be brave; it is the only essential thing.” Twain is famous for “Tom Sawyer,” “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” and other books, along with essays, critical work, and more. Twain’s writing is also known for realism of place and language, memorable characters, climax and conclusion. Twain have strong hold over Fiction, non-Fiction .He also wrote couple of poetry as well. Some of his famous books are as follows.

Fiction

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, A Double Barreled Detective Story, A Horse’s Tale, Huckleberry Finn, Letters from the Earth, Personal Recollections of Joan of Art, The Gilded Age, The Mysterious Stranger, The Prince and the Pauper, The Tragedy of Pudd’Nhead Wilson Tom Sawyer Abroad, Detective.

Non-Fiction

A Tramp Abroad, Chapters from My Autobiography, Christian Science, Editorial Wild Oats, Is Shakespeare Dead?, Life on the Mississippi, Roughing It, The Innocents Abroad, Short Stories, A Dog’s Tale Edward Mills and George Benton, The First Writing Machines, The Five Boons of Life, A Helpless Situation, Italian with Grammar, Italian without a Mast, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, A Burlesque Autobiography, The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut, How to Tell a Story, Extracts from Adam’s Diary, Eve’s Diary, These Loves Of Alonzo Fitz Clarence And Rosanna Ethel ton, About Magnanimous-Incident Literature, The ‘Tournament’ in A.D. 187

Poetry

O Lord, Our Father

 The Literary Works of Mark Twain

The Innocents Abroad  (1869)

This was the first book published by Mark Twain. It contains 16 chapters.

Curious Republic of Gondour  (1870)

 Most of the sketch taken in this book was from the series written for The Galaxy and rest was appeared in The Buffalo Express.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

An adventure of Huckleberry Finn consists of 43 chapters. Good thing about this book is that it is told in the first person in which Huck Finn is telling the story. The complete book is divided into three sections .The first section is about the living of Huck living, Miss Watson and his sister civilization. Second section is totally about his travelling with Jim and the last section Huck returns to civilization and lives with Tom in Uncle Silas’ farm.

Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer proves to be the most popular book in France. This book is totally based upon the story of Tom Sawyer as a mischievous young boy carries on under the watchful eye of his Aunt Polly.

 Thus Mark Twain is one of the most popular names in American literature, even as the name was a product of his imagination. He is known for his wit and humor. His wit, humor, and wisdom helped his lectures to be well received; and these characteristics have continued to make Mark Twain a widely beloved writer after all these years.

Find More Mark Twain Novels Articles