Friday, July 2, 2010

Great American Literature- Mark Twain


Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain, was born in 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He is most renowned for his novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was based on Twain's childhood in Hannibal and Tom was founded on Twain as a boy. Twain used the dialect of people living along the Mississippi River to capture the essence of living in that area.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been dubbed the Great American Novel. This book was an offshoot of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but was written with a more solemn tone. The foundation of the story is Huck Finn's belief that, in spite of what other's think, one should do what is right. This book truly established Twain as a great American author.

Twain's first distinguished writing was a short story, published in the New York Saturday Press, entitled The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. To read the story go here.

Twain was a very admired writer and still is today. After his death, William Faulkner praised him as "the father of American literature."


No comments:

Post a Comment