The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

About the Author

Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens)

Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), was one of America's most influential literary figures, whose work defined the post-Civil War 'Gilded Age' and continues to captivate readers worldwide. Born in Florida, Missouri, and raised in Hannibal—a Mississippi River town that would later inspire the fictional St. Petersburg of his most famous novels—Twain's early life provided rich material for his future writings. After his father's death when Twain was eleven, he left school to become a printer's apprentice and later a typesetter, beginning his lifelong connection to publishing and writing. His ambition to become a riverboat pilot led him to train on the Mississippi in his twenties, an experience that gave him his pen name ('mark twain' was a riverboat term indicating safe water depth) and informed his memoir 'Life on the Mississippi' (1883). The Civil War interrupted his piloting career, and after a brief, unsuccessful stint as a Confederate volunteer, Twain headed west, working as a miner and journalist in Nevada and California. His 1865 short story 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County' brought him national attention, and his 1869 travel book 'The Innocents Abroad' established him as a popular writer. Twain married Olivia Langdon in 1870, and they settled in Hartford, Connecticut, where he wrote his most acclaimed novels: 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876), 'The Prince and the Pauper' (1881), 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' (1884), and 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' (1889). These works, particularly 'Huckleberry Finn,' revolutionized American literature with their distinctive voice, regional dialect, social commentary, and use of vernacular language. Despite his literary success, Twain's life was marked by financial difficulties and personal tragedies. Failed investments, particularly in a publishing company and a typesetting machine, led to bankruptcy in 1894. He embarked on a worldwide lecture tour to pay his debts, a dedication that won him public admiration. More devastating were the deaths of three of his four children and his beloved wife Olivia, losses that deepened the pessimism and social criticism evident in his later works. Twain's writing evolved from the humorous and satirical toward increasingly dark commentary on human nature, imperialism, and social injustice. Works like 'The Mysterious Stranger' and 'Letters from the Earth' (both published posthumously) reveal his profound disillusionment. Despite this darkness, Twain remained America's most beloved humorist and social critic, known for his white suits, bushy mustache, and captivating public speaking. When he died on April 21, 1910, Halley's Comet was visible from Earth—just as it had been at his birth, a cosmic coincidence he had predicted. Twain's legacy extends far beyond his literary output; he pioneered an authentically American literary voice and perspective that broke from European traditions, captured the nation's spirit and contradictions, and set the course for modern American literature.