TWAIN, MARK

born Nov. 30, 1835, Florida, Mo., U.S. died April 21, 1910, Redding, Conn. pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens American humorist, writer, and lecturer who won a worldwide audience for his stories of youthful adventures, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), Life on the Mississippi (1883), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Additional reading The authorized biography, Albert B. Paine, Mark Twain, a Biography: The Personal and Literary Life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 3 vol. (1912), though often corrected by later writers, is still important; as are such reminiscent accounts as William Dean Howells, My Mark Twain (1910, reprinted 1967); Mary Lawton, A Lifetime with Mark Twain (1925); and Clara Clemens, My Father, Mark Twain (1931). Dixon Wecter details early years in Sam Clemens of Hannibal (1952); as does M.M. Brashear in Mark Twain: Son of Missouri (1934). Ivan Benson writes of Mark Twain's Western Years (1938); Edgar M. Branch of The Literary Apprenticeship of Mark Twain (1950); Kenneth R. Andrews of Nook Farm: Mark Twain's Hartford Circle (1950); Samuel C. Webster of Mark Twain: Business Man (1946); Louis J. Budd of Mark Twain: Social Philosopher (1962); Howard G. Baetzhold of Mark Twain and John Bull (1970); and William R. Macnaughton of Mark Twain's Last Years as a Writer (1979). Edward C. Wagenknecht, Mark Twain: The Man and His Work, 3rd ed. (1967), contains valuable bibliographical material; but see also Merle Johnson, A Bibliography of the Works of Mark Twain (1935). More complete modern biographies are J. Delancey Ferguson, Mark Twain: Man and Legend (1943); and Justin Kaplan, Mister Clemens and Mark Twain (1966). Van Wyck Brooks, The Ordeal of Mark Twain, rev. ed. (1923), answered by Bernard Devoto, Mark Twain's America (1932), created a controversy about Clemens' literary integrity; for details, see Lewis Leary (ed.), A Casebook on Mark Twain's Wound (1962). Critical studies include: Walter Blair, Mark Twain and Huck Finn (1960); Henry Nash Smith, Mark Twain: The Development of a Writer (1962); James M. Cox, Mark Twain: The Fate of Humor (1966); and William M. Gibson, The Art of Mark Twain (1976). Major Works: Novels The Gilded Age, with Charles Dudley Warner (1873); The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876); The Prince and the Pauper (1881); The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884); A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889); The American Claimant (1892); Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894); The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894); Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1895); Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896); The Mysterious Stranger (1916, posthumously published from the incomplete manuscript; re-edited more accurately, 1969). Tales and sketches The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867); Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old (1875); The Stolen White Elephant and Other Stories (1882); The 1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories (1893); The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg and Other Stories and Sketches (1900); A Double Barrelled Detective Story (1902); The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories (1906). Travel sketches The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress (1869); A Tramp Abroad (1880); Following the Equator (1897). Reminiscences Roughing It (1872); Life on the Mississippi (1883). Autobiography Mark Twain's Autobiography (incomplete upon his death, published in 1924 with additional fragments appearing in later editions). Philosophical dialogue What Is Man? (1906). Other works Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography (1871); How to Tell a Story and Other Essays (1897); Extracts from Adam's Diary (1904); King Leopold's Soliloquy (1905); Eve's Diary (1906); Christian Science (1907); Is Shakespeare Dead? (1909); Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven (1909).