Twain, Mark: Early Life and Works
Early Life and Works
After the death of his father in 1847, young Clemens was apprenticed to a printer in Hannibal, Mo., the Mississippi River town where he spent most of his boyhood. He first began writing for his brother's newspaper there, and later he worked as a printer in several major Eastern cities. In 1857, Clemens went to New Orleans on his way to make his fortune in South America, but instead he became a Mississippi River pilot—hence his pseudonym, “Mark Twain,” which was the river call for a depth of water of two fathoms. The Civil War put an end to river traffic, and in 1862 Clemens went west to Carson City, Nev., where he failed in several get-rich-quick schemes. He eventually began writing for the Virginia City
Soon the humorist “Mark Twain” emerged, a writer of tall tales and absurd anecdotes. He first won fame with the comic masterpiece “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” first published in 1865 in the New York
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- Twain's Masterpiece: Huckleberry Finn
- Later Life and Works
- Mature Works
- Early Life and Works
- Bibliography
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