Mark twain his amazing adventures biography definition of love

Samuel Langhorne Clemens November 30, — April 21, , [ 1 ] known by the pen name Mark Twain , was an American writer, humorist , and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," [ 2 ] with William Faulkner calling him "the father of American literature. He served an apprenticeship with a printer early in his career, and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to his older brother Orion Clemens ' newspaper.

Twain then became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River , which provided him the material for Life on the Mississippi Soon after, Twain headed west to join Orion in Nevada.

Mark twain childhood and family background facts

He referred humorously to his lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. Twain first achieved success as a writer with the humorous story " The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County ," which was published in ; it was based on a story that he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California , where Twain had spent some time while he was working as a miner.

The short story brought Twain international attention. As his fame grew, Twain became a much sought-after speaker. His wit and satire, both in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and Twain was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. Although Twain initially spoke out in favor of American interests in the Hawaiian Islands , he later reversed his position, [ 8 ] going on to become vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League from until his death in , coming out strongly against the Philippine—American War and American colonialism.

Twain earned a great deal of money from his writing and lectures, but invested in ventures that lost most of it, such as the Paige Compositor , a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity and imprecision.