Famous American Writer Mark Twain is a genius novelist, from whose pen books have appeared translated into dozens of languages. Twain surprisingly well managed to convey deep, serious thoughts in a fairly simple wrapping adventure, which distinguishes him from a number of other writers.
Mark Twain is not a real name, but the pseudonym of the American Samuel Langhorne Clemens, based on the terminology of maritime navigation.
Ernest Hemingway considered all US literature as variations on Mark Twain’s books. Of the Russian writers Twain particularly appreciated Maxim Gorky and Alexander Kuprin.
The future writer was born a few weeks before Halley’s comet passed by, and died the next day after the next perihelion of this heavenly body.
Little Samuel was born in a tiny town in the US state of Missouri – later he joked that with his appearance the population of the town increased by 1%.
In his youth, Clemens worked as a pilot on steamships that cruised the Mississippi. He enjoyed this work so much that he probably would never become a writer if the war between the northern and southern states did not destroy private river transport.
When Twain was 26 years old, he joined the Masonic lodge “Polaris”.
Mark Twain tried to obtain silver in one of the mines in Nevada, but the prospector did not work out, so the young man got a job in the newspaper. So began his literary career.
During his trip to Europe, Twain visited the Russian Imperial residence in Livadia. He visited several other Crimean cities – for example, Sevastopol.
Many of the lectures that Twain read with great success across America were never recorded, so they were lost forever. Some of the author’s works he himself forbade to publish during his life and for several decades after his death.
Mark Twain was interested in scientific achievements and was friends with the famous scientist Nikolai Tesla, spending a lot of time in his laboratory.
It is known that Twain had two big hobbies – smoking and billiards. It is said that so much smoke was puffing up in the writer’s office that Twain himself at the table was almost invisible.
One of the satirical lectures given by Twain in Paris was later released in a limited edition entitled “Reflections on the Science of Masturbation.”
In 2011 in the US, the famous Twain novels were published in a new edition – publishers replaced words that were actively used at the time of the author, but considered insulting now, more correct.
Mark Twain and his wife had four children, but the writer survived three of them. The wife of the writer Olivia also died before him.
A few years before Twain’s death, one of the American publications erroneously published an obituary about his death. Despite the depression that gripped the writer in the last years of his life, he took this incident with humor, telling reporters: “Rumors about my death are somewhat exaggerated.”
Twain was a close friend of the oil tycoon and rich man Henry Rogers, who, under the influence of the writer, turned from a wealthy miser into a generous philanthropist.
One of the streets of Volgograd is named after Twain. In Russia there is only one street bearing his name.
