As the Americans themselves say, their literature began with Mark Twain. His work is a combination of literary talent with a great sense of humor. Twain's works are known to children and adults around the world, as they are translated into many languages.
People often pronounce Mark Twain’s quotes, without even remembering who their author is, they entered harmoniously into everyday life, and not only Americans.
Clemens Samuel
Samuel Clemens was born in 1835, in Missouri, in the city of St. Petersburg, which at that time was the border between the developed and wild territories. The city is located on the banks of the Mississippi, where the slave trade flourished, while on the opposite side of the river it was not.
Since 1847, Samuel began to work, having tried himself in various specialties: he was an assistant to a printer in a printing house, sold newspapers on the streets, served on a steamer that traveled along the Mississippi, searched for gold and worked as a secretary at the governor's office.
Since 1867, he writes his first stories, becomes a journalist and professional writer, and only in 1888 he graduates from Yale University in Connecticut (New Haven). He began to use the pseudonym Mark Twain since 1863, having released his first article in the newspaper. Mark Twain's aphorisms and quotes are often autobiographical. The first success came to him when he became a reporter for the Nevada metropolitan newspaper Territory Enterprise.
Early work
The most popular young author brought a simple, but full of hidden irony story about a frog from Calaveras. Mark Twain’s quotes, which people gladly repeated and inserted during the conversation, were just as popular with his compatriots as the works from which they were taken.
He said: "The human race ... one effective weapon is laughter, nothing can resist the power of laughter." The young writer believed that each book should be funny, but not with the “sleek” literary language of humor, but the one that people speak in everyday life.
The heroes of his early stories lived in the same reality as the readers, said so and formed their own way in their own way. Smiley, the protagonist of The Frog, paid for his passion to bet on any occasion and for no reason in the funniest way.
Mark Twain's works are always instructive, no matter how grotesque or ironic. This applies both to his numerous pamphlets, articles and narratives, as well as novels and novels.
The use of the grotesque
Mark Twain is one of the few authors who could describe the life and real events of contemporary America, turning them in the course of the development of the plot into an anecdote, fiction or fiction. With each new story, he improved his skills, making himself the name of the brightest humorous writer in the United States.
At the heart of any author’s fiction is a real story, embellished and funny. For example, the very vital and sad fact of the time that readers could beat or even kill a newspaper journalist formed the basis of the funny story Journalism in Tennessee. Against the backdrop of attempts to kill the chief editor, his admonition sounds ridiculous enough: "You will like it here when you get used to it a little."
Mark Twain’s quotes about life show the depth of his thinking and attitude towards humanity as a whole (“Man is a creature made at the end of the week when God was already tired”, “Life ... does not consist of facts and cases. It mainly consists of a storm of thoughts ... in the head ”).
Thus, the author presented readers with the truth, well veiled by humor.
"Simpletons abroad"
As an employee of the newspaper Alta California, Mark Twain made a trip to Europe, which he vividly described in his travel notes “Simpletons Abroad” (1869). As a man born in a young and rapidly developing country that did not have in its past history of antiquity similar to European, he was very skeptical of guides' attempts to “impose” what exactly should be looked at in museums.
Mark Twain's works on this topic formed the basis of the book, which was a huge success with the public. This is due to the fact that before him all the well-known travel notes of other authors were full of enthusiasm for European culture and human values, taken without regard.
The author believes that every traveler should look at historical values ​​because they are beautiful, and not because they point a finger at them.
Mark Twain’s famous quote about travel even today makes many people think about the transience of life: “We will only regret two things on our deathbed — that we loved little and traveled little.”
About smoking
Since Mark Twain was a smoker, he made a lot of ironic remarks about this. In general, humor in relation to oneself takes up a lot of space in the work of this author.
Quotes by Mark Twain about smoking speak not only of the habit itself, but also of attempts to get rid of it. He said: "You start smoking to prove that you are a man. Then you try to quit to prove the same." This statement clearly demonstrates the "fake" public opinion that, having started smoking, a teenager goes into the category of an adult, not having yet left childhood for his other actions.
Mark Twain lived an interesting and eventful life. Being happy in marriage with his wife, who gave him three daughters, successful in creativity, loved by readers, he retained his famous sense of humor, which made him a great writer, until the end of his life.
Mark Twain's work today
Mark Twain died in 1910 in the city of Redding. He left wonderful works on which many generations of children from different countries grew up. Today, his books are still being published, films and cartoons are being made on them, and musical and dance performances are being created. The writer's work is studied in schools at literature lessons, his stories have not lost their relevance today, since by and large people in their main passions are unchanged throughout the history of mankind. While it can laugh, the work of this American writer will be relevant. “One must live so that after death even the undertaker bursts into tears,” said Mark Twain.