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Samuel Clemons Biography

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Adam Carmel
English III, Period 2
Mrs. Bardin
13 August 2015
Biography of Samuel Clemons “Mark Twain”
Samuel Clemons, later known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a most famous American fiction writer, story teller, and showman in the nineteenth century. He is referred to as the father of American Literature. In fact, he was the first national and international celebrity. The most well-known man on earth. He was able to capture the spirit of youthful optimism of small town America; and the freedom and excitement of the Western Frontier. His writing was unique in that he used the simple, plain meaning language of the average American.
He was born in Florida, Missouri in 1895, and later moved with his family to Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks …show more content…

In need to money, Samuel Clemons started working as a typesetter for Virginia City Territorial Enterprise newspaper. Later, he would add fictional news stories to the newspaper, many times tricking the readers into believing that they were real factual reports. He also wrote letters to the editor, and short fictional stories for the newspaper. After writing a story that insulted a local resident, he needed to escape from Virginia City overnight, to avoid a dual the next morning.
In 1864, he again worked as a typesetter and writer for a newspaper in San Francisco, where he wrote stories about the government and police corruption, and about the racism and discrimination against the ethnic Chinese immigrants. In 1865, he wrote a short story for the newspaper called "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog”, which made him an overnight success, with newspapers across the country printing it, to the enjoyment of millions of …show more content…

Upon his return to America, he wrote a book about his exploits abroad in the, called Innocents Abroad in 1869 which became an instant best seller. After two years of courtship and over 200 love letters, Olivia Langdon, and Samuel Clemons got married in 1870. She was from a rich family in Elmira, New York. The couple settled down in Elmira, where Samuel Clemons wrote in a specially constructed writer’s cottage that was in the shape of the pilot’s house on a steamboat, behind the main house, that overlooked the Chemung River. This reminded him of his youthful life on the Mississippi river. There, he wrote one of his most famous novels called “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, in 1876; and he started work on the sequel called Adventures of Huckleberry

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