mark twain biography book

(1835-1910)

Who Was Mark Twain?

Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, was the celebrated author of several novels, including two major classics of American literature: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . He was also a riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor.

Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to nearby Hannibal, a bustling river town of 1,000 people.

John Clemens worked as a storekeeper, lawyer, judge and land speculator, dreaming of wealth but never achieving it, sometimes finding it hard to feed his family. He was an unsmiling fellow; according to one legend, young Sam never saw his father laugh.

His mother, by contrast, was a fun-loving, tenderhearted homemaker who whiled away many a winter's night for her family by telling stories. She became head of the household in 1847 when John died unexpectedly.

The Clemens family "now became almost destitute," wrote biographer Everett Emerson, and was forced into years of economic struggle — a fact that would shape the career of Twain.

Twain in Hannibal

Twain stayed in Hannibal until age 17. The town, situated on the Mississippi River, was in many ways a splendid place to grow up.

Steamboats arrived there three times a day, tooting their whistles; circuses, minstrel shows and revivalists paid visits; a decent library was available; and tradesmen such as blacksmiths and tanners practiced their entertaining crafts for all to see.

However, violence was commonplace, and young Twain witnessed much death: When he was nine years old, he saw a local man murder a cattle rancher, and at 10 he watched an enslaved person die after a white overseer struck him with a piece of iron.

Hannibal inspired several of Twain's fictional locales, including "St. Petersburg" in Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. These imaginary river towns are complex places: sunlit and exuberant on the one hand, but also vipers' nests of cruelty, poverty, drunkenness, loneliness and soul-crushing boredom — all parts of Twain's boyhood experience.

Sam kept up his schooling until he was about 12 years old, when — with his father dead and the family needing a source of income — he found employment as an apprentice printer at the Hannibal Courier , which paid him with a meager ration of food. In 1851, at 15, he got a job as a printer and occasional writer and editor at the Hannibal Western Union , a little newspaper owned by his brother, Orion.

Steamboat Pilot

Twain loved his career — it was exciting, well-paying and high-status, roughly akin to flying a jetliner today. However, his service was cut short in 1861 by the outbreak of the Civil War , which halted most civilian traffic on the river.

As the Civil War began, the people of Missouri angrily split between support for the Union and the Confederate States . Twain opted for the latter, joining the Confederate Army in June 1861 but serving for only a couple of weeks until his volunteer unit disbanded.

Where, he wondered then, would he find his future? What venue would bring him both excitement and cash? His answer: the great American West.

Heading Out West

In July 1861, Twain climbed on board a stagecoach and headed for Nevada and California, where he would live for the next five years.

At first, he prospected for silver and gold, convinced that he would become the savior of his struggling family and the sharpest-dressed man in Virginia City and San Francisco. But nothing panned out, and by the middle of 1862, he was flat broke and in need of a regular job.

Twain knew his way around a newspaper office, so that September, he went to work as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise . He churned out news stories, editorials and sketches, and along the way adopted the pen name Mark Twain — steamboat slang for 12 feet of water.

Twain became one of the best-known storytellers in the West. He honed a distinctive narrative style — friendly, funny, irreverent, often satirical and always eager to deflate the pretentious.

He got a big break in 1865, when one of his tales about life in a mining camp, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog," was printed in newspapers and magazines around the country (the story later appeared under various titles).

'Innocents Abroad'

His next step up the ladder of success came in 1867, when he took a five-month sea cruise in the Mediterranean, writing humorously about the sights for American newspapers with an eye toward getting a book out of the trip.

In 1869, The Innocents Abroad was published, and it became a nationwide bestseller.

At 34, this handsome, red-haired, affable, canny, egocentric and ambitious journalist and traveler had become one of the most popular and famous writers in America.

Marriage to Olivia Langdon

However, Twain worried about being a Westerner. In those years, the country's cultural life was dictated by an Eastern establishment centered in New York City and Boston — a straight-laced, Victorian , moneyed group that cowed Twain.

"An indisputable and almost overwhelming sense of inferiority bounced around his psyche," wrote scholar Hamlin Hill, noting that these feelings were competing with his aggressiveness and vanity. Twain's fervent wish was to get rich, support his mother, rise socially and receive what he called "the respectful regard of a high Eastern civilization."

In February 1870, he improved his social status by marrying 24-year-old Olivia (Livy) Langdon, the daughter of a rich New York coal merchant. Writing to a friend shortly after his wedding, Twain could not believe his good luck: "I have ... the only sweetheart I have ever loved ... she is the best girl, and the sweetest, and gentlest, and the daintiest, and she is the most perfect gem of womankind."

Livy, like many people during that time, took pride in her pious, high-minded, genteel approach to life. Twain hoped that she would "reform" him, a mere humorist, from his rustic ways. The couple settled in Buffalo and later had four children.

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Mark Twain's Books

Thankfully, Twain's glorious "low-minded" Western voice broke through on occasion.

'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published in 1876, and soon thereafter he began writing a sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Writing this work, commented biographer Everett Emerson, freed Twain temporarily from the "inhibitions of the culture he had chosen to embrace."

'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'

"All modern American literature comes from one book by Twain called Huckleberry Finn ," Ernest Hemingway wrote in 1935, giving short shrift to Herman Melville and others but making an interesting point.

Hemingway's comment refers specifically to the colloquial language of Twain's masterpiece, as for perhaps the first time in America, the vivid, raw, not-so-respectable voice of the common folk was used to create great literature.

Huck Finn required years to conceptualize and write, and Twain often put it aside. In the meantime, he pursued respectability with the 1881 publication of The Prince and the Pauper , a charming novel endorsed with enthusiasm by his genteel family and friends.

'Life on the Mississippi'

In 1883 he put out Life on the Mississippi , an interesting but safe travel book. When Huck Finn finally was published in 1884, Livy gave it a chilly reception.

After that, business and writing were of equal value to Twain as he set about his cardinal task of earning a lot of money. In 1885, he triumphed as a book publisher by issuing the bestselling memoirs of former President Ulysses S. Grant , who had just died.

He lavished many hours on this and other business ventures, and was certain that his efforts would be rewarded with enormous wealth, but he never achieved the success he expected. His publishing house eventually went bankrupt.

'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'

Twain's financial failings, reminiscent in some ways of his father's, had serious consequences for his state of mind. They contributed powerfully to a growing pessimism in him, a deep-down feeling that human existence is a cosmic joke perpetrated by a chuckling God.

Another cause of his angst, perhaps, was his unconscious anger at himself for not giving undivided attention to his deepest creative instincts, which centered on his Missouri boyhood.

In 1889, Twain published A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court , a science-fiction/historical novel about ancient England. His next major work, in 1894, was The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson , a somber novel that some observers described as "bitter."

He also wrote short stories, essays and several other books, including a study of Joan of Arc . Some of these later works have enduring merit, and his unfinished work The Chronicle of Young Satan has fervent admirers today.

Twain's last 15 years were filled with public honors, including degrees from Oxford and Yale . Probably the most famous American of the late 19th century, he was much photographed and applauded wherever he went.

Indeed, he was one of the most prominent celebrities in the world, traveling widely overseas, including a successful 'round-the-world lecture tour in 1895-96, undertaken to pay off his debts.

Family Struggles

But while those years were gilded with awards, they also brought him much anguish. Early in their marriage, he and Livy had lost their toddler son, Langdon, to diphtheria; in 1896, his favorite daughter, Susy, died at the age of 24 of spinal meningitis. The loss broke his heart, and adding to his grief, he was out of the country when it happened.

His youngest daughter, Jean, was diagnosed with severe epilepsy. In 1909, when she was 29 years old, Jean died of a heart attack. For many years, Twain's relationship with middle daughter Clara was distant and full of quarrels.

In June 1904, while Twain traveled, Livy died after a long illness. "The full nature of his feelings toward her is puzzling," wrote scholar R. Kent Rasmussen. "If he treasured Livy's comradeship as much as he often said, why did he spend so much time away from her?"

But absent or not, throughout 34 years of marriage, Twain had indeed loved his wife. "Wheresoever she was, there was Eden," he wrote in tribute to her.

Twain became somewhat bitter in his later years, even while projecting an amiable persona to his public. In private he demonstrated a stunning insensitivity to friends and loved ones.

"Much of the last decade of his life, he lived in hell," wrote Hamlin Hill. He wrote a fair amount but was unable to finish most of his projects. His memory faltered.

Twain suffered volcanic rages and nasty bouts of paranoia, and he experienced many periods of depressed indolence, which he tried to assuage by smoking cigars, reading in bed and playing endless hours of billiards and cards.

Twain died on April 21, 1910, at the age of 74. He was buried in Elmira, New York.

The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, is now a popular attraction and is designated a National Historic Landmark.

Twain is remembered as a great chronicler of American life in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Writing grand tales about Sawyer, Finn and the mighty Mississippi River, Twain explored the American soul with wit, buoyancy and a sharp eye for truth.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Mark Twain
• Birth Year: 1835
• Birth date: November 30, 1835
• Birth State: Missouri
• Birth City: Florida
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Mark Twain, the writer, adventurer and wily social critic born Samuel Clemens, wrote the novels 'Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.’
• Writing and Publishing
• Astrological Sign: Sagittarius
• Death Year: 1910
• Death date: April 21, 1910
• Death State: Connecticut
• Death City: Redding
• Death Country: United States

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Mark Twain Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/mark-twain
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: March 31, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other 364.
• Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessaries.
• New Year's is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls, and humbug resolutions.
• The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out, the conservative adopts them.
• I'd rather have my ignorance than another man's knowledge, because I've got so much more of it.
• Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.
• Do not put off 'til tomorrow what can be put off 'til day-after-tomorrow just as well.
• In order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to obtain.
• 'Classic'—a book which people praise and don't read.
• When angry, count four. When very angry, swear.
• Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
• We can't reach old age by another man's road. My habits protect my life, but would assassinate you.
• Be good and you will be lonesome.

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Table of Contents

• Rave and Reviews

About The Book

About the author.

Ron Powers, a Pulitzer Prize-winning and Emmy Award-winning writer and critic, has studied and written about Mark Twain for many years. He is the author of ten books, including Dangerous Water: A Biography of the Boy Who Became Mark Twain, and the coauthor of two, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Flags of Our Fathers. He lives in Middlebury, Vermont.

Product Details

• Publisher: Free Press (June 5, 2006)
• Length: 736 pages
• ISBN13: 9780743249010

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• History > United States > General
• Biography & Autobiography > Editors, Journalists, Publishers
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Raves and Reviews

"An impressive achievement...This book earns an honored place on the shelf of essential works on Mark Twain...Ron Powers has done justice to an incomparably complex, rich, fruitful, and tangled life, and along the way he has granted us a glimpse into the heart of America, as well as the heart of America's greatest writer." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"Like Twain's greatest works, this is a book that transcends its boundaries, giving us not merely one man, but America itself. It is a tremendous achievement and anybody even vaguely interested in the subject should read it." -- The London Telegraph

"A sweeping account of the personality and career of the man who, Powers writes, 'found a voice for his country'...Mr. Powers skillfully places his subject in historical context [and] quite rightly focuses on Twain's pitch-perfect ear and keen eye...A convincing portrait of Twain as a volatile, moody, guilt-ridden, desperately insecure man who was often a puzzle to himself." -- The New York Times

"Magisterial...almost certainly will become the go-to guide." -- The Denver Post

"Powers has given us the whole man. We feel we know him, as well as we can, as well as his most perceptive friend and fellow writer William Dean Howells knew him. Along the way Powers brings to vivid life Twain's America...No biography of Mark Twain could do him full justice. Powers' comes as close as you can imagine." -- Los Angeles Times

"A weighty and witty biography that comes as close as any to providing the essential biography...Powers makes Twain come alive as a three-dimensional, deeply flawed, immensely gifted and wonderfully intriguing writer." -- The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Awards and Honors

• CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

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clock This article was published more than  9 years ago

A new biography of the most famous American of his time: Mark Twain

There are probably more studies and biographies of Mark Twain — the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) — than of any other figure in American literature. And why not? After all, Twain produced at least three or four titles that rank high on almost everyone's list of favorite books. " Huckleberry Finn " is a leading contender in the The Great American Novel sweepstakes. " The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ," as biographer Roy Morris Jr. observes, "seems to take place in perpetual summer" and conveys an "ineffable magic." Twain's own favorites, if no one else's, were " The Prince and the Pauper " and " A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court ." Instead of those "English" novels, I would argue for " Life on the Mississippi ."

However, Mark Twain was more than just an author. The barefoot boy from hardscrabble Hannibal, Mo., rose to become a global celebrity, the most famous American of his time, rivaled only by Teddy Roosevelt (whom he once derided as the "Tom Sawyer of the political world"). His quips and yarn-filled performances in "Mark Twain at Home" took him to lyceums, opera halls and auditoriums around the world. In fact, as " American Vandal " reminds us, he spent more than a dozen years of his adult life outside the United States.

In an earlier book, " Lighting Out for the Territory ," Morris chronicled the youthful Twain's adventures out West and in ­Hawaii. In this new book, he picks up Twain's life when, at the age of 31, the young journalist arrives in New York City in 1867 and signs up for what would we now call a pre-packaged luxury cruise. The Quaker City would sail across the Atlantic, swing into the Mediterranean, pause at various ports of Europe and finally deliver its pilgrims to the Holy Land and the ancient monuments of mysterious Egypt.

As a roving correspondent for a San Francisco newspaper, the Alta California, this was just the kind of roving Twain wanted to do — and he persuaded his editors to underwrite this "picnic on a gigantic scale." When he came to publish his account as a thick volume, " The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrim's Progress " (1869), it became not only his first book but also "the best-selling American book since 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' " In its pages Twain looked at old Europe not as a Henry Jamesian ­sophisticate but as a down-to-earth, no-nonsense "American Vandal."

Morris gives a quick overview of that journey, with abundant quotations from Twain himself, noting that, apart from the New Yorkers on board, the largest contingent of the ship’s company were members of the First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland. Many of the 65 to 80 passengers — the exact number is unknown — were writing up the voyage for hometown newspapers: “Everyone taking notes,” Twain observed sourly. “Cabin looks like a reporter’s congress.” One especially colorful character, Bloodgood Haviland Cutter, fancied himself a poet and regaled his fellow tourists with such effusions as “Recollections of the Pleasant Time on Deck Last Night” — in 75 stanzas — and “Apostrophe to the Rooster in the Waist of the Ship.”

Fortunately, Twain’s cabin mate was, in his words, the “splendid, immoral, tobacco-smoking, wine-drinking and ­godless” Dan Slote, whose luggage included 3,000 cigars. In between shore visits, chiefly given to mocking famous paintings and sacred relics, Twain, Slote and a handful of fellow roisterers would smoke, play cards and talk about women. Those of Genoa, Twain maintained, were the prettiest in the world: “I fell in love with a hundred and eighty women myself, on Sunday evening, and yet I am not of a susceptible nature.”

In truth, the handsome journalist fell in love only once. When young Charley Langdon showed his new friend an ivory miniature of his sister Olivia, Twain immediately vowed to marry her. And when he returned to America, he did just that.

But Twain's was a restless nature, and he could never settle down for long. "I am wild with impatience to move — move — Move !" In the course of his life, as Morris writes, "he made twenty-nine separate transatlantic crossings, circumnavigated the globe via the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans; cruised the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Black, Caspian, and Aegean Seas, crisscrossed India from Bombay to Darjeeling; hiked the Alps and the Tyrolean Black Forest; floated down the Neckar and Rhone Rivers on a raft; and lived and worked for extensive periods of time in London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, as well as various smaller European cities and resorts."

Most of these trips were undertaken, at least in part, to make money. Besides "The Innocents Abroad"— the first 10 chapters of which, by the way, were written here in Washington — Twain produced " A Tramp Abroad " (1880), which covers his family's first European sojourn, and " Following the Equator " (1897), which tracks the worldwide lecture tour he undertook at age 60 (and is a book remarkable for its "prescient depiction of the modern evils of racism, militarism and imperialism"). This last journey — with stops in New Zealand, Australia and India, as well as Europe — was needed to pay off Twain's huge debts. He had invested heavily in an invention that would set type, but unfortunately it was with a charming incompetent instead of Ottmar Mergenthaler (whose linotype machine was still in use at this newspaper in the 1980s). Rather than declare bankruptcy, Twain traveled 53,000 miles and gave more than 120 lectures in seven countries.

If you’re a scholar of Mark Twain, there’s probably nothing terribly new in “American Vandal.” But for the rest of us, Morris is a first-rate tour guide. He knows his subject, cites other authorities with respect and presents a good deal of information with easygoing, professional smoothness. His entertaining and — despite its title — eminently civilized book is just slightly marred by an occasional typo or mistake (e.g., it’s Sir Edward Grey, not Gray, who said at the outbreak of World War I that the lamps, not the lights, are going out all over Europe). I found it particularly pleasing to learn that Twain, who knew Civil War veterans Ulysses S. Grant and Ambrose Bierce, also met Lewis Carroll and shook hands with Sigmund Freud. He was even introduced to such lesser folk as Czar Alexander II, Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Edward VII.

As readers of Twain’s “Great Dark” writings know, his later years were heartbreaking. At the end of his world tour, his eldest daughter Susy died suddenly of spinal meningitis. In 1904 his beloved wife, Olivia, succumbed to heart disease. In 1909, his youngest daughter, who suffered from epilepsy, drowned in a bathtub at age 29. “How poor I am,” he wrote, “who was once so rich!”

Mark Twain, who died at age 74, always maintained that he would have been happy to spend his entire life as a Mississippi riverboat pilot. Fortunately for world literature, things didn’t work out that way.

Michael Dirda reviews books for The Washington Post on Thursdays.

AMERICAN VANDAL

Mark Twain Abroad

By Roy Morris, Jr.

Harvard Univ. 279 pp. $27.95

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Blog – Posted on Wednesday, Mar 20

14 mark twain books that everyone should read.

Controversial, brilliant, and ever witty, the man who would shape American literature was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in a small riverside town in Missouri in 1835. More than a century later, Mark Twain remains one of the best writers that America has ever produced. As an illustrious novelist, distinguished essayist, popular travel writer, beloved humorist, and astute literary critic, Twain casts an intimidatingly long shadow on any American author who dares to follow him. Not to mention, he was ridiculously prolific — writing 28 books and upwards of some 100 short stories!

So rest assured: there’s more to Twain that simply The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. If you’d like to discover the rich oeuvre of the man who became one of the greatest figures in American literature, here are 14 of the best Mark Twain books — ordered by date of publication, as a few of his works were published posthumously.

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1. The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865)

The piece that first catapulted Twain into the national eye is, in truth, not so much a book as a short story. Originally published as “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog,” “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is the tale of a man who gets dragged into an (admittedly one-sided) conversation with another man who simply loves hearing the sound of his own voice. His companion’s stories are pointless and endless, and our poor narrator can barely interject a word to excuse himself. Eventually, the indefatigable storyteller lands on a yarn about a jumping frog — hence the title of the piece. Short as it may be, this piece should be enough to give you a taste of Twain’s inimitable brand of humor, which is a staple in his later works.

2. The Innocents Abroad (1869)

Growing up, Twain was big on travel and took many opportunities to gallivant around the world: a passion that shows up in spades in this early work. As the bestselling book of Twain’s lifetime (and one of the most popular travelogues ever published),  The Innocents Abroad  documents Twain’s voyages in Europe and the Middle East in hilarious fashion. Trips to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Vatican, and even the Sphinx in Egypt create comic set pieces, even while Twain delights in pointing out many a politically incorrect cultural peculiarity in every country. 

Though  The Innocents Abroad  is categorized as nonfiction, the reality is that it lies somewhere between fact and fiction. Some of his accounts may seem somewhat fanciful (which is understandable, seeing as Twain is an author at heart), but the stories are so great that it doesn’t really matter what’s true and what’s not. And if it’s true that “it’s all about the journey,” as they say, then you can’t do better than this terrifically energetic book. For it’s also where you can witness a young Mark Twain at the start of his own long road — wry and irreverent, growing as a writer, and not yet embittered by society.

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3. Roughing It (1872)

When he was only 26 years old, Samuel Clemens lit out to California to mine for gold: this became the basis for  Roughing It , or the prequel to  The Innocents Abroad  and a semi-autobiographical memoir about Twain’s experiences in the American west. Herein lies a potpourri of Twain’s earliest adventures — “semi-autobiographical,” again, as he undoubtedly embellished quite a few of the tall tales that regale its pages. Yet while  Roughing It  might (aptly) seem a bit rough around the edges, especially when compared to his subsequent works, it’s where Twain really began to hone his art. Many of his later hallmarks are evident here, from his witty observations about otherwise trivial moments to the presence of a galloping, entertaining plot. In short, if you put a young Mark Twain together with a bunch of gold miners and drop them in the middle of the Wild West in the 1860s, this is exactly what you’d expect.

4. The Gilded Age (1873)

Published in 1873 and co-written with Charles Dudley Warner based on a bet with their wives,  The Gilded Age  was Twain’s first novel. You probably already recognize that the Gilded Age refers to the three decades that followed the Civil War, but what you might not know is that  t his is the book that coined the term. True to Twain’s Midwestern roots, it’s a splendid satire of the politics and corruption that ran rampant in Washington D.C. in the post-war years — featuring an ensemble cast of crooked politicians, gaudy plutocrats, pretentious bankers, and naïve bystanders, all of whom Twain cheerfully skewers with colorful prose in this book.

If you’d prefer to read only Twain and not Warner, keep your perusal to the first eleven chapters. Amid the get-rich ploys and corporate fraud, they sparkle with Twain’s trademark wit on a subject that’s still pertinent, perhaps more than ever, today. (Twain once wrote: “Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”) Above all,  The Gilded Age  is a broad, ambitious effort to capture an entire period of time — one that ended up defining it in the English vernacular.

5. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)

A coming-of-age novel for the ages, this is the story of Tom Sawyer: an aspiring troublemaker, idyllic romantic, devilish orphan, and young dreamer. He carries out his antics under the weary eye of his Aunt Polly, all the while endeavoring to romance Becky Thatcher, the new girl in town and daughter of the local judge. In perhaps the most recognized scene in all of American literature, Tom hoodwinks a bunch of neighborhood boys into whitewashing his aunt’s fence  for  him. But even a murder and a funeral — his own, by the way — cannot curb his mischief-making.

Though it might be eclipsed these days by  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , this unrepentantly cracking book is still an American classic. In many ways,  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  is even more wry than the former (in part due to the creative license that its  third-person point of view  affords Twain). Perhaps Twain’s greatest skill was his uncanny ability to tap into the minds of children. Imbued with such exuberance,  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  perfectly captures both the innocence and irreverence of youth, seen through the eyes of a boy who embodies boyhood best of all.

6. A Tramp Abroad (1880)

In 1878 and 1879, Twain embarked on a second 15-month trip through Central Europe and the Alps. This is the account of that journey — Twain’s sequel to  The Innocents Abroad . (As discerning readers might be able to tell, Twain was once an innocent, now a tramp.) However, he is one of the most endearing tramps in this uproariously epic book, which serves up an entertaining travelogue and social critique of the world all in one. And, in case you’re wondering, no German, Swiss, American, or English person is spared from his sardonic eye. As it comes in Twain’s later years,  A Tramp Abroad  is a bit more introspective than his past two travel books. But it is still a triumph in the realm of travel writing, and a formative piece of commentary in its own right.

7. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885)

For a book that needs no introduction, many people rush to regard it. Ernest Hemingway said that American fiction begins and ends with  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn . Most critics call it  the  Great American Novel. So, though you probably already know the gist of the story, let’s go through it once more for old time’s sake! Huckleberry Finn, a thirteen-year-old boy, is kidnapped from town by the local drunkard — his own father. He ends up escaping with a runaway slave, Jim. As the odd pair drifts southward along the great Mississippi River on a rickety raft, they encounter (and become embroiled in) episodic comic hijinks, from con men and fake deaths to a raging family feud (nineteenth-century style).

Considered by many to be the apex of Twain’s genius,  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  has continued to sweep readers up in its rollicking ride for more than a century. Part of its timeless pull lies in Twain’s protagonists: as a runaway slave and the penniless son of the town drunk, Jim and Huck are, if not at the bottom rung of the social ladder, certainly near it. Their struggle to defy society results in a gloriously rich narrative of boyhood adventure. But beneath the ripping yarn lies a deeply subversive study of racism, morality, and humanity — and it’s this masterful sum of the parts that elevates  Huckleberry Finn  into the annals of literature as one of the greatest books of all time.

8. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)

The seed of the idea for this book came to Twain while reading Sir Thomas Malory's  Le Morte d’Arthur . He reportedly scribbled down: “Dreamt of being a knight errant in armor in the middle ages. Have the notions & habits of thought of the present day mixed with the necessities of that. No pockets in the armor. No way to manage certain requirements of nature. Can't scratch. Cold in the head — can't blow — can't get a handkerchief, can't use iron sleeve.”

Thus the story of Hank Morgan, a mere engineer from Connecticut who is transported back to 528 AD during the reign of King Arthur, was born. As Morgan ingratiates himself as a powerful magician by King Arthur’s side, shenanigans expectedly run riot. But beyond its veneer as a fun “time travel” book,  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court  is a reality-check for us: a cautionary occasion for Twain to express a deep criticism of our ability to romanticize the past.

9. Pudd'nhead Wilson (1889)

Serialized in  The Century Magazine  before its publication as a novel in 1894,  Pudd’nhead Wilson  is the tale of two young boys: one born to a slave woman, and the other, the master’s son. Switched at infancy, their stories inevitably collide and may or may not culminate in a dramatic courtroom showdown. Through it all, Twain skillfully weaves a truly eccentric supporting cast — one that includes David Wilson, a man who finds great joy in collecting fingerprints. 

On its surface,  Pudd’nhead Wilson  might be the book that bears the most similarities to the  oeuvre of one of Twain’s contemporaries , Charles Dickens: mistaken identities, rampant crime, a motley crew of characters, and unbridled plot twists abound. However, its entertaining exterior masks the urgent social critique at the heart of the novel. Perhaps even more so than  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , this is the novel in which Mark Twain most powerfully came out against the institution of slavery — and as an even stronger advocate for emancipation and women’s rights.

10. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896)

Twain’s swan song in fiction is arguably his finest novel — certainly, he favored it most himself. Though the public slept on  Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc  when it was first published, and history elevates  Huckleberry Finn  over top of it, Mark Twain quietly said: “I like  Joan of Arc  best of all my books; and it is the best; I know it perfectly well. And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others.”

Told from the perspective of Sieur Louis de Conte, a fictional companion of Joan’s, this is the story of the famed illiterate French peasant girl who rose to larger-than-legend status in fifteenth-century France. It is not a  biography , but an extensively researched novel. Lengthy and rather slow-paced,  Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc  is notable for its muted humor — a striking departure from the work that Twain can so reliably be expected to produce. But, without his quintessential satire, it becomes something powerful of its own accord: a beautiful, worthy, and serious tribute to a person who embodied all of the virtues that Twain admired in humankind.

11. Following the Equator (1897)

We’re now nearing the end of Twain’s career, which nosedived in the early 1890s. Bankruptcy due to poor investments prompted Twain to embark on a series of international speaking engagements circa 1895: a long trip that enabled him to circumnavigate the far-flung countries of the Victorian British Empire. His many adventures — from diamond mining in South Africa to riding the rails in India — ended up bringing one of his last works of  travel writing ,  Following the Equator , into existence.

Though Twain was considerably older and sadder by this time, this book bears witness to the fact that his keen powers of observation never failed him. So long as there’s no posturing nearby for him to ridicule, Twain could certainly produce a lovely sketch of the country itself! But the virtues of  Following the Equator  lie (as always) in its lively prose, freewheeling humor, withering irony, and  plenty  of political incorrectness, reminding you why he was such a beloved icon in his time — and such great company for readers today.

12. The Mysterious Stranger (1916)

In the fittingly titled  The Mysterious Stranger , we meet a group of boys who encounter a stranger in late sixteenth-century Austria. He’s turned up in town rather, well, mysteriously. But unfolding circumstances reveal that there’s more to him than meets the eye: he’s an angel, and his name is Satan (not  the  Satan, by the way. Just a distant relative — explaining the probably inconvenient family name). Unfortunately, this unfinished novel was published posthumously in 1916, so we’ll never know what Twain intended for  The Mysterious Stranger  in the end. What you  will  find is an opaque but profound contemplation of human nature itself, as the weight of Twain’s cynicism and disillusionment with humanity ultimately dwarfs the carefree antics that characterized his previous works.

13. Letters from the Earth (1962)

Mark Twain never intended  Letters from the Earth  to be published, saying that it would be a felony to do so — perhaps because of the controversial opinions that he imparted within it. Needless to say, its premise is provocative: the book is made up of a series of letters written by the archangel Satan that comment on humankind and Christianity. (Satan sent them to archangels Gabriel and Michael, hoping to amuse them while he whittled away his time on Earth after another expulsion from heaven.) More than that, this incisive book gave Twain a platform to produce a scathing rebuke of our god-fearing society.

Despite Twain’s misgivings,  Letters from the Earth  was nevertheless published posthumously in 1962. But he had actually written it circa 1909, during a black period of his life in which his eldest daughter and wife both died. Make no mistake: this is Twain at his most cynical, defiant, intelligent, belligerent, and cutting. Of course, that means that this book is perhaps his funniest. If you don’t have the time to read it all, go straight to “A Cat-Tale,” “The Damned Human Race,” and the titular story, “Letters from the Earth.”

14. Autobiography of Mark Twain (2010)

In his twilight years, Mark Twain sat on his deathbed, a stenographer by his side, and talked. From the mass of these notes emerged this autobiography: a patchwork of memories, anecdotes, tall tales, and personal philosophies. By this time, Twain had lived through the gold rush, the American promise of manifest destiny, the Civil War, the hopeful dawn of Reconstruction and its eventual collapse, the onset of the American Indian Wars, bankruptcy, adventures around the globe too many to count — all testimony to a life loved well.

Unlike his other works that were published posthumously, it was Twain’s express wish to "publish all of this but not until I am dead.” (Indeed, he indicated that he wanted a century to pass before its publication — probably because he was aware that some of his personal observations would have offended a few  generations  of people.) Of course, this autobiography is quite original as far as autobiographies go: it forgoes chronology entirely, as Twain simply ended up dictating whatever happened to enter his mind at the time. Yet it brims with all of his characteristic verve and genius, and many of its stories are gems. Most of all, it speaks of a writer of exceptional spirit and a man of exceptional character.

At a time when America was changing so dramatically, expanding westward and still defining itself as a young country, Twain rose to become one of its most enduring voices. He was sometimes serious; sometimes tongue-in-cheek; sometimes tempestuous; always generous, witty, wise, honest, and deeply compassionate. He was larger in life in his time, and there has been no such equivalent since he died. As Twain writes himself in this autobiography, "When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened. It is sad to go to pieces like this but we all have to do it.” But what, you may venture to say, a truly extraordinary way to have gone.

For more social satire, check out our guide to the 12 best Kurt Vonnegut books packed with humor and bleak reflections on the human condition. If literary classics are what you're after, head to our post on the 15 best John Steinbeck books instead.

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AUTHORS (1835–1910); FLORIDA, MISSOURI

Mark Twain, author of classic books such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Gilded Age (plus a wide variety of short stories and other literature), had a quick wit and prolific body of work that has made him one of America's most quoted—and misquoted—writers. Find out more about his life and legacy, as well as some quotes about love, loss, and comedy.

1. Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

After trying out other aliases like “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass” and “Sergeant Fathom,” Samuel Langhorne Clemens adopted “ Mark Twain ” in 1863. He claimed the idea came from his stint as a Mississippi River steamboat captain before the Civil War—sailors used to call out “mark twain!” to identify when the water was two fathoms (or 12 feet) deep.

2. Samuel Clemens's signature was discovered in the Mark Twain Cave in July 2019.

Mark Twain was known to have spent his boyhood exploring the three miles of passageways in a cave in Hannibal, Missouri, that would later become the inspiration for a scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer . For more than a century, visitors have examined the walls for some sign of the author’s time there—and, during a tour in July 2019, one hawk-eyed spelunker finally spotted the word Clemens  among the other names that line the walls.

3. The Mark Twain National Forest could’ve been named after a different famous Missourian.

When the Department of Agriculture bought more than 3 million acres of land in Missouri and Arkansas in 1934 and 1935, various forestry professionals chimed in with their opinions about which Missourian deserved to be the namesake for the expansive soon-to-be national forest. Other contenders included World War I general John J. Pershing, poet Eugene Field, and pioneer Daniel Boone (who was actually born in Pennsylvania, though he died in Missouri).

More Articles About Mark Twain:

4. And Mark Twain also has a lake named after him.

A little over 30 miles from Hannibal, Missouri, the 18,600-acre Mark Twain Lake is Missouri’s seventh largest . The area not only boasts beaches, hiking trails, camping grounds, and other outdoor activities, it’s also home to the Mark Twain State Park, where you can visit the tiny two-room cabin where Clemens was born in 1835.

5. Mark Twain’s house in Hartford, Connecticut, has a whopping 25 rooms.

Mark Twain and his wife, Olivia Langdon Clemens, had three daughters and a son, Langdon, who died at just 19 months. The couple's daughters were:

• Olivia Susan "Susy" Clemens
• Clara Langdon Clemens
• Jane "Jean" Lampton Clemens

The family lived in their Hartford, Connecticut, mansion for 17 years, between 1874 and 1891. It was during that time that Clemens wrote his most famous books, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer , Life on the Mississippi , The Prince and the Pauper , A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court , and, of course, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .

6. Books weren’t Mark Twain’s only claim to fame.

He also patented several inventions during his career, including: A convoluted trivia board game called Memory Builder , which required an extensive knowledge of figures, dates, and events across European and American history; a self-adhesive scrapbook that worked much like an envelope; and an adjustable, detachable garment clasp that was primarily intended for suspenders, but ended up being used mostly for bras.

Mark Twain Books You Should Know:

• The Innocents Abroad (1869)
• Roughing It (1872)
• The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873)
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)
• A Tramp Abroad (1880)
• The Prince and the Pauper (1881)
• Life on the Mississippi (1883)
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889)
• The American Claimant (1892)
• The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)
• Tom Sawyer Abroad (1894)
• Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896)
• Tom Sawyer, Detective (1896)
• Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World (1897)
• A Horse's Tale (1906)
• The Mysterious Stranger (1916)

Funny Mark Twain Quotes

• “Yes, even I am dishonest. Not in many ways, but in some. Forty-one, I think it is.”
• “Wisdom teaches us that none but birds should go out early, and that not even birds should do it unless they are out of worms.”
• “I reverently believe that the Maker who made us all makes everything in New England but the weather.”
• “A use has been found for everything but snoring.”
• “There would be a power of fun in skating if you could do it with somebody else’s muscles.”
• “You ought never to take anything that don’t belong to you—if you cannot carry it off.”
• “Familiarity breeds contempt—and children.”

Mark Twain's Quotes About Love

• “Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.”
• “Love is a madness; if thwarted it develops fast.”
• “When you fish for love, bait with your heart, not your brain.”
• “The frankest and freest product of the human mind and heart is a love letter.”

Mark Twain's Quotes About Life and Death

• “Pity is for the living, envy is for the dead.”
• “Manifestly, dying is nothing to a really great and brave man.”
• “It is a solemn thought: dead, the noblest man’s meat is inferior to pork.”
• “Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
• “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
• “Only he who has seen better days and lives to see better days again knows their full value.”
• “Life: we laugh and laugh, then cry and cry, then feebler laugh, then die.”
• “When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries of life disappear and life stands explained.”

Mark Twain's Quotes About Travel

• “There is no unhappiness like the misery of sighting land (and work) again after a cheerful, careless voyage.”
• “Travel has no longer any charm for me. I have seen all the foreign countries I want to except heaven and hell and I have only a vague curiosity about one of those.”
• “Nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.”
• “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

A Life Lived in a Rapidly Changing World: Samuel L. Clemens‚ 1835-1910

As twain’s books provide insight into the past‚ the events of his personal life further demonstrate his role as an eyewitness to history..

During his lifetime‚ Sam Clemens watched a young United States evolve from a nation torn apart by internal conflicts to one of international power. He experienced America’s vast growth and change – from westward expansion to industrialization‚ the end of slavery‚ advancements in technology‚ big government and foreign wars. And along the way‚ he often had something to say about the changes happening in his country.

The Early Years

Samuel Clemens was born on November 30‚ 1835 in Florida‚ Missouri‚ the sixth of seven children. At age 4‚ Sam and his family moved to the small frontier town of Hannibal‚ Missouri‚ on the banks of the Mississippi River. Missouri‚ at the time‚ was a fairly new state (it had gained statehood in 1821) and made up part of the country’s western border. It was also a state that took part in slavery. Sam’s father owned one enslaved person, and his uncle owned several. In fact‚ it was on his uncle’s farm that Sam spent many boyhood summers playing in the enslaved people’s quarters‚ listening to tall tales and the spirituals that he would enjoy throughout his life.

In 1847‚ when Sam was 11‚ his father died. Shortly thereafter he left school to work as a printer’s apprentice for a local newspaper. His job was to arrange the type for each of the newspaper’s stories‚ allowing Sam to read the news of the world while completing his work.

Twain’s Young Adult Life

At 18‚ Sam headed east to New York City and Philadelphia‚ where he worked on several different newspapers and found some success at writing articles. By 1857‚ he had returned home to embark on a new career as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861‚ however‚ all traffic along the river came to a halt‚ as did Sam’s pilot career. Inspired by the times‚ Sam joined up with a volunteer Confederate unit called the Marion Rangers‚ but he quit after just two weeks.

In search of a new career‚ Sam headed west in July 1861‚ at the invitation of his brother‚ Orion‚ who had just been appointed secretary of the Nevada Territory. Lured by the infectious hope of striking it rich in Nevada’s silver rush‚ Sam traveled across the open frontier from Missouri to Nevada by stagecoach. Along the journey Sam encountered Native American tribes for the first time, along with a variety of unique characters‚ mishaps, and disappointments. These events would find a way into his short stories and books‚ particularly   Roughing It .

After failing as a silver prospector‚ Sam began writing for the Territorial Enterprise‚ a Virginia City‚ Nevada newspaper where he used‚ for the first time‚ his pen name‚ Mark Twain. Seeking change, by 1864 Sam headed for San Francisco where he continued to write for local papers.

In 1865 Sam’s first “big break” came with the publication of his short story “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog ” in papers across the country. A year later Sam was hired by the Sacramento Union to visit and report on the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii). His writings were so popular that‚ upon his return‚ he embarked upon his first lecture tour‚ which established him as a successful stage performer.

Hired by the Alta California to continue his travel writing from the east‚ Sam arrived in New York City in 1867. He quickly signed up for a steamship tour of Europe and the “Holy Land.” His travel letters‚ full of vivid descriptions and tongue-in-cheek observations‚ met with such audience approval that they were later reworked into his first book‚  The Innocents Abroad , published in 1869. It was also on this trip that Clemens met his future brother-in-law‚ Charles Langdon. Langdon reportedly showed Sam a picture of his sister‚  Olivia ‚ and Sam fell in love at first sight.

Twain Starts a Family and Moves to Hartford

After courting for two years‚ Sam Clemens and Olivia (Livy) Langdon were married in 1870. They settled in Buffalo‚ New York‚ where Sam had become a partner‚ editor, and writer for the daily newspaper the  Buffalo Express . While they were living in Buffalo‚ their first child‚ Langdon Clemens‚ was born.

In 1871 Sam moved his family to Hartford‚ Connecticut‚ a city he had come to love while visiting his publisher there and where he had made friends. Livy also had family connections to the city. For the first few years the Clemenses rented a house in the heart of Nook Farm‚ a residential area that was home to numerous writers‚ publishers, and other prominent figures. In 1872 Sam’s recollections and tall tales from his frontier adventures were published in his book  Roughing It . That same year the Clemenses’ first daughter Susy was born‚ but their son‚ Langdon‚ died at age two from diphtheria.

In 1873 Sam’s focus turned toward social criticism. He and Hartford Courant publisher Charles Dudley Warner co-wrote  The Gilded Age ‚ a novel that attacked political corruption‚ big business, and the American obsession with getting rich that seemed to dominate the era. Ironically‚ a year after its publication‚ the Clemenses’ elaborate 25-room house on Farmington Avenue‚ which had cost the then-huge sum of $40‚000-$45‚000‚ was completed.

Twain Writes his Most Famous Books While Living in Hartford

For the next 17 years (1874-1891)‚ Sam‚ Livy, and their three daughters (Clara was born in 1874 and Jean in 1880) lived in the Hartford home. During those years Sam completed some of his most famous books‚ often finding a summer refuge for uninterrupted work at his sister-in-law’s farm in Elmira‚ New York. Novels such as  The Adventures of Tom Sawyer  (1876) and  Life on the Mississippi (1883) captured both his Missouri memories and depictions of the American scene. Yet his social commentary continued.  The Prince and the Pauper  (1881) explored class relations, as does  A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court  (1889), which‚ going a step further‚ criticized oppression in general while examining the period’s explosion of new technologies. And‚ in perhaps his most famous work‚  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  (1884)‚ Clemens‚ by the way he attacked the institution of slavery‚ railed against the failures of Reconstruction and the continued poor treatment of African Americans in his own time.

Huckleberry Finn  was also the first book published by Sam’s own publishing company‚ The Charles L. Webster Company. In an attempt to gain control over publication as well as to make substantial profits‚ Sam created the company in 1884. A year later he contracted with Ulysses S. Grant to publish Grant’s memoirs; the two-volume set provided large royalties for Grant’s widow and was a financial success for the publisher as well.

Twain’s Financial Ruin and Subsequent Travels

Although Sam enjoyed financial success during his Hartford years‚ he continually made bad investments in new inventions‚ which eventually brought him to bankruptcy. In an effort to economize and pay back his debts‚ Sam and Livy moved their family to Europe in 1891. When his publishing company failed in 1894‚ Sam was forced to set out on a worldwide lecture tour to earn money. In 1896 tragedy struck when Susy Clemens‚ at age 24‚ died from meningitis while on a visit to the Hartford home. Unable to bear being in the place of her death‚ the Clemenses never returned to Hartford to live.

From 1891 until 1900‚ Sam and his family traveled throughout the world. During those years Sam witnessed the increasing exploitation of weaker governments by European powers‚ which he described in his book  Following the Equator  (1897). The Boer War in South Africa and the Boxer Rebellion in China fueled his growing anger toward imperialistic countries and their actions. With the Spanish-American and Philippine wars in 1898‚ Sam’s wrath was redirected toward the American government. When he returned to the United States in 1900‚ his finances restored‚ Sam readily declared himself an anti-imperialist and‚ from 1901 until his death‚ served as the vice president of the Anti-Imperialist League.

Twain’s Darkest Times and Late Life

In these later years‚ Sam’s writings turned dark. They began to focus on human greed and cruelty and questioned the humanity of the human race. His public speeches followed suit and included a harshly sarcastic public introduction of Winston Churchill in 1900. Even though Sam’s lecture tour had managed to get him out of debt‚ his anti-government writings and speeches threatened his livelihood once again. As Sam was labeled by some as a traitor‚ several of his works were never published during his lifetime, either because magazines would not accept them or because of his own personal fear that his marketable reputation would be ruined.

In 1903‚ after living in New York City for three years‚ Livy became ill, and Sam and his wife returned to Italy, where she died a year later. After her death‚ Sam lived in New York until 1908, when he moved into his last house‚ “Stormfield,” in Redding‚ Connecticut. In 1909 his middle daughter Clara was married. In the same year Jean‚ the youngest daughter‚ died from an epileptic seizure. Four months later, on April 21‚ 1910‚ Sam Clemens died at age 74.

Like any good journalist‚ Sam Clemens‚ a.k.a. Mark Twain‚ spent his life observing and reporting on his surroundings. In his writings he provided images of the romantic‚ the real‚ the strengths and weaknesses of a rapidly changing world. By examining his life and his works‚ we can read into the past – piecing together various events of the era and the responses to them. We can delve into the American mindset of the late nineteenth century and make our own observations of history‚ discover new connections‚ create new inferences and gain better insights into the time period and the people who lived in it. As Sam once wrote‚ “Supposing is good‚ but finding out is better.”

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Books | With ‘James,’ Percival Everett may now be…

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Books | with ‘james,’ percival everett may now be america’s greatest living author — and its hardest interview.

I’ve had difficult interviews before. I’ve interviewed Lou Reed, who may be the most notoriously difficult interview subject of the past half century. (It went badly.) I once walked out of an interview with John Cusack because he seemed pointlessly combative and I was poorly prepared. I’ve had pleasant conversationalists who call minutes before deadline to claim everything just said is off the record. (“Off the record” does not work like that.) David Mamet once answered my questions with shrugs and mumbles, and when I said the story would appear in the newspaper soon, he responded, his voice as flat as a two-by-four: “Oh goodie gumdrops for me. Oh goodie gumdrops on the gumdrop tree.”

But I have never had an interview subject tell me, up front, he was hard to talk to.

Percival Everrett said this when I met him the other day at the Fine Arts Building. He was not a jerk — far from it. He was just being honest. He doesn’t do much press, and probably one of the reasons is that he has no urge to explain his work or what it means.

You probably wouldn’t want to either if you were Percival Everett.

He’s spent decades as a literary secret. His first novel came out 41 years ago. He’s since written two dozen more, six books of poetry, four volumes of short stories and a children’s book. He’s unclassifiable, though like other Black authors, he spent decades watching his work shelved to one side, in Black Authors sections. If you know the name Percival Everett, it’s likely because, his breakthrough, “Erasure,” published 23 years ago, told the story of a writer sorta like Everett who is frustrated by how the industry sees Black authors and writes an outlandishly pandering “realistic urban novel” (“My Pafology”) that accidentally turns into a smash. “American Fiction,” the recent Jeffrey Wright film, was the director Cord Jefferson’s Oscar-winning adaptation of “Erasure,” and to date, it’s the closest Everett has come to a household name.

It also capped a remarkable run of very acclaimed, often very funny novels — “I Am Not Sidney Poitier,” the Pulitzer finalist “Telephone,” the Booker finalist “The Trees,” the National Book Award finalist “Dr. No” — that’s about to soar with “James,” his latest, which revisits Jim, the runaway slave from “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and, a year out, already feels like a 2025 Pulitzer contender. It feels destined to push Everett into that rare American class — famous literary figure. But as Jefferson recently told the New Yorker about Everett: “I’ve never met somebody who gives less of a (expletive).”

Everett, in person, feels like Dylan that way. He’s not playful or caustic, but isn’t eager to satisfy anyone’s assumptions about himself or his books. He will not be pinned up on your wall. He teaches writing at the University of Southern California, but also trains horses and works as an accomplished abstract painter, and as a jazz guitarist, and, in interviews, will just as likely refer to himself as a working cowboy as a working author.

“I don’t take for granted when people are interested in my books,” he said to me, “but I am not the most outgoing person. They tell me I am one of those ‘difficult’ interviews.”

“Why?” I asked.

“I don’t know much. I wrote ‘James’ but I don’t have a lot to say about what it means.”

“You ‘don’t know much’?”

“I have two teenagers, call them right now, they’ll tell you.”

“Do people feel frustrated talking to you?”

“Maybe an indication of my difficulty is I don’t pay much attention to how they feel.”

Why agree to talk to the press then, I asked.

“I like my publicist, and my editor. The attention doesn’t make my work different. It’s like winning prizes. It would be nice to win every week but it doesn’t change the work, right? I can’t tell anybody what this means because readers know better what a book means, and who cares about the writing! What’s there to say of my writing? I use punctuation.”

Everett is 67, with gray tendrils poking beneath a baseball cap. He seemed to wince his words. “James,” he said before it could be asked — despite the formality of a name known for a century as Jim — is no reworking of Mark Twain, or redressing of literary wrongs. Characters in several of Everett’s books reclaim a bit of culture: At the end of “The Trees,” thousands of lynched men rise from the dirt to march across the South; in an early short story, Black people begin adopting Confederate flag pins, which leads to the State Capitol of South Carolina (where Everett grew up) removing Confederate flags.

“I think people assume because I am revisiting Twain, I am correcting. I love Twain’s novel. It doesn’t arise from dissatisfaction. If anything, I am flattering myself thinking I am in conversation with Twain. No, I read it 15 times in a row before writing this! I finished, then started again at page one, right away, again and again. I wanted to inhabit that world, not the text. I didn’t want to just repeat the novel. So I read it until it became nonsensical to me — and then never looked at it again when I was writing. Everything you are reading is a memory of that world. The flow of the writing worked best that way.”

“James,” rather, refocuses Twain, shifting the plot line from Huck Finn to James, who is no simple slave now, taking care of Huck and speaking in a dialect. Everett’s James, who has an internal ticker now and a soul and a mission, is an ace code switcher. He reaches for his “slave filter,” lending everyday thoughts a gullibility and naiveté just long enough not to raise the suspicions of white people, who expect him docile and childlike. The book should come packaged with Twain’s 1884 novel, but you don’t need to know Twain yourself to appreciate the humor, and the adventure, and the release of Everett.

I noted Hemingway’s famous line, that all of American literature stems from “Huck Finn.”

“That’s reductive and not completely true,” Everett said, “and yet, yes, Huck Finn, the character, he does represent an adolescent America, moving through the landscape, trying to reconcile himself with his friend, who is both property and a human being. The use of vernacular is remarkable in the book. It’s also a comfortable telling of that story. It’s also flawed. (Twain) stopped in the middle of writing and put it aside and came back later and you can feel the demarcation. With the reintroduction of Tom Sawyer to the story, it becomes much more of an adventure novel and veers away from its real lives.

“To say it is important is not to say it is perfect. No important work of art is perfect.”

“Would you ever revisit another classic?” I asked.

“I can’t imagine,” Everett said.

“‘Moby-Dick’?”

“It would have to be ‘Richard.’’”

He thought a moment. “I have had one to-do list book most of my career. I want to make an abstract novel. Unfortunately, I don’t know what an abstract novel looks like.”

That could be a line in a Percival Everett novel — so deadpan ironic, it reads like a joke.

“What do you mean by abstract?” I asked.

“I wish I could tell you.”

“‘Finnegans Wake’?”

“As much as I like ‘Finnegans Wake,’ you can’t read it. You read at it, you decipher.”

“What’s the difference between ‘Finnegans Wake’ and an abstract novel?”

“I am a fan of James Joyce, but would argue, for all its layers, it is not a novel.”

Everett has written Westerns and thrillers and heist novels and books about Greek myths and books about baby geniuses. He wrote a book about a professor who teaches the study of nothing, and “I Am Not Sidney Poitier,” which tells the story of a character named Not Sidney Poitier who meets a character named Percival Everett and gets adopted by Ted Turner and Jane Fonda. If you giggled, you’d love Everett. He soaks in language, with great invention, but without ever leaving the ground. He’s fun to read. When I asked him to name his favorite books, he mentioned the realism of Chester Himes, but also Dr. Seuss, Laurence Sterne’s famous difficult 18th-century satire “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman,” but also Louis Sachar’s “Wayside School” children series. In “James,” as in many of his books, another book somehow slips into the book you’re reading. James takes the notebook of real-life figure Daniel Decatur Emmett, who is credited with both founding the first blackface minstrel troupe and as the songwriter of “Dixie.” But James, who plans to use the notebook to write his own biography, doesn’t remove Emmett’s songs to make room. He decides that “They were necessary to my story.”

Everett is dismissive of his own work.

“Well, I have no affection for it,” he told me. “When I am done, it’s gone. I don’t judge it one way or another. It’s not mine now. I can’t control what it means once it goes out.”

So you don’t walk away disappointed that it didn’t live up to what you hoped?

“I never read it again! I never feel comfortable. I feel like a fraud, is what I feel like. I am still trying to figure out how to do this. I am a different person after I finish, and I will be a different person tomorrow. Who can say if I’m good or bad? That question is for history.”

[email protected]

Update: This story has been changed to correct the title of the fictional book within “Erasure.”

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Insight Guides City Guide Moscow (Travel Guide with Free eBook) (Insight City Guides) Paperback – January 1, 2017

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Moscow is a fascinating mix of old and new, East meets West, elegance and kitsch and spirituality and dowdiness. Be inspired to visit by the new edition of City Guide Moscow, a comprehensive full-colour guide to the fascinating capital of Russia. City Guide Moscow: A fully-overhauled edition by our expert Russia author. Stunning, specially-commissioned new photography that brings this intriguing city and its people to life. Highlights of the city's top attractions, including the Red Square, The Kremlin and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. in our Best of Moscow. Descriptive accounts of each neighbourhood cover the whole city from the Red Square and Tverskaya and Lubyanka. The Day Trips from Moscow chapter includes the ancient cities of the Golden Ring. Detailed, high-quality maps throughout will help you get around and travel tips give you all the essential information for planning a memorable trip.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides has over 40 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps as well as picture-packed eBooks to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture together create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

'Insight Guides has spawned many imitators but is still the best of its type.' - Wanderlust Magazine

• Print length 256 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Insight Guides
• Publication date January 1, 2017
• Dimensions 5.5 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
• ISBN-10 1780059388
• ISBN-13 978-1780059389
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• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Insight Guides; 2nd edition (January 1, 2017)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1780059388
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1780059389
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
• #47 in Moscow Travel Guides
• #455 in General Russia Travel Guides

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Insight guides.

Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design.

We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs.

Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

insightguides.com

Dinah Gardner

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