Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is one of America’s best and most beloved writers. Born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Mark Twain “came in with the comet” and as he predicted 'went out with the comet” passing April 21, 1910, the day after Halley’s Comet.
Twain will always be remembered first and foremost as a humorist, but he was a great deal more—a public moralist, popular entertainer, political philosopher, travel writer, and novelist. He acquired international fame for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad (1869), Roughing It (1872), and Life on the Mississippi (1883), and for his adventure stories of boyhood, especially The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). “A gifted raconteur, distinctive humorist, and irascible moralist”, he transcended the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular public and literary figure. His popularity is not only due to the memorable characters he created and his witty insights into social life, but also because of the manner in which he used humour and satire to comment incisively on serious topics like race relations, the Civil War, religion, imperialism and public education.
