Essays on Mark Twain

November 30, 1835

April 21, 1910

Writer, humorist, entrepreneur

• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

• “If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.”
• “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
• “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”
• “Never tell the truth to people who are not worthy of it.”

November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910

Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who acquired international fame for his travel narratives and adventure stories of boyhood. A gifted raconteur, distinctive humorist, and irascible moralist, he transcended the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular public figure and one of America’s best and most beloved writers

“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, “Following the Equator”, “Letters from the Earth”, “Life on the Mississippi”, “Pudd’nhead Wilson”, “Roughing It”, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches”, “The Gilded Age”, “The Innocents Abroad”, “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg”, “The Prince and the Pauper”

Mark Twain's writing style is characterised by humour, strong narrative and evocative descriptions, as well as a brilliant control of vernacular speech. Mark Twain was a humorist, journalist and novelist who became famous internationally for his distinctive style of travel and fictional narratives.

Mark Twain uses many of the same themes in his writing. His novels express the importance of perseverance, loyalty, bravery, and friendship. Additionally, Twain's written works challenged the fundamental issues that faced the America of his time: racism, evolving landscapes, class barriers, access to education and more.

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. Perhaps it is too much to claim, as some have, that Twain invented the American point of view in fiction, but that such a notion might be entertained indicates that his place in American literary culture is secure.

“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.”
“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or pause and reflect).”
“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”