Mark Twain

Twain, Mark (Samuel Langhorne Clemens; 1835–1910), U.S. author and popular humorist and lecturer. After being a printer's apprentice (1848–53), he led a wandering life, becoming a Mississippi river pilot (1857–61) and then a journalist, establishing a reputation with his humorous sketches. In 1869 he produced his first best–seller, The Innocents Abroad, followed by The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1882), his masterpiece Huckleberry Finn (1884), and the satirical A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889). In later life, Twain lost most of his money through speculation and suffered the loss of his wife and daughters. His works became increasingly pessimistic and bitingly satirical, as in The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894) and The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg (1899).