Mark Twain, 1835-1904: One of America's Best Known Writers
Today we tell about one of America's best-known writers, Mark Twain. We also talk about his famous book, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Mark Twain wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in eighteen eighty-four. Since then, the book has been published in at least sixty languages. Some people say it is the best book ever created by an American writer. American students still read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." And parents, teachers and literary experts still debate the issues discussed in the book.
The writer who became Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in eighteen thirty-five. He grew up in Hannibal, Missouri on the Mississippi River. After his father died in eighteen forty-seven, young Samuel went to work as an assistant to a publisher. Ten years later, he became a pilot on a steamboat that sailed on the Mississippi. He heard the riverboat workers call out the words "mark twain!" That was a measure for the depth of water.
However, his later life was not a happy one. Two of his daughters died. His wife died in nineteen-oh-four after a long sickness. Some critics think Mark Twain's later works were more serious because of his sadness. He died of heart failure in nineteen ten.
They know that Twain was really attacking racism. But he attacked indirectly, and with humor. So they feel young people will not understand what he was attempting to do. A few American schools have banned the book for young children. A few have banned it for all students. Some schools used a version in which all racist words have been removed.
Other people say young people can understand "Huckleberry Finn" if they study it with a good teacher. They say the book remains one of the best denunciations of racism ever written.
There is no longer any debate about the importance of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in American literature. In nineteen thirty-five, Ernest Hemingway wrote: "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called 'Huckleberry Finn.' There was nothing before. And there has been nothing as good since."
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Source: Mark Twain: One of America's Best Known and Best Loved Writers
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