It is brash, showing at once disdain for and secret envy of the old world, its people, and its institutions. Is this admirable? No, but it epitomizes the experience of Americans abroad. is he dead?" This also drives the Fergusons crazy. And regardless of the site, or museum, their attitude before the remains of some long-ago Renaissance man is the same: "Is. The name drives each Ferguson crazy, but they do it anyway. The author and his cohort call their guides Ferguson, whether in Paris or in Athens.
Why did I call him Stan?įerguson is every tour guide that graces the pages of Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad. It drove him crazy, but I called him Stan anyway.
I don't recall his name, but I decided to call him Stan. When I lived in Madrid years ago I used to buy pistachios from an Iranian refugee in Retiro Park. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age", and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature". Twain worked hard to ensure that all of his creditors were paid in full, even though his bankruptcy had relieved him of the legal responsibility.īorn during a visit by Halley's Comet, he died on its return. With the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers, however, he eventually overcame his financial troubles. Though he made a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he squandered it on various ventures, in particular the Paige Compositor, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty. He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker.
While a reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which proved to be very popular and brought him nationwide attention. He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion. He also worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), called "the Great American Novel", and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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