MarkTwain—MirrorofAmerica

Groupmembers:孫慧、朱琳、劉娟、李穎余、李旭陽、吳超SamuelLanghorneClemens(November30,1835–April21,1910),wellknownbyhispennameMarkTwain,wasanAmericanauthorandhumorist,essayistandlecturer.MarkTwainisnotedforhisnovelsAdventuresofHuckleberryFinn(1884),whichhasbeencalled“theGreatAmericanNovel”,andtheAdventuresofTomSawyer.IntroduceindetailWritingFeaturesComment

MajorworksMarkTwainwasborninFlorida,Missouri,onNovember30,1835.Hewasthesixthofsevenchildren.Onlythreeofhissiblingssurvivedchildhood.TwainwasborntwoweeksaftertheclosestapproachtoEarthofHalley'sComet.OnDecember4,1985,theUnitedStatesPostalServiceissuedastampedenvelopefor"MarkTwainandHalley'sComet."Introduceindetail

MarkTwainandHalley'sComet

WhenTwainwasfour,hisfamilymovedtoHannibal,Missouri,aporttownontheMississippiRiver.Atthattime,Missouriwasaslavestate,andyoungTwainbecamefamiliarwiththeinstitutionofslavery,athemehewouldlaterexploreinhiswriting.InMarch1847,whenTwainwas11,hisfatherdiedofpneumonia(肺炎).Thenextyear,hebecameaprinter‘sapprentice（學徒）.In1851,hebeganworkingasatypesetterandcontributorofarticlesandhumoroussketchesfortheHannibalJournal,anewspaperownedbyhisbrotherOrion.Whenhewas18,heleftHannibalandworkedasaprinterinNewYorkCity,Philadelphia,St.Louis,andCincinnati.Hejoinedtheunionandeducatedhimselfinpubliclibrariesintheevenings,findingwidersourcesofinformationthanhewouldhaveataconventional（老式旳）school.At22,TwainreturnedtoMissouri.AsayoungmanTwainworkedasariverboatpilotontheMississippiRiver.Whenhestartedhiswritingcareer,SamuelClemensadoptedthename“MarkTwain,”whichmeanttwofathoms,asafedepthforariverboat.In1861,SamuelClemensavoidedthebrewingCivilWarbygoingwest.HetookhisfirstwritingjobasreporterattheVirginiaCityTerritorialEnterprise.Attheageof34,hemarriedOliviaLangdonClemens.ShewasthedaughterofaNewYorkcoalmagnate,amemberofthecountry’swealthyelite.Shewouldalsofurnishhimherfamily’shomeinElmira,NewYork,aplacewherehevisitedoftenandwrotemanyofhisbest-lovedbooks.Becauseoffinancialproblems,ClemenslivedinEuropefrom1891-1901,butthiswasneitherhisfirstnorlasttripabroad.Infact,hewasaninveteratetraveler.Fromtheageof17tothelastfewweeksofhislifehewasalwaysdiscoveringnewplacesandrevisitingold.HecrisscrossedtheAtlanticmorethanadozentimesandalsosawTurkey,Palestine,Hawaii,Australia,India,andSouthAfrica.By1900TwainhadbecomeAmerica’sforemostcelebrity.Heachievedgreatsuccessasawriterandpublicspeaker.Hiswitandsatireearnedpraisefromcriticsandpeers,andhewasafriendtopresidents,artists,industrialists,andEuropeanroyaltyHisLaterLife

Therearemanytragiceventsinhislaterlife:thefailureofhisinvestments,hisfatiguingtravelsandlecturesinordertopayoffhisdebts,andaddedtothis,thedeathofhiswifeandtwodaughterswhichlefthimabsolutelyinconsolable.Somecriticslinkthesetragiceventswiththechangeofstyleinhislaterworks,fromanoptimistandhumoristtoanalmostdespairingdeterminist.WhenhediedonApril21,1910,newspapersaroundthecountrydeclared,“Thewholeworldismourning.”Bythen,SamuelClemenshadlongsinceceasedtobeaprivatecitizen.HehadbecomeMarkTwain,aproudpossessionoftheAmericannation.GraveofMarkTwainWoodlawnCemetery,Elmira,NYMajorworksworksLifeontheMississippi”《密西西比河上》ThisworkisamemoirbyMarkTwaindetailinghisdaysasasteamboatpilotontheMississippiRiverbeforeandaftertheAmericanCivilWarTheAdventuresofTomSawyer（湯姆索亞歷險記)

ThisnoveltalkedaboutayoungboycalledTomSawyergrowingupalongtheMississippiRiver.Itdescribeschildrenpursuitofnoveltyandadventurelife.最偉大旳小朋友文學作品TheAdventuresofHuckleberryFinn《哈克貝利?費恩歷險記》Thisbookisabouthowtosettheslavesfreeandhowtocometrueone’sdreams

Themysteriousstranger(神秘旳陌生人)Heinsistedthatmandrophisreligiousillusionsanddependuponhimself,notProvidence(神)tomakeabetterworld.他指出人類應該摒棄宗教幻想，依托自己而不是上帝旳力量，去發明一種愈加完美旳世界。OtherworksTheManThatCorruptedHadleyburg《敗壞了哈德萊堡旳人》RoughingIt《苦行記》TheAdventuresofTomSawyer《湯姆·索亞歷險記》TheAdventuresofHuckleberryFinn《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》馬克·吐溫四大名著RunningforGovernor《競選州長》The

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《百萬英鎊》TheGildedAge《鍍金時代》TheCelebratedJumpingFrogofCalaverasCounty《卡拉維拉斯縣馳名旳跳蛙》Theinnocentabroad《傻子出國記》Literatureisanartoflanguage.MarkTwain’slanguageisartisticandlikeasharpweaponwithoutdoubt.MarkTwainisfamousforhishumorandsatire.Heusedtheartisticstyleofhyperbole（夸張法）onthebasisofthewesterntraditionalhumorandmadehiswritingfullofallegoriesthatlaybehindthehumor.MarkTwain’sWritingFeatures

MarkTwain’sWritingFeatureslocalcolorrepresentingsociallifethroughportraitsoflocalplaceswhichheknewbestdrawingfromhisownrichfundofknowledgeofpeopleandplaces

talltales(highlyexaggerated夸張)atextureofmostlocalcolorliterature,akindofhumorAMasterofLanguage

shortconcrete（詳細）directineffectsimple,evenungrammatical

sentence&structureswords

Heusedcolloquial(口語化)language,vernacular（地方性）language,dialects（方言）Americandialect

“MarkTwainwasthefirsttrulyAmericanwriter,andallofussincearehisheirs,whodescendedfromhim.”（WilliamFaulkner）

MarkTwain’sWritingFeaturesAnAmericanlanguageMarkTwain’sWritingFeatures

humor

isofwittyremarksmocking（譏諷）atsmallthingsandmakingpeoplelaughisakindofartisticstyleusedtocriticizethesocialinjusticeABriefAssessment

MarkTwainisapartofAmerica.HispersonalsuccessandfailurewerethoseofAmerica.Hemoved,alongwithAmerica,frominnocencetoexperience.ErnestHemingway:AllmodernAmericanliterature