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Mark TwainA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section references racism, enslavement, and white supremacist organizations.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, commonly known by his pen name Mark Twain, was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. After early jobs in printing, mining, typesetting, and riverboat piloting, Twain started his career in writing in 1863 for the Virginia Daily Union. His early writing was characterized by light, humorous work that quickly gained him popularity. His first published work, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” earned him jobs writing travel letters and travel correspondence across America. This early travel literature was often humorous and poked fun at American traditions, society, and romanticism. In 1874, Twain published “A True Story, Word for Word as I Heard It” in the Atlantic Monthly. The short story featured his now well-established light tone but also prefigured his later complex looks at America, the South, and racism. The figure of Aunt Rachel was based on a real woman named Mary Ann Cord, though it is impossible to know whether Twain did in fact record her story in her own words.
In 1876, Mark Twain published one of his most famous works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which tells the story of a boy living on the Mississippi River.
By Mark Twain
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain
Letters from the Earth
Letters from the Earth
Mark Twain
Life on the Mississippi
Life on the Mississippi
Mark Twain
Roughing It
Roughing It
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
The Autobiography of Mark Twain
Mark Twain
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Mark Twain
The Gilded Age
The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
Mark Twain, Charles Dudley Warner
The Innocents Abroad
The Innocents Abroad
Mark Twain
The Invalid's Story
The Invalid's Story
Mark Twain
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg
Mark Twain
The Mysterious Stranger
The Mysterious Stranger
Mark Twain
The Prince and the Pauper
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain
Pudd'nhead Wilson
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
Mark Twain
The War Prayer
The War Prayer
Mark Twain