The Great American Novelist(a)|美国文豪马克‧吐温

by Rebecca A. Fratzke and Marcus Maurice

Mark Twain is a legend in American literature.

On November 30, 1835 in a small town in Missouri, Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born. Though the baby boy was small and seemed sickly, he would go on to become one of the most famous literary figures the world has ever known. Samuel Clemens made a name for himself with his pen name Mark Twain.

When he was around four years old, the Clemens family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain spent his childhood. Hannibal was the inspiration for St. Petersburg, the fictional city in his well-known novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. At the age of 13, Twain got his first job as a printer's apprentice and a few years later had his first writings published in his brother's newspaper, The Hannibal Journal. He educated himself by studying in public libraries and traveling the US, gaining experience and material that would later be used in his writings. In 1870, Twain married Olivia Langdon after having fallen in love with her at the first sight of her picture. The couple had four children and were together until Olivia's death 34 years later. The family lived in Hartford, Connecticut and took summer vacations at Quarry Farm during the 1870s and 1880s. During this time, Twain wrote many of his most famous novels.

Aside from writing, Twain had a passion for science and made friends with some of the most important scientists of that era, including Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison. Twain even predicted his own death. He said he would die during the passing of Halley's Comet, just as he had come into the world with it. Twain was correct and passed away on April 21, 1910 from a heart attack.

美国文豪马克‧吐温

马克‧吐温是美国文坛上的传奇人物。

1835年 11 月 30 日，山缪‧朗赫恩‧克里门斯在密苏里州的一个小镇诞生。虽然这个小男婴身形瘦小，看似体弱多病，但是他却在日后成为全世界最知名的大文豪之一。山缪‧克里门斯以笔名马克‧吐温扬名于世。

　　克里门斯一家在马克‧吐温大约 4 岁的时候搬到密苏里州的汉尼拔市，马克‧吐温在此度过了他的童年。汉尼拔是马克‧吐温著名小说《汤姆历险记》和《顽童流浪记》里虚构的城市──圣彼得堡──的灵感来源。13岁时，马克‧吐温当起了印刷厂的学徒，这是他的第 1 份工作；几年后，他的几篇处女作在他哥哥的报纸《汉尼拔报》刊出。他藉由在公共图书馆读书和在美国各地旅行自学，在这当中得到的经验和写作材料都变成他日后的创作题材。马克‧吐温第一眼看到奥丽薇雅‧兰登的照片后就喜欢上她，两人于 1870 年步入礼堂。他们夫妻俩生了 4个孩子，婚姻维持了 34 年直到奥丽薇雅过世为止。他们一家人住在康乃狄克州的哈特福特，他们在 1870 年代和 1880 年代的夏天都到夸力农庄渡假。在这段期间，马克‧吐温写下了多部最著名的小说。

　　除了写作之外，马克‧吐温也热爱科学，并和当时几位最重要的科学家为友，像是尼古拉‧特斯拉和汤玛士‧爱迪生。马克‧吐温甚至预测自己的死亡，他说自己将在哈雷彗星通过地球时死去，就像他出生时哈雷彗星也曾接近地球一样。马克‧吐温说的没错，他于 1910 年 4 月 21 日因为心脏病去世。