Mark TwainMark Twain Mirror of AmericaMirror of America 1Group members: 孙慧、朱琳、刘娟、 李颖余、李旭阳、吴超2Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 April 21, 1910), well known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist, essayist and lecturer .Mark Twain is noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), which has been called “the Great American Novel”, and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer.3Introduce in detailWriting FeaturesComment Major works4Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. He was the sixth of seven children. Only three of his siblings survived childhood. Twain was born two weeks after the closest approach to Earth of Halleys Comet. On December 4, 1985, the United States Postal Service issued a stamped envelope for Mark Twain and Halleys Comet. Introduce in detail5 Mark Twain and Halleys Comet6When Twain was four, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a port town on the Mississippi River. At that time, Missouri was a slave state, and young Twain became familiar with the institution of slavery, a theme he would later explore in his writing.7In March 1847, when Twain was 11, his father died of pneumonia(肺炎肺炎). The next year, he became a printers apprentice（学徒）（学徒）. In 1851, he began working as a typesetter and contributor of articles and humorous sketches for the Hannibal Journal, a newspaper owned by his brother Orion. 8When he was 18, he left Hannibal and worked as a printer in New York City, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Cincinnati. He joined the union and educated himself in public libraries in the evenings, finding wider sources of information than he would have at a conventional（传统的） school. At 22, Twain returned to Missouri.9As a young man Twain worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. When he started his writing career, Samuel Clemens adopted the name “Mark Twain,” which meant two fathoms, a safe depth for a riverboat.Pictures from www.pbs.org10In 1861, Samuel Clemens avoided the brewing Civil War by going west. He took his first writing job as reporter at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. Pictures from www.pbs.org11At the age of 34,he married Olivia Langdon Clemens. She was the daughter of a New York coal magnate, a member of the countrys wealthy elite. She would also furnish him her familys home in Elmira, New York, a place where he visited often and wrote many of his best-loved books.Pictures from www.pbs.org12Because of financial problems, Clemens lived in Europe from 1891-1901, but this was neither his first nor last trip abroad. In fact, he was an inveterate traveler. From the age of 17 to the last few weeks of his life he was always discovering new places and revisiting old. He crisscrossed the Atlantic more than a dozen times and also saw Turkey, Palestine, Hawaii, Australia, India, and South Africa.13By 1900 Twain had become Americas foremost celebrity. He achieved great success as a writer and public speaker. His wit and satire earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty Pictures from www.pbs.org14His Later Life There are many tragic events in his later There are many tragic events in his later life: the failure of his investments, life: the failure of his investments, his fatiguing travels and lectures in his fatiguing travels and lectures in order to pay off his debts, and added to order to pay off his debts, and added to this, the death of his wife and two this, the death of his wife and two daughters which left him absolutely daughters which left him absolutely inconsolable. Some critics link these inconsolable. Some critics link these tragic events with the change of style tragic events with the change of style in his later works, from an optimist and in his later works, from an optimist and humorist to an almost despairing humorist to an almost despairing determinist.determinist.15When he died on April 21, 1910, newspapers around the country declared, “The whole world is mourning.” By then, Samuel Clemens had long since ceased to be a private citizen. He had become Mark Twain, a proud possession of the American nation.16 Grave of Mark Twain Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, NY 1718Major worksTrilogy of Mississippi(密西西比河三部曲密西西比河三部曲)The mysterious stranger神秘的陌生人Other worksworks19Trilogy of Mississippi(密西西比河三部曲密西西比河三部曲)Life on the Mississippi密西西比河上密西西比河上The Adventures of Tom Sawyer（汤姆索亚历险记（汤姆索亚历险记)The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 哈克贝利哈克贝利费恩历险记费恩历险记20Life on the Mississippi” 密西西密西西比河上比河上 This work is a memoir by Mark Twain detailing his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before and after the American Civil War21The Adventures of Tom Sawyer（汤姆索亚历险记（汤姆索亚历险记) This novel talked about a young boy called Tom Sawyer growing up along the Mississippi River. It describes children pursuit of novelty and adventure life.最伟大的儿童文学作品最伟大的儿童文学作品22The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 哈克贝利哈克贝利费恩历险记费恩历险记This book is about how to set the slaves free and how to come true ones dreams 23The mysterious stranger(神秘的神秘的陌生人陌生人)He insisted that man drop his religious illusions and depend upon himself, not Providence(神) to make a better world.他指出人类应该摒弃宗教幻想，依靠自己而不是上帝的力量，去创造一个更加完美的世界。24Other worksThe Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg 败坏了哈德莱堡的人Roughing It苦行记The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 汤姆索亚历险记The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 哈克贝利费恩历险记马克吐温四大名著25Running for Governor竞选州长The Million Pound Note 百万英镑The Gilded Age镀金时代The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County 卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙The innocent abroad傻子出国记26Literature is an art of language. Mark Twains language is artistic and like a sharp weapon without doubt. Mark Twain is famous for his humor and satire. He used the artistic style of hyperbole（夸张法 ）on the basis of the western traditional humor and made his writing full of allegories that lay behind the humor. Mark Twains Writing Features27 Mark Twains Writing Featureslocal colorrepresenting social life through portraits of local places which he knew best drawing from his own rich fund of knowledge of people and places tall tales (highly exaggerated 夸张) a texture of most local color literature, a kind of humor28A Master ofLanguage shortconcrete （具体）direct in effect simple, even ungrammatical sentence & structures words He used colloquial (口语化)language, vernacular（地方性） language, dialects （方言）American dialect “Mark Twain was the first truly American writer, and all of us since are his heirs, who descended from him.” （William Faulkner） Mark Twains Writing FeaturesAn American language 29Mark Twains Writing Features humor is of witty remarks mocking（讥讽） at small things and making people laughis a kind of artistic style used to criticize the social injustice30A Brief Assessment Mark Twain is a part of America. His personal success and failure were those of America. He moved, along with America, from innocence to experience. Ernest Hemingway : All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. . There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.31Dont go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first. 别到处说世界亏欠了你。世界什么都不欠你的，你还没出生它就在这儿了。 Tell the truth forever, such of words you need not recorded you to once say some what. 永远说实话，这样的话你就不用去记你曾经说过些什么。 His Famous Words32Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.每个人就像一轮月亮，不愿意将黑暗的一面让别人看到。 A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes .真理还在穿鞋的时候，谎言就走遍了半个世界。Humor has been well defined as thinking in fun while feeling in earnest.幽默被人正确地解释为“以诚挚表达感受，寓深思于嬉笑”。33