Презентация - Знаменитые писатели

Mark Twain
The presentation was prepared by students : Lysyuk Polina and Khabiryalova Elizaveta

Introduction
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was a famous American writer and humorist. He was better known by his pen friend Mark Twain. Perhaps, everybody knows about the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. The author of these stories was Mark Twain.

Biography
He was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30th, 1835. When he was four years old his family moved to Hannibal in Missouri. It was a port town on the Mississippi River, which inspired the fictional town in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. He was only eleven when his father died and he soon began working as a printer’s apprentice and contributor of funny sketches. When he was 18 he left the town to work in New York, Philadelphia and some other large cities as a printer.

Education
His father was an unsuccessful lawyer. The family seldom lived more than a year or two in the same town. That is why the future writer did not even finish secondary school. He went to work at the age of 12. For two years he worked for his elder brother’s small newspaper both as a printer and reporter.

Mark Twain travelled a lot. While being on the voyage to New Orleans he met Horace E. Bixby, who was a steamboat pilot and who later inspired a young author to become a pilot too. He soon obtained a steamboat pilot license. Until 1861 he worked as a pilot. He also persuaded his brother Henry to work together. In 1858 Henry died in steamboat explosion. It was known that Mark Twain foresaw this accident in his dream.

Beginning of literary career
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Twain chose not to get involved and moved to Carson City, Nevada. After an unsuccessful attempt at gold and silver mining, he joined the staff of a newspaper in Virginia City, Nevada. Twain wrote his first popular short story in 1865; it was called The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

Rise to fame
In 1876 he wrote “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”. This book became popular not only with kids but also with adults. It was translated nearly into every language in the world. The book was such a success that in 1884 he wrote “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Later he also wrote “Tom Sawyer Abroad”, “Tom sawyer the Detective” etc. There were many other books written by Mark Twain.

His others works
Between 1873 and 1889 Twain wrote several novels, including The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur`s Court. Mark Twain was also the author of satires and critical pages revealing a good deal of the truth about the American way of life.

Married life
Mark Twain had a wife, Olivia Langdon. They married in 1870, although she refused his first marriage proposal. They lived in Buffalo, New York. He began working as a writer and editor for a newspaper. The couple had 3 daughters: Jean, Clara and Susie. His son died of diphtheria. Olivia died in 1904. They lived together for 34 years. Unfortunately last years of the life Twain had to see death of his family: his wife and three children. After that he claimed that he didn’t believe in religion and God anymore.

Conclusion
Mark Twain’s stories enjoy widespread popularity. His characters are always well-drawn, his stories are true-to-life and the plots of his stories are skilfullybuilt up. Many years have passed since Mark Twain’s death, but even now we enjoy reading his works. Besides being a humorist, Mark Twain is also a realist — the author of biting satires and bitterly critical pages revealing a good deal of the truth about American way of life. The great writer died in April 21 in 1910.