lecture 13 mark twain

8/8/2019 Lecture 13 Mark Twain

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American Literature (I) Autumn2008

American Literature (I)

Lecture 13:

Local Colorism - Mark Twain


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Mark Twain Questions

1. What does "Mark Twain" mean?

2. How old was Twain when he began writingstories?

3. What is his first story?4. What did he do after he left school?

5. How do you know that he loved Mississippi Riververy much?

6. What was he famous for?7. Which universities honored him for his writing?

8. How was his last years of life?

9. What do you know about the three stages of histhought and works?


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Answer to the Questions1. Mark Twain means 12 feet deep or 3.66 meters deep.

2. Twain began writing stories when he was about 32 years old.

3. His first story is The Celebrated Jumping Frog of CalaverasCounty.

4. He was a printer, a riverboat pilot, a soldier, a gold miner, a

businessman and a newspaper reporter.5. Three of his most famous books describe people on thisgreat river. They are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, TheAdventures of Huckleberry Finn and Life on the Mississippi. Hispenname is about the river.

6. He was famous for its description of common people and theway they talked, but especially for his humor.

7. Yale and Oxford honored him for his writing.

8. His last years of life was filled with sad events, lonelinessand the loss of much money.

9. The first one is active and lively; the second is full of acid andsatirical sense; the third one is pessimistic and cynic.


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Mark Twain (1835 -1910)

Mark Twain was a great American writer, and he was also afamous speaker.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) was born in Floridaand he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not expected tolive through the first winter. But with his mother's tender care,he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble forhis parents. He used to play jokes on all of his friends andneighbors. He didn't like to go to school, and he constantly ranaway from home.

He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi as heloved the great river so much. His father died when he was 12.

Mark Twain left school and began to work for a printer, whoonly provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as aprinter, a riverboat pilot and later joined the army. But shortlyafter that he became a miner. During this period, he started towrite short stories. Afterwards he became a full-time writer.


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Writing Characteristics of

Mark TwainLiterature is an art of language. Mark Twainslanguage is artistic and like a sharp weapon withoutdoubt. Mark Twain is famous for his humorandsatire.

Mark Twains humor is based on the humor of theWestern in America.

He used a lot ofcolloquial idioms and colloquialsyntax.

He often described persons who was innocent,

simple, naive, and ignorant as his heroes orheroines.

He used the artistic style ofhyperbole on the basis ofthe western traditional humor and made his writingfull ofallegories that lay behind the humor.


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Mark Twains Masterpieces


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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Hemingway once wrote: "All modern American literature comesfrom one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn... it's thebest book we've had... There was nothing before. There hasbeen nothing so good since."

Satire This novel shows Twain's satire on southern culturebefore the Civil War, around 1850, when the Mississippi Valleywas still being settled. Twain condemned racial discrimination.

Style Vernacular language and dialect.

Local Color Twain depicted social life through descriptions oflocal places and people he knew best.

Significance The carefully controlled point of view, with its

implicit ironies expressed through the voice of a semi-literateboy; the masterful use of dialects; the felicitous balancingromanticism and realism, humor and pathos, innocence andevil. This novel creates the most memorable characters in all ofAmerican fiction.


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The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

E-Text at Classical Library

Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn: Text,Illustrations, and Early Reviews

Sparknotes: The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn


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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Novel Information and Resources

Mark Twain's Short Stories and Essays

Collection of Short Stories and Essays by

Mark Twain


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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of

Calaveras Countycompliance n.garrulous a.hereunto ad.append v.dilapidated a.

tavern n.decayed a.Rev.reverend a.feller n.fellowflush v.bust v.straddle-bug n.lattice n.sortersort ofcanary n.

outjump v.quail n.swamp n.slop v.Danl

forepaw n.hop v.heave n.budge v.stir v.anchor v.

baggy a.heft v.belch v.enterprising a.vagabond n.


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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of

Calaveras County

The complete story

A shortened version with Chinese translation


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Homework

Try this Mark Twain Quiz

Textbook reading:The story of The Adventures of Tom SawyerP.50-51

Chapter XXI and XXII, The Adventures of TomSawyer P.51-62

To understand the extracts better pleaserefer to: Study Guide to Chapters 21-24

lecture 13 mark twain

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