Born in 1835, Samuel Langhorn Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, is one of the most famous American writers of all time. After the early death of Twain's father, the young Twain found work as a printer for his brother's newspaper [Kaplan 24]. It was here that the young writer began writing stories and developing the sly voice that would distinguish his later work.Feeling himself drawn to the south, Twain began working on a steamboat, an experience that would form the basis for his literary adventures set in the American South. This career came to an end abruptly however with The Civil War and the installation of the American railroad system [Kaplan 49]. After going out west and working in the frontier, Twain began writing in earnest.His most popular book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn now stands as a primary example of the "the American novel" and indeed most American authors look to him as the formative voice in American literature. It is hard to imagine what shape American prose might have taken had it not been for Twain's influence at that particular time, but regardless, his shadow is still felt even in the 21st century among young authors. After writing many acclaimed classics and working regular as a humorist and commentator on the era in which he lived, Twain died in 1910 [ Powers 6].His journey was not so easy though. Before California, Twain's humorous writing was malicious. He enjoyed offending the sensibilities of "proper society," and used his sarcastic writing style to do so. His reputation in Virginia City suffered. In his letters, he experimented with colloquial first person narratives. He used these characters to separate the vulgarities in his writing from himself. His narrators were older, more experienced working class people, far removed from Eastern social graces. Twain wrote their language as he heard it. He ignored the rules of English and wrote phonetically, as this was the only way to express dialect [Kaplan 120]. Twain eventually wore out his welcome in Virginia City. An ongoing war of words with the editor of a rival paper got out of hand and after challenging the man to a duel, a felony in Nevada, Twain left for California with two of his coworkers [Powers 31]. Writing in Virginia City gave Twain the chance to sharpen his wit and taught him the boundaries between humor and offense, but it did not launch him as a national celebrity to freely publish to his heart's desire.Twain learned to temper his writing when the need arose, and wrote journalistically for a few California papers. His reputation in California grew from these less offensive articles. At the same time, Twain created a character called "The Unreliable," whose disrespectful antics allowed Twain to satirize gentle society, but without direct attribution to himself. The Unreliable was in reality Twain's unregulated side.In San Francisco, inspired by the scandals, corruption, and injustices Twain began to publish again with his...
