Mark Twain is best known for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, but he also wrote other works that are just as important and influential.
Mark Twain’s classic novel tells the story of Huck Finn, a young boy who runs away from home and floats down the Mississippi River. Along the way, Huck meets a runaway slave named Jim and the two form a close friendship. The novel deals with issues of slavery and racism, and was considered controversial when it was first published.
Twain based the character of Huck Finn on himself, and the novel is semi-autobiographical. The novel has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, and is considered one of the greatest American novels.
Writer was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri in 1835. He worked as a printer’s apprentice before becoming a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River at age 19. He went bankrupt after publishing his first novel The Innocents Abroad (1869), which led him to travel around Europe. In 1867 he married Olivia Langdon whom he would call “Livy” after their marriage (she died in 1904). He continued writing humorous books about life on the Mississippi River.
