Notes 6 Mark Twain

Who and what is “Mark Twain”?•Mark Twain—pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens•“By the mark, twain”, “twain” means two fathoms (英寻=6英尺) deep—that the water was deep enough for safe passage.Life•Family background;•Work experience;•Mississippi River:•Grew up along the Mississippi river.•Work as a riverboat pilot→His pen name and his writing: the raft scenes of Huckleberry Finn and the autobiographical work Life on the Mississippi.•Shut down during the Civil War →Joined a Confederate army but deserted later.•Go West! →first as a silver miner in Nevada and then as a journalist.Life•In 1863, Clemens began to sign articles with the name Mark Twain;•Encouraged by Artemus Ward and Bret Harte;•“The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (1865)→ national sensation.•Celebrity in the late 1860s and 1870s: Twain’s works characterized by his wit, language, dialect. •Marriage: 1870 married Olivia Langdon.His ResidenceCollapse(the late 1880s and 1890s)•Loss of wife and children;•Loss of fortune in poor investments and financial decisions.•Twain’s writing reflects a depression and righteous rage at the injustices of the world.Literary Achievements•1st Period—Humor and Realism•The Celebrated/Notorious Jumping Frog of the Calaveras Country 《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》(1867):his first collection of short stories;•Innocents Abroad or the New Pilgrims’ Progress《傻子国外旅行记》(1869): his first collection of essays, assured his position as a leading author;•Roughing It《艰苦岁月》(1872):semi-autobiographical travel literature;1st Period:Humor and Realism•The Gilded Age《镀金时代》(1873): his first novel satirizes greed and political corruption in post-Civil War America; •The Adventures of Tom Sawyer《汤姆·索耶历险记》(1876): a nostalgic tale of boyish adventures in a Mississippi town. 2nd Period:Social Criticism and Satire•The Prince and the Pauper《王子与贫儿》(1882);•Life on the Mississippi《密西西比河上》(1883): a memoir;•The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》(1884): the sequel to Tom Sawyer, his masterpiece;•A Connecticut Yankee in Kin g Arthur’s Court《亚瑟王朝上的康涅狄格州美国人》(1889): satirizes oppression in feudal England;•The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson《傻瓜威尔逊》(1894): a satire on racism;3rd Period:Pessimism and Bitter Attack on the Human Race•The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg 《败坏哈德莱堡的人》(1900)•To the Person Sitting in Darkness《写给坐在黑暗中的人》(1901): satirizes western imperialism;•The Mysterious Stranger《神秘的陌生人》(1916): published posthumous.Writing Features•Colloquial language/vernacular -- his great contribution to American literature•He made colloquial speech an accepted, respected literary medium in the literary history of America.•Humor and satire•Exaggeration, slang, cartoon•American Humor;•Tell outrageous jokes in a calm, innocent, matter-of-fact manner.The Age of Realism•The 1860s and 1870s: the age of realism started:•The main object of the novel→•Represent the life (Henry James, “The Art of Fiction”);•Keep the soul, the life, and the speech of the people in mind (Mark Twain);•Style: vernacular diction; rough frontier humor;•Representatives: William Dean Howells, Henry James, Mark Twain, etc.Local Color地方色彩主义•First appeared in the late 1860s and early 1870s (Regionalism)•Local colorists aim to present and interpret the local character of their regions; They tended to idealize and glorify, but never forgot to keep an eye on the truthful color of local life.•Local colorists formed an important part of the realistic movement. Their truthful depiction of the common people in their commonplace lives added strength to the fight for realism:•﹡local colloquial language•﹡local background•﹡local themeLocal Color•Originated from the frontier tall-tale tradition;•Representatives: Mark Twain, Bret Harte, etc.•The job of the native novelist was not to generalize the nation but to depict each of the country’s regions and peoples accurately. --How to Tell a Story and Other Essays by Mark TwainTall Tale•A humorous account of the impossible exploits of a hero possessing superhuman abilities.•Part of the literature of the American frontier;•Verisimilitude with its realistic setting, colloquial dialogue, matter-of-fact style→ make its hyperbole believable. Significance of Mark Twain•A renowned humorist and satirist;•He ends the domination of American Literature by New England writers and creates a truly American literature: •His adherence to American themes, settings, and language:•→ precipitated the end of American reverence for British and European culture and the more formal language.•→ William Faulkner:“In my opinion, Mark Twain was the first truly American writer, and all of us since are his heirs, who descended from him.”The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn1884•Picaresque/Bildungsroman•Humanism ultimately triumphs.•A hymn to the antebellum America which retains the virtues of “some simplicity, some innocence, some peace” → the moral values vanished with the war.•Style: the colloquial style in the general standard speech of uneducated Americans: the Missouri negro dialect, the backwoods SW dialect, etc.Questions on the Plot•Q. Is this novel a s imply “children’s book”? Why?•Themes:•* racism and slavery•* intellectual and moral education•* the hypocrisy of “civilized” societyQuestions on Chapter 11•1. When Huck first met the woman, did she suspect that he was not a girl? How do you know?•2. What had Huck done with his hands that betrayed himself?•3. Why did the woman ask Huck’s name for a second time? How did he try to explain away his mistake?•4. What devices did the woman contrive to make certain that Huck was a boy?•5. What questions did the woman ask to make certain that Huck lived in the country?•6. Did Huck tell the whole truth in the end?•7. What are the linguistic features of the narration?•8. How do you like the story told in this chapter? What qualities do you think make it so fascinating and amusing?。