Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 9256 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Amazon.com
In this latest biography of the writer Samuel Clemens, Inventing MarkTwain, Andrew Hoffman plumbs unique territory: the relationship between Clemensand his nom de plume and alter ego, Mark Twain. Twain was, in his writing and in hispublic appearances, affable, witty, satirical, and good-humored. Samuel Clemens, on theother hand, was moody, insecure, frequently depressed, and often riddled with anxiety.Although both personas belonged to one man, it became increasingly difficult forClemens to assume his Twain character. Hoffman's engrossing exploration of Clemens'spsyche reveals why.

Inventing Mark Twain describes a childhood shadowed by Clemens's father'sbusiness failures and the deaths of that father and two siblings before young Samuelreached the age of 12. As an adult, the writer was dogged by financial and personalproblems--investments in failed ventures, the deaths of three children, and the loss of hisbeloved wife, Livy. In view of all these tragedies, it's a wonder Clemens could write asMark Twain, let alone assume that persona. Hoffman carefully considers all these issuesand comes up with the portrait of a complicated man--one who could vote for a pro-slavery presidential candidate in 1860, then create a deeply affecting friendship betweenJim and Huck--the escaped slave and the young white boy who ride the river together inThe Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn. Book Description
This provocative, definitive biography explores the revealing and resonant contradictions between the true character of Samuel Clemens and his self-created alter ego, Mark Twain.

Richly detailed and filled with new information from primary sources,Inventing Mark Twain traces an extraordinary life that led from Mississippi steamboats to the California goldfields to cultural immortality as America's national philosopher. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

First-rate, sensitive, thorough, and a great read.
This is a terrific book that helps us understand the energy behind Mark Twain's genius. Hoffman shows a profound respect for his subject, but doesn't shy away from painting a full portrait of the man behind the icon. If you're looking for a glossy love letter to Twain, read something else. But if you really want to understandhow a scrappy young kid grows up to be a world-renowned talent, this is a great place to start.

Move over Albert Goldman
Andrew Hoffman is to Mark Twain what Albert Goldman was to Lenny Bruce, John Lennon and Elvis Presley-- which is to say a parasitical graverobber who projects his own weirdness onto his subject.

There are way too many legitimate biographies of Clemens for this book to be taken seriously.

One of the best biographies I've ever read!!
This book is captivating from cover to cover. I highly recomend it not only for the subject matter but also for serious students of social history of the 19th Century. The author really did his research.

Little New Here.
Q: If you are writing a biography of a famous author, using recycled material, what can you add to make it sell anyway? A: Claim that the author was gay!(Some people say that you could add insight, but Mr. Hoffmandisagrees). Hoffman bases his assumption of homosexuality on the following"evidence": 1. Mark Twain had very close male friends.2.MarkTwain lived with his male friends.3. Mark Twain went on road trips withhis male friends. (Fraternity brothers beware, Hoffman is coming after younext!) This is just another example of people who don't want to do theirresearch.I'm sure Hoffman looked a lot at the life of Samuel Clemens, butit seems he didn't do his background material.Many, many people from thisera are assumed gay because of the extremely affectionate letters theywrote to their same-sex friends.Guess what?That's just the way theywrote. There are better biographies out there, and they're not too hard tofind.

Great introduction to the life of America's greatest writer.
Hoffman offers an excellent, readable life of America's greatest writer.In its pages, Hoffman reveals the tragedy of Clemens' life; the family problems, the death of his brother, and the loss of his children.With this Hoffman shows a man living a life of great pain and sadness, one who faced a seemingly neverending series of personal crises.

Yet this is also the life of a great humorist, and Hoffman shows the reader the man who created Mark Twain, both Clemens' great savior and his unending curse.Hoffman does a great job of showing the links between Clemens' life and the works of Twain, how the pain and tragedy could produce some of the greatest literature in the English language.Though suffering somewhat from scholastic voguishness (his suggestion of Clemens' possible homosexual relationship in Nevada is rather strained), this is definitely a book that people should read to understand both a great American writer and a great American. ... Read more

Book Description
Mark Twain's Hawaiian adventures. Includes interesting observations on travel and Hawaiian social life and customs. ... Read more