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Introduction to the Second Edition PROLOGUE The autobiography Samuel Clemens constructed is held together not by facts, nor plot, nor sequence, nor point of view, nor even by editorial fiat. The material is unified by Clemens' singular voice as it vibrates between rage and reverence, affection and hatred, joy and sorrow. It is held together by a voice at once truthful and fraudulent, but always genuine. And Clemens' honesty remains intact because this is the way he thinks about, sees, and interprets his past. SAMUEL CLEMENS' LIFE Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on 30 November 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth of seven children and spent the first seventeen years of his life in and around the Mississippi River and the family's home in Hannibal, Missouri. Sometime after his father's death in 1847, Sam was placed as a printer's apprentice: that began his sixty-year relationship with journalism and writing.l The printing trade continued Clemens' education by allowing him access to a variety ofwriting styles and to myriad opportunities to read and practice a brand of untamed humor. It also guaranteed him a trade that he could use to support himself during his first trip out of the Mississippi Valley in 1853 when he headed east to experience the excitement and the frustration of life in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.2 That trip east was the first that took him far away from Hannibal and foreshadows his adult interest in the literary centers of the East. After he returned home he continued to work as a printer (most often for his brother Orion) until he decided in 1857 to head to New Orleans in the xix xx Introduction to the Second Edition hope of finding passage to South America where he could earn a fortune trafficking in coca leaves. His hopes dashed (there were no ships traveling to Brazil), he became a "cub" river pilot, eventually earning his professional license in 1859. Soon after the start of the American Civil War, which made it more dangerous to be a Mississippi River pilot, Sam served very brieRy as a member of the Marion County Rangers (a regional and Confederate militia band) until he turned his attention west and, with Orion, who had been named the new Secretary to the Nevada Territory, crossed the American continent by stagecoach. He found no prospects in silver mining but did settle on a trade in journalism and a pen name-Mark Twain. In 1867 he toured the Mediterranean as part of the Quaker City cruise, which would lead to his first book, Innocents Abroad. During the next forty years he traveled extensively; ultimately, he spent a decade living in Europe, made a fortune, declared bankruptcy, circumnavigated the globe, and remade his fortune. In all, Sam Clemens lived in Virginia City, Nevada; San Francisco, California; Buffalo and Elmira, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; a series of European cities (among them London, Paris, Florence, and Vienna); New York City; and Redding, Connecticut. He adopted a variety of professions: printer, cub reporter, steamboat pilot, silver miner, journalist, correspondent, lecturer, novelist, entrepreneur, publisher, and, finally, celebrity and sage. He was known by most Americans and a by good part of the world as a humorist; he was also a sharp and cutting moralist. Clemens married Olivia Langdon ("Livy") of Elmira on 2 February 1870 and remained devoted to her throughout his life. Their life together was a potent mix of happiness and sorrow.3 They shared Rush times during which they lived in a showcase home in Hartford, Connecticut, became well established in the social order of that city and spent summers at Quarry Farm in Elmira.4 They shared the discomfort and embarrassment ofbankruptcy after Clemens' investments in the Paige typesetting machine and his running of the Charles L. Webster & Co. publishing firm soured.5 But they also shared the credit for repaying the debts that grew out of those failures and for a triumphant return to the United States in 1900 after years of financial exile in Europe. The couple also rejoiced in their children: Langdon was born during the first year of the Clemenses' marriage on 7 November 1870; Olivia Susan (Susy) was born on 19 March 1872; Clara Langdon was born on 8 June 1874; and Jane Lampton (Jean) was born on 26 July 1880. All but Langdon were vibrant in their youth. Clemens' literary life was enhanced and energized by the family's time together; however...

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