Mark Twain

3. Racial concern
In Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, Twain used the word “nigger” more than 200 times. Hence, the argument over racism becomes the concern of the critics. Actually as a realistic writer, Twain just presents true pictures of the social life at his time. Twain only mirrors the social reality. Moreover, Twain evaluates man not as whites or blacks but as equals on earth. In this sense, Twain is not a racist at all, but a humanist.
Mark Twain 4. Artistic view

Twain’s literary views have been tied to realism because they seem to be based on hostility toward romantic literature, toward art or writing derived from outworn tradition and clichérather than observation and experience. Twain also detests psychological analysis; he wants comic effects and fun.
Mississippi River
Mississippi River
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Professions
1 Worked as printer's apprentice and typesetter in Hannibal, MO, 1847-50; 2 associated with Hannibal Journal, 1850-52; 3 typesetter, 1853-57;4 apprentice riverboat pilot, 1857-59;5 riverboat pilot, 1859-60;6 secretary and government worker in Nevada, 1860-62; 7 miner, 1862;8 Territorial Enterprise, Virginia City, NV, reporter ,1862-64;9 Morning Call, San Francisco, reporter under Twain pseudonym, 1864;10 Sacramento Union, Sacramento, CA, correspondent under Twain pseudonym, 1866; 11Daily Morning, San Francisco, correspondent under Twain pseudonym, 1866-69;12 Buffalo Express, editor under Twain pseudonym, 1869-71.13 Owner of Charles L. Webster & Co. (publishers), early 1.
Mark Twain
2. His peculiar humor
He used a lot of colloquial idioms and colloquial syntax; often described persons who were innocent, simple, naive, and ignorant as his heroes or heroines; applied the first person to act as various kinds of comic figures who had simple mind and did things depending on their own subjective desire, which made the books real. In addition, he used the artistic style of hyperbole on the basis of the western traditional humor and made his writing full of allegories that lay behind the humor.
Mark Twain 5. Local color

The local color refers to a group of writers in the late 19th century whose writings carry with them the quality of texture, that is, the elements that characterize a local culture, elements such as speech, customs peculiar to one particular place, and the quality of background, which cover physical setting and those distinctive quality of landscape that condition human thought and behavior. The aim is to create the illusion of an little world with qualities that tells it apart from the world outside.
Mark Twain’s Works
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Jumping Frog (1865) The Innocents Abroad (1869) Roughing It (1872) The Gilded Age (1873) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) A Tramp Abroad (1880) Life on the Mississippi (1883) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) What is man? (1906)
2. Development in technology
Background information


II. Characteristics of literary writings 1. Realism 2. Local color
Mark Twain
Biographical Introduction
What is realism？
As a literary movement realism came in the latter half of the nineteenth century as a reaction against “the lie” of romanticism and sentimentalism. It expressed the concern for the world of experience, of the common place, and for the familiar and the low. The author must write what he or she observed and knew. Their focus of attention is directed to what is brutal or sordid, and to the open portrayal of class struggle. The three dominant figures of the period are William Howells, Mark Twain and Henry James.
Mark Twain 1. Optimist & misanthrope


The change of his attitude His earlier writing had been full of humor, but later replaced by biting satire. He was doubtful of mankind and humanity. Some critics link this change with the tragic events of his later life, but the basic reason is that the older Twain no longer takes things at their face value; after many years of traveling he encounters more often than not the dark side of social life and the wicked corners ofe Adventures of Tom Sawyer
An approach to fiction

Plot: a sequence of interrelated actions or events Characters: the people in fiction Setting: place and objects in fiction Point of view: the narrative voice Theme: the meaning and the message in fiction Style: the words that tell the story Tone: attitude and control in fiction Symbolism: a key to extended meaning Allegory: a key to extended meaning