作者介紹：馬克吐溫,（Mark Twain l835～1910）
美國作家.本名塞謬爾·朗赫恩·克萊門斯.馬克·吐溫是其筆名.出生于密西西比河畔小城漢尼拔的 一個鄉(xiāng)村貧窮律師家庭,從小出外拜師學徒.當過排字工人,密西西比河水手、南軍士兵,還經(jīng)營過木材 業(yè)、礦業(yè)和出版業(yè),但有效的工作是當記者和寫作幽默文學.馬克·吐溫是美國批判現(xiàn)實主義文學的奠基人,世界著名的短篇小說大師.他經(jīng)歷了美國從“自由”資 本主義到帝國主義的發(fā)展過程,其思想和創(chuàng)作也表現(xiàn)為從輕快調(diào)笑到辛辣諷刺再到悲觀厭世的發(fā)展階段.他 的早期創(chuàng)作,如短篇小說《竟選州長》（1870）、《哥爾斯密的朋友再度出洋》（1870）等,以幽默、詼諧 的筆法嘲笑美國“民主選舉”的荒謬和“民主天堂”的本質(zhì).中期作品,如長篇小說《鍍金時代》（1874,
與華納合寫）、代表作長篇小說《哈克貝里·費恩歷險記》（1886）及《傻瓜威爾遜》（1893）等,則以深 沉、辛辣的筆調(diào)諷刺和揭露像瘟疫般盛行于美國的投機、拜金狂熱,及暗無天日的社會現(xiàn)實與慘無人道的種 族歧視.《哈克貝里·費恩歷險記》通過白人小孩哈克跟逃亡黑奴吉姆結伴在密西西比河流浪的故事,不僅 批判封建家庭結仇械斗的野蠻,揭露私刑的毫無理性,而且諷刺宗教的虛偽愚昧,譴責蓄奴制的罪惡,并歌 頌黑奴的優(yōu)秀品質(zhì),宣傳不分種族地位人人都享有自由權利的進步主張.作品文字清新有力,審視角度自然 而獨特,被視為美國文學史上具劃時代意義的現(xiàn)實主義著作.19世紀末,隨著美國進入帝國主義發(fā)展階段,馬克·吐溫一些游記、雜文、政論,如《赤道環(huán)行記》（1897）、中篇小說《敗壞了哈德萊堡的人》 （1900）、《神秘來客》（1916）等的批判揭露意義也逐漸減弱,而絕望神秘情緒則有所伸長.馬克·吐溫被譽為“美國文學中的林肯”.他的主要作品已大多有中文譯本.
Mark Twain (pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens,1835-1910),was an American writer,journalist and humorist,who won a worldwide audience for his stories of the youthful adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Clemens was born on November 30,1835 in Florida,Missouri,of a Virginian family.He was brought up in Hannibal,Missouri.After his father's death in 1847,he was apprenticed to a printer and wrote for his brother's newspaper.He later worked as a licensed Mississippi river-boat pilot.The Civil War put an end to the steamboat traffic and Clemens moved to Virginia City,where he edited the Territorial Enterprise.On February 3,1863,'Mark Twain' was born when Clemens signed a humorous travel account with that pseudonym.
In 1864 Twain left for California,and worked in San Francisco as a reporter.He visited Hawaii as a correspondent for The Sacramento Union,publishing letters on his trip and giving lectures.He set out on a world tour,traveling in France and Italy.His experiences were recorded in 1869 in The Innocents Abroad,which gained him wide popularity,and poked fun at both American and European prejudices and manners.
The success as a writer gave Twain enough financial security to marry Olivia Langdon in 1870.They moved next year to Hartford.Twain continued to lecture in the United States and England.Between 1876 and 1884 he published several masterpieces,Tom Sawyer (1881) and The Prince And The Pauper (1881).Life On The Mississippi appeared in 1883 andHuckleberry Finn in 1884.
In the 1890s Twain lost most of his earnings in financial speculations and in the failure of his own publishing firm.To recover from the bankruptcy,he started a world lecture tour,during which one of his daughters died.Twain toured New Zealand,Australia,India,and South Africa.He wrote such books as The Tragedy Of Pudd'head Wilson (1884),Personal Recollections Of Joan Of Arc (1885),A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889) and the travel book Following The Equator (1897).During his long writing career,Twain also produced a considerable number of essays.
The death of his wife and his second daughter darkened the author's later years,which is seen in his posthumously published autobiography (1924).Twain died on April 21,1910.