mirror of America 英美文学欣赏之马克吐温.docxVIP

Mark Twain(1835-1910)Historical Background Twain lived in the stirring(动荡) years in American history ---- the American-Mexican War, The Civil War, the Gold Rush, the western expansion, the American Spanish War, the rapid development of capitalism and later the emergence of imperialism along with the first economic depressions, etc.Major works by Mark TwainThe Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (1865) 《加拉维加县有名的跳蛙》Innocents Abroad (1869) 《傻瓜出国记》Roughing it（1872）《苦行记》The Gilded Age (1873)《镀金时代》A Tramp Abroad (1880)(《国外漫游》)The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)《汤姆索耶历险记》The Prince And The Pauper (1882)《王子与贫儿》TheAdventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)《哈克费恩历险记》Life On The Mississippi (1883)《密西西比河上》A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court (1889)《亚瑟王朝廷上的康涅狄格州美国人》A Million-Pound Note (1893)《百万英镑》Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894) 《傻瓜威尔逊》The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg(1900)《败坏哈德莱堡的人》The Mysterious Stranger (1916)《神秘陌生人》What Is Man? (1918)《人是怎么回事？》Autobiography of Mark Twain（1959）《马克吐温自传》CommentsHe is the writer H. L. Mencken called “the true father of our national literature” and America’s most famous humorist and the author of popular and outstanding autobiographical works, travel books and novels.All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. ... There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.----Ernest HemingwayCharacteristics of His Writinghis style was precise, enviable, and well-crafted. He was a master of irony, turning the tables on those most confident. His ear was finely attuned to nuances of dialect and of the vernacular of different classes and ethnic groups. His characters were alive and fallible. His journalistic proses were filled with terse sarcasm. His use of local color and historical settings to illuminate and shed light on contemporary society has served as a creative inspiration for generations of writers to come.Famous Remarks 1、“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else