He was at all times a sincere and devote missionary for democracy: he had also the typical American’s fondness for the underdog in any and all situations. But as the creator of pictures of a vital era in American History, an era now departed, Mark Twai has the freshness and truth to life necessary to give him a place of high honor in world literature: as a creator of human types and as a reporter of society he has an inevitably kinship with Chaucer and Aristophanes; as a brooder on the shortcomings of man, he is one with Swift, Voltaire, and La Bruyere. And as the greetful portrayer and castigator of American society he is alone.
Mark Twain whose real name was Samuel Clemens; spend his childhood and youth in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri. Life was very hard at the time and had to lave school and look for work. He learned printing and worked as a printer. At 20 he became a skilful pilot on a boat travelling up and down the Mississippi. Then he spent a year with the goldseekers in the West. The many professions that he tried gave him a wide knowledge of life and people. Long years of work as a reported and journalist made him acquainted with the corrupt method of the American press and of the American government, which he later attacked so mercilessly in his works.
There is much fun and humor in most of Mark Twain’s works.
American satirical and critical literature began with Mark Twain, said Cherrishevsky. Mark Twain, an honest democrat, satirized the American press («Running for Governor»), he exposed in biting satire, race discrimination and so – called American democracy («Goldsmith’s Friend Abroad Again»), Bribery and corruption in the highest political circles of the United States («The Gilded Age», 1873), the bourgeois «culture» of the dollar «the Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg» (1898). Mark Twain attracted the imperialist policy of the reactionary government with wrath and indignation, and raised his voice in defense of the natives of the Philippine Islands, who were subjected to the iron heel of American imperialism («A defense of general Funstone», 1902).
Imperialist exploitation of colonial peoples is «robbery, humiliation and slow, slow murder», said Mark Twain.
Two of his earlier works – «the Adventures of Tom Sowyer» 1876 and «The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn» 1888 – are Beloved by children, as well as grown – ups, all over the world. Its became the joys and sorrows of childhood are depicted with such deep human understanding and sympathy that the children and grown – ups a like have the filling that it is their present and past that is being brought before them. But there is also sharp social criticism in the books. We see the narrow – mindedness, dullness and back – wordiness of petty bourgeois life in the American small town, and the cruel conditions under which the Negro slaves lived.
Mark Twain was greatly influenced by the Russian Revolution of 1905; but he didn’t understand the great historical role of the working class. That is why pessimism may be found in some of his works.
However, in his works is expressed of the masses against capitalism and its evils. Mark Twain’s works – broadly democratic, deeply human, openly anti – imperialistic and brilliantly satiric – are of the greatest importance today, when the fight of the progressive people for peace and happiness and against imperialism and fascism is becoming more and more intense.
«American satirical and critical literature began with Mark Twain», said Chernishevsky. Mark Twain, an honest democrat, satirized the American press («Running for Governor»), (Моякардитуравгубернатори). He exposed, in biting satire, race diserimation and he so-called American democracy («Goldsmitn’s Friend Abroad Again»), 2) bribery and corruption in the highest political cireles of the United States (The Gilled Age» 1) Chares Warner the novel of was written in co-authorstup with 1873, the bourgeois «Culture» of the dollar The Man who Corrupted Hodleyberry (1898). Mark Twain altacked the imperialist policy of the reactionary government with wrath and indignation, and vaised his voice in defence of the nactives of the Philippine Islands (I’filipi:n ailandz) =Филлипины), who were subjected to the iron heel of American imperialism («A Defence of General Funston,» 1902). Imperialist exploitation of colonial peoples is robbery, humiliation and slow, slow murder, said Mark Twain. (ПриключенияТомаСайёра). Two of his earlier works – «The Adventures of Tom Sowyer» (1876) and «The Adventures of Huckleberry finn» (1888) – are Beloved by children, as well as growp – ups, all over the world. It is because the joys and sovvows of childhood are depicted with such deep human understanding and sympanty that children and grown-ups alike have the feeling that it is their present and past that is benig brought before them. But there is also sharp social criticism in the books. We see the narrow – mindedness, dullness and backwardness of petty bourgeois lite in the American small town, and the cruel conditions under which the Negro slates lived.
Is there really any evidence that Mark Twain was «greatly influenced» by the 1905 revolution? That sounds bizarre.
Mark Twain was greatly influenced by the Russian Revolotion of 1905; but he did not understand the great historical rote of the working class. That is wily pessimism may be found in some of his works.
Howerer, in his works is eypressed the protest of the masses against capitalism and its evils. Mark Twoins worksbroadly democratic, deeply human, openly anti – imperialistic and brillianty satiric – are of the greatest importance today, when the fight of the progressive people for place and happiness and against imperialism and fascism is becoming more and more intense.
During 1857–1861 le was a pilot лоцман on a Mississippi steamboat, until the Civil war blockaded the river. Them Cobfederate volunteer.
In 1862 Samuel fried to find silver in Nevada them became a reported for the Territorial Enterprise. Started written falles under the pseudonym of Mark Twain.
From 1864 to 1866 the made a trip to Hawaii and delivered popular lectures in California and Nevada.
In 1867 he rublished the Celebrated Jumpiny Froy of Calaveras County and Other Tales. Two years later he wrote («Простакизаграницей») = «The Iunocents Abroad or the New Piligrim’s Progress» In 1872 Mark Twain’s Nevada sketches «Roughing H» («Налегке» – «Огрубевшие») appear and the book is about gold seekers of Nevada.
He made a trip to Europe during 1878–1879. His stories «My Watch» («Моичасы») and «Journalism in Tennesses» («ЖурналисткавТеннессе») are best ones.
«The Prence and the Pauper» (1882) («________») was published in 1882 and «A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court» came into existence in 1889 («ЯнкиизКоннектикутапридворакороляАртура»).
«The Tragedy of Pudd’n head Wilson» («ПростофиляВильсон») saw the world in 1894.
Two years later Mark Twain created «Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc» («Личныевоспоминанияожизнид’Арк»).
In 1892 there appeared «The American Claimaut» («Американскийпретендент»).
Hamlin Garland (1860–1940)
Garland was reared in circumstances that forced him to a firsthand recognition of the distance between the national image of the western lands as promise and fulfillment on the one hand much grimmer actually on the other. His father stubbornly clung to the idea to the idea of the of the fortune yet to be made on the border farm and faithful to the promissory note of America, emigrated from Maine to West Salem, Wisconsin when Garland was born. The fortune never materialized and the family moved to north-eastern Iowa, where Garland lived for 12years, attending the Cedar Valley Seminary.
Still seeking the family moved to Ordway, South Dakota; but instead of fortune the Garlands met with toil, dullness and the hostility of the nature. Wanting to teach and to escape his environment, Hamlin sold his Dakota claim at a small profit and became one of the «back-trailers from the middle border» in fleeing to Boston. His movement from the west to east was. Significant: although the national insisted that the land of the «folk» and democratic realization lay westward, and the east was effete, artificial and aristocratic, many nevertheless sought the very kind of life that the American was supposed to spurn. The split in perception, the double goals in Garland are not merely personal but typical of many American men of letters.
In Boston he lived alone and struggled to find a new life. He educated himself in the Boston public library and studied and taught in the Boston School of Oratory, all the while trying to write. He read Spencer, single-tax economics, the issues of realism and impression in fiction. In 1887he returned to the Midwest for a visit and saw with new perspective the treeless prairies the unremittingly brutalizing toil and the frontier’s murderous effect on his parents. Enraged he returned east and began to contribute stories to B.O. Flower’s influential «Arena». Eneouragedby Joseph Kirckland, Flower and William dean Howells, he attempted to create «veritism» in function a realism that wouldn’t stop short with accepted subjects and attitudes but would also include the less pretty experiences that had led to his disenchantment. In 1891 he published «Main-travelled roads; in the heat of his experience, he had written all the stories in this volume between1887and 1889. often «Main – Travelled roads» (1910) was in turn, a collection made up out of «Prairie Folks» (1893) and «Wayside Courtships» (1897) these two consisted of stories written in the short, fruitfull period.
O. Henry (1867–1910)
O. Henry (1862–1910) was a prolific American short-story writer, a master of surprise endings, who wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City. A twist of plot, which turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance, is typical of O. Henry's stories.
William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) was born in Greenboro, North Carolina. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a physician. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and aunt. William was an avid reader, but at the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store and on a Texas ranch. He moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of bank clerk. After moving to Austin, Texas, in 1882, he married.
In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The Rolling Stone. When the weekly failed, he joined the Houston Post as a reporter and columnist. In 1897 he was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt. In 1898 he entered a penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio.
While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, «Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking» (1899), appeared in McClure's Magazine. After doing three years of the five years sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry.
O. Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World, also publishing in other magazines. Henry's first collection, Cabbages And Kings appeared in 1904. The second, The Four Million, was published two years later and included his well-known stories «The Gift of the Magi» and «The Furnished Room». The Trimmed Lamp (1907) included «The Last Leaf». Henry's best known work is perhaps the much anthologized «The Ransom of Red Chief», included in the collection Whirligigs (1910). The Heart Of The West (1907) presented tales of the Texas range. O. Henry published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime.
O. Henry's last years were shadowed by alcoholism, ill health, and financial problems. He married Sara Lindsay Coleman in 1907, but the marriage was not happy, and they separated a year later. O. Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver on June 5, 1910, in New York. Three more collections, Sixes And Sevens (1911), Rolling Stones (1912) and Waifs And Strays (1917), appeared posthumously.
William Sidney Porter known by his pseudonym, O. Henry, was born in North Carolina. After a brief period of schooling he worked in a drugstore, then went to Texas, where after truing various professions he became a teller in a bank. When a loss of a thousand dollars was discovered, Porter, though he was innocent of the theft, fled to Central America: but on learning that his wife was on her death – bed, he returned home and was imprisoned for 3 years. After his release in 1902, he settled in New – York, writing short stories for magazines. They were published in the collections «The Four Million» 1906, «Heart of the West» 1907, «The Trimmed lamp» 1907, «The Gentle Grafted» 1908, «The Voice of the City» 1908, «Cabbages and Kings» 1904.
In this short stories O. Henry described amusing incidents of every day life in large cities on the ranches, and on the highways of America. For the most part he deliberately avoided important social themes, entertain his readers with humorous plots dependent coincidence and characterized by unexpected endings. A few of his stories touch upon serious themes. Taken as a whole, the work of O. Henry is bourgeois in its spirit. He wrote to console his readers, to cheer them up by telling them: «well, your life is hard, but then there is a possibility for a woman to marry a man – millionaire, for a man to marry a woman – millionaire, or to find something else».
O. Henry was born in 1867 in the family of a doctor in the town of Greensborough of the Northern Caroline. William became ill of tuberculosis when he was twenty years old; in wattempt at curing himself, he went to Texas. Travelling on to Texas he changed tens of professions – he was a cowboy, a druggist, a designer, a cashier, a journalist, an editor. O Henry wrote «Roads of Destiny», «Options» (1909)’ «Strictly Business» (1910), «Whirlgigs». These collections were published as very interting in several magazines too. After his deuth his only novel «Cabbages and Kings» was published. He worked hard & much with literature.
O. Henry’s stories, were published by the newspapers & magazines willingly, bringing them much frofit but to the writer they brought only fame. The publishers demanded him to write humouristic and funny stories with intriguing ending, standards, which the author stamped for Sunday newspapers. O. Henry dreamed about serious work.
For 10 years of his literary life he wrote more than six hundred stories, comical plays and humouristic poems.
In 1904 there appeared O. Henry’s novel «Cabbages and Kings» it was followed by collections of short stories. «The Four Million» 1906, «The Trimmed Lamp» 1907, «Heart of the West» 1907 and others.
In «Cabbages and Kings» O. Henry created as he says «tragic», a comedy about the interrelations of the USA and its half – colony – the South America.
American dealers businessmen cynically interfere into political life of Latin American countries – such is the objective conclusion from «Cabbages and Kings». Satirically describing.
The Last Leaf
In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called «places.» These «places» make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account!
So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics and low rents. Then they imported some pewter mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue, and became a «colony».
At the top of a squatty, three-story brick Sue and Johnsy had their studio. «Johnsy» was familiar for Joanna. One was from Maine; the other from California. They had met at the table d'hфte of an Eighth Street «Delmonico's» and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so congenial that the joint studio resulted.
That was in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Over on the east side this ravager strode boldly, smiting his victims by scores, but his feet trod slowly through the maze of the narrow and moss-grown «places».
Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.