Mark Twain: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Twain.jpg|frame|Just look at that [[Badass Mustache|glorious mustache]].]]
{{quote|"''[[Arcadia|The prairie in its loneliness and peace]]; that was what came back to him towards the end of his life, after he had pulled the rug out from all the [[Bowdlerise|literary nabobs]], and fired off all his [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|nubs and snappers]], and sashayed through all the nations, and collected all his ceremonial gowns and degrees, and tweaked all the grinning [[The Presidents|presidents]], and schmoozed all the newspaper reporters, [[Take That|and stuck it to all his enemies,]] and shocked all the [[Moral Guardians|librarians]], and [[
{{quote|''Be good, and you will be lonesome''}}
Boston, Massachusetts, November 1869. A short, thin man wearing a cheap suit, an [[Fiery Redhead|unkempt mop of red hair]], [[Badass Mustache|a long red mustache]], and brandishing a [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking|smelly cigar]], ambles up the staircase at 124 Tremont Street to the second story headquarters of Ticknor & Fields, a publishing firm. Settling into the office of William Dean Howells, a junior partner of the firm, he lets fly a ravishing quip, referencing a favorable review of his latest work, 'The Innocents Abroad', in a magazine published by the firm. [[
And thus Samuel Langorne Clemens erupted onto the literary scene. He was a [[Down on the Farm|backwoods outcast]] of low social standing who became a seminal American author, and he is considered to be the father of American literature. He took his most prominent [[Pen Name]] from 19th century riverboat jargon. The boatmen would call out "marks" indicating the depth of the water. "Mark Twain" indicates two fathoms, which is just deep enough for safe maneuvering.
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He was also obsessed with the separation between the 'dream self' and the 'waking self', and kept a regular dream journal twenty years before Freud. He was also [[The Atoner|horribly guilt-ridden]] over the deaths of family members he blamed himself for, such as his younger brothers Benjamin and Henry and his son Langdon.
His early works were humorous (and Clemens in his Twain persona is one of the most famous [[Deadpan Snarker
He died on April 21, 1910, the day after Halley's Comet reached its perihelion, or closest pass to the sun. He was born two weeks after its prior perihelion in 1835. As Clemens himself said the year before he died, "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it."
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* ''[[Jap Herron]]'' (A book that Emily Grant Hutchings claimed to have written that was dictated by Mark Twain via the ouija board; published 1917)
* ''Letters from the Earth'' (Written 1909, published 1939)
** [[Humans Are
* ''[[The Mysterious Stranger]]'' (Written c. 1890-1910, published 1969)
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** To be fair to the townspeople, it was a spoof article that Clemens had written during a drunken bender about how the proceeds from a charity ball were being diverted from wounded [[The American Civil War|Union soldiers]] to a [[Dude, Not Funny|pro-miscegenation society.]]
* [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff]]: Of a sort. He's popular among Filipino historians (and Filipino history geeks who've heard of him) because of his outspoken protests against the American colonization of the Philippines. You'll often one or two of his quotes on the subject in many Filipino publications about the Philippine-American War.
* [[Humans Are
** "And so I find that we have descended and degenerated, from some far ancestor (some microscopic atom wandering at its pleasure between the mighty horizons of a drop of water perchance) insect by insect, animal by animal, reptile by reptile, down the long highway of smirch less innocence, till we have reached the bottom stage of development (namable as the Human Being). Below us, nothing."
** "Man was created a bloody animal and I think he will always thirst for blood and will manage to have it. I think he is far and away the worst animal that exists; and the only untamable one."
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{{examples|Appearances in Fiction:}}
Twain appears as a character in numerous stories, TV shows, movies and comics, often as a [[Historical In-Joke]].
== Anime and Manga ==
* Mark Twain was the central character in a series of historical mysteries by Peter Heck called, unsurprisingly, ''The Mark Twain Mysteries''.▼
* Appeared as a character in one of [[The Lone Ranger]] segments of ''The Tarzan-Lone Ranger Adventure Hour'' animated series, where he helps the Lone Ranger solve a mystery and gets the idea for the slip that will expose Tom Sawyer's disguise as a girl in the novel.▼
* ''Dagger of Kamui'', inexplicably speaking Japanese. (Then again, so did everybody else, including the Native Americans.)
* [[Philip Jose Farmer]]'s ''[[Riverworld]]'' novels see all of humanity resurrected, including Clemens, who is a major character. Farmer freely mixes biographical information with speculation and invention in an attempt to convey his sense of the man. To some readers the trials the character is subjected seem hostile. To others it seems more like a novel kind of hero worship, taken as a whole.▼
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' -- Met with Guinan and assisted the crew in the two-parter 'Time's Arrow'.▼
** Actually, he was more like a minor villain, because he thought the crew came back in time for their own amusement. [[Captain Obvious|They didn't.]]▼
*** He was more than willing to assist them though when they proved to him they their reasons weren't sinister.▼
* [[Neil Gaiman]]'s comic, ''[[The Sandman]]'', in the issue "Three Septembers and a January" {{spoiler|Emperor Norton makes Twain the Official Teller of Stories for the United States.}}
* Matt Fraction and Steven Sanders' comic, ''The Five Fists of Science''
* Hal Holbrook made a career out of his one-man show where he played Twain.▼
* The animated film ''[[The Adventures of Mark Twain]]'', a loving [[Deconstruction]] of his [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] works, has Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thacher stowing away in Twain's [[Cool Airship]].▼
* Twain is co-host of ''The American Adventure'' attraction at [[Disney Theme Parks|Epcot]], along with Benjamin Franklin.▼
* One of the Roger Moore episodes of the ''[[Maverick (TV series)|Maverick]]'' TV series is set in Virginia City, Nevada, during the mining rush--the same time Twain was working as a journalist there, as chronicled in ''Roughing It''. A supporting character in the episode is a journalist named Clem Samuels.▼
* Mark Twain appears as a character in the [[Transformers]] comic ''Hearts of Steel'', helping out the Autobots and even [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|defeating Ravage by himself]].
* Webcomic [[Girly]] had a television show that the characters would watch now and again, in which Victorian authors would kill each other with '''GUNS!!!''' Twain appeared in one episode as the villain (the author remarked "I like to think of Twain as the kind of guy who wouldn't mind me making him evil for NO REASON").▼
* Oh, and [[Lucky Luke]] has met him, of course.
* Appears in Harry Turtledove's [[Alternate History]] novel ''How Few Remain'' as Samuel Clemens, a newspaper editor in California.▼
* He appeared in a Johnny Bravo episode, begging people not to abuse The Prince and the Pauper for comedy.▼
* He is ''[[No Celebrities Were Harmed|the inspiration for]]'' Colonel Sassacre in ''[[Homestuck]]''.▼
* [[Bonanza]] had Sam Clemens working as a reporter in Virginia City in an early episode, with later guest appearances showing him as famed author Twain.▼
* In ''[[Tales Designed to Thrizzle]]'' he and [[Albert Einstein]] are [[Buddy Cop Show|Buddy Cops]].
* In [[The Venture Brothers]], Clemens was a founding member of the original [[Weird Trade Union|Guild]] <s>of Calamitous Intent</s> (along with Col. Venture, [[Loin Cloth|Eugen Sandow]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Aleister Crowley]] and even [[Fantomas]]) sometime near the turn of the century (before Wilde's death). Oddly, the Guild's enemies included Samuel's real-life friend [[Nikola Tesla]], who may or may not have split from the group for their handling of the [[Artifact of Doom|the ORB]].▼
== Film ==
* Appears as a friend of [[Kid Detective]] PK Pinkerton in ''[[The Western Mysteries]]''▼
▲* The animated film ''[[The Adventures of Mark Twain]]'', a loving [[Deconstruction]] of his [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] works, has Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and Becky Thacher stowing away in Twain's [[Cool Airship]].
* During the archery contest in ''[[Robin Hood: Men in Tights]]'', Robin disguises himself at Mark Twain. Prince John even [[Anachronism Stew|calls him on it.]]
== Literature ==
▲* Mark Twain was the central character in a series of historical mysteries by Peter Heck called, unsurprisingly, ''[[The Mark Twain Mysteries]]''.
▲* [[Philip Jose Farmer]]'s ''[[Riverworld]]'' novels see all of humanity resurrected, including Clemens, who is a major character. Farmer freely mixes biographical information with speculation and invention in an attempt to convey his sense of the man. To some readers the trials the character is subjected seem hostile. To others it seems more like a novel kind of hero worship, taken as a whole.
▲* Appears in Harry Turtledove's [[Alternate History]] novel ''How Few Remain'' as Samuel Clemens, a newspaper editor in California.
▲* Appears as a friend of [[Kid Detective]] PK Pinkerton in ''[[The Western Mysteries]]''
== Live-Action TV ==
▲* ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''
▲** Actually, he was more like a minor villain, because he thought the crew came back in time for their own amusement. [[Captain Obvious|They didn't.]]
▲*** He was more than willing to assist them though when they proved to him they their reasons weren't sinister.
▲* One of the Roger Moore episodes of the ''[[Maverick (TV series)|Maverick]]'' TV series is set in Virginia City, Nevada, during the mining
▲* ''[[Bonanza]]'' had Sam Clemens working as a reporter in Virginia City in an early episode, with later guest appearances showing him as famed author Twain.
== Theatre ==
▲* Hal Holbrook made a career out of his one-man show ''[[Mark Twain Tonight!]]'' where he played Twain.
== Theme Parks ==
▲* Twain is co-host of ''The American Adventure'' attraction at [[Disney Theme Parks|Epcot]], along with Benjamin Franklin.
== Web Comics ==
▲* Webcomic [[Girly]] had a television show that the characters would watch now and again, in which Victorian authors would kill each other with '''GUNS!!!''' Twain appeared in one episode as the villain (the author remarked "I like to think of Twain as the kind of guy who wouldn't mind me making him evil for NO REASON").
▲* He is ''[[No Celebrities Were Harmed|the inspiration for]]'' Colonel Sassacre in ''[[Homestuck]]''.
== Western Animation ==
▲* Appeared as a character in one of [[The Lone Ranger]] segments of ''The Tarzan-Lone Ranger Adventure Hour'' animated series, where he helps the Lone Ranger solve a mystery and gets the idea for the slip that will expose Tom Sawyer's disguise as a girl in the novel.
▲* He appeared in a Johnny Bravo episode, begging people not to abuse The Prince and the Pauper for comedy.
▲* In ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'', Clemens was a founding member of the original [[Weird Trade Union|Guild]] <s>of Calamitous Intent</s> (along with Col. Venture, [[Loin Cloth|Eugen Sandow]], [[Oscar Wilde]], [[Aleister Crowley]] and even [[Fantomas]]) sometime near the turn of the century (before Wilde's death). Oddly, the Guild's enemies included Samuel's real-life friend [[Nikola Tesla]], who may or may not have split from the group for their handling of the [[Artifact of Doom|the ORB]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Historical Domain Character]]
[[Category:Authors of Quote]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:American Authors]]
[[Category:Trope Makers]]
▲[[Category:Mark Twain]]
[[Category:Creator]]
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