He was a genius. I grew up with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and as perhaps every boy dreamed of having such an exciting and free live as they had. Only later I learned that Mark Twain wrote much more than "only" childrens books, and his short stories, essays and the travel reports are among the most entertaining, witty and intelligent pieces of literature. Yes, Mark Twain is a pseudonym (or pen name), and I think it refers to a period of his life when we worked as a navigator on a Missisippi steam boat. There he had to lay on the very front of the boat to sound the depth of the river using a plummet with knots as length marks. As long as the second length mark ("Mark Twain") was still under water, the river was deep enough for the boat. So obviously the family name Twain never existed in the US before Samuel Clemens adopted it for himself. The only other famous person with this name is the Canadian singer Shania Twain. But she adopted the Twain surname from her first husband (a native American, who I guess deliberately choose Twain as his surname). When their son was born, of course they called him Mark as a reference to the great writer and humanist. best regards and wishes, Michael
Hi Nargess, knowing your interest in space research, I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that Mark Twain was in fact the first who coined the (completely missleading) term of a "Dark Side of the Moon". I learned this yesterday, after I got interested where the confusion of the rear (or invisible) side of the moon with a dark side came from. If you are interested, here is some more about this (http://broken-radius.blogspot.de/2013/12/no-dark-side-of-moon.html). I would be happy to read your comment on this. best greetings, Happy New Year Michael
He was a genius. I grew up with Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and as perhaps every boy dreamed of having such an exciting and free live as they had.
ReplyDeleteOnly later I learned that Mark Twain wrote much more than "only" childrens books, and his short stories, essays and the travel reports are among the most entertaining, witty and intelligent pieces of literature.
Yes, Mark Twain is a pseudonym (or pen name), and I think it refers to a period of his life when we worked as a navigator on a Missisippi steam boat. There he had to lay on the very front of the boat to sound the depth of the river using a plummet with knots as length marks. As long as the second length mark ("Mark Twain") was still under water, the river was deep enough for the boat. So obviously the family name Twain never existed in the US before Samuel Clemens adopted it for himself. The only other famous person with this name is the Canadian singer Shania Twain. But she adopted the Twain surname from her first husband (a native American, who I guess deliberately choose Twain as his surname). When their son was born, of course they called him Mark as a reference to the great writer and humanist.
best regards and wishes, Michael
Thanks for all the information!
ReplyDeleteHi Nargess, knowing your interest in space research, I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that Mark Twain was in fact the first who coined the (completely missleading) term of a "Dark Side of the Moon". I learned this yesterday, after I got interested where the confusion of the rear (or invisible) side of the moon with a dark side came from. If you are interested, here is some more about this (http://broken-radius.blogspot.de/2013/12/no-dark-side-of-moon.html). I would be happy to read your comment on this.
ReplyDeletebest greetings, Happy New Year
Michael
Thanks so much Michael, I will comment there. Happy 2014!
ReplyDelete