SamuelLanghorneClemens(November30,1835-April21,1910),betterknownbyhispennameMarkTwain,wasanAmericanauthorandhumorist.HewroteTheAdventuresofTomSawyer(1876)anditssequel,AdventuresofHuckleberryFinn(1885),thelatteroftencalled"theGreatAmericanNovel."TwaingrewupinHannibal,Missouri,whichprovidedthesettingforHuckleberryFinnandTom
Sawyer.Afteranapprenticeshipwithaprinter,heworkedasatypesetterandcontributedarticlestohisolderbrotherOrion'snewspaper.HelaterbecameariverboatpilotontheMississippiRiverbefore
headingwesttojoinOrioninNevada.Hereferredhumorouslytohissingularlackofsuccessatmining,turningtojournalismfortheVirginiaCityTerritorialEnterprise.
TwainwasbornshortlyafteravisitbyHalley'sComet,andhepredictedthathewould"gooutwithit,"too.Hediedthedayfollowingthecomet'ssubsequentreturn.Hewaslaudedasthe"greatestAmericanhumoristofhisage,"andWilliamFaulknercalledTwain"thefatherofAmericanliterature."'