Early Periodical Writing

doi:10.1017/9781108617208.010

Chapter 8 - Early Periodical Writing

from Part II - Literary Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2019

James E. Caron

Edited by

John Bird

Show author details

John Bird: Affiliation:
Winthrop University

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Journalism was central to Mark Twain’s career as a writer. Before he was a reporter, he was a typesetter, a “printer’s devil,” beginning at age thirteen in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, but leading him to work in Keokuk, Iowa, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and New York, the combination of travel and work extremely important in his formative years. His work as a printer’s devil exposed him to the journalism of his time, which was actually national because of the practice of liberally reprinting stories from other papers. He began his writing career as a journalist, in Nevada and California, combining straight reporting with anarchic humor, following in the tradition of freewheeling journalism in the Far West. Twain’s newspaper writing served as an important apprenticeship for him, as well as establishing his persona. “Mark Twain” was born in the journalism of Virginia City, Nevada, and San Francisco.

Keywords

Mark Twain Samuel Clemens newspaper writing periodical writing Western wrtiing journlism

Type: Chapter
Information: Mark Twain in Context , pp. 77 - 90

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108617208.010 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Baudelaire, Charles. “The Painter of Modern Life.” In The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays. Trans. Jonathan Mayne. London: Phaidon Press, 1995. 1–40.Google Scholar

Bledstein, Burton J. “Storytellers to the Middle Class.” In The Middling Sorts: Explorations in the History of the American Middle Class. Ed. Bledstein, Burton J. and Johnston, Robert D.. New York: Routledge, 2001. 1–25.Google Scholar

Caron, James E. “Mark Twain Reports on Commerce with the Hawaiian Kingdom.” The Hawaiian Journal of History 44 (2010): 37–56.Google Scholar

Caron, James E.Mark Twain, Unsanctified Newspaper Writer. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2008.Google Scholar

Lyman, George D. The Saga of the Comstock Lode: Boom Days in Virginia City. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1934.Google Scholar

Mack, Effie Mona. Mark Twain in Nevada. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947.Google Scholar

Smith, Susan Belasco, and Price, Kenneth M.. “Periodical Literature in Social and Historical Context.” Ed. Price, Kenneth M. and Smith, Susan Belasco. In Periodical Literature in Nineteenth-Century America. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995. 3–16.Google Scholar

Twain, Mark. Clemens of the “Call”: Mark Twain in San Francisco. Ed. Branch, Edgar M.. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.Google Scholar

Twain, MarkMark Twain of the “Enterprise”: Newspaper Articles and Other Documents, 1862–1864. Ed. Smith, Henry Nash. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1957.Google Scholar

Twain, MarkThe Washoe Giant in San Francisco. Ed. and introduction by Walker, Franklin. San Francisco: George Fields, 1938.Google Scholar

Willis, Nathaniel Parker. Pencillings by the Way. 3 vols. London: John Macrone, 1835.Google Scholar

Zboray, Ronald J., and Zboray, Mary Saracino. “Books, Readings, and the World of Goods in Antebellum New England.” American Quarterly 48 (1996): 587–622.CrossRef Google Scholar