Mark Twain's more humble beginnings as a writer
Stories written by Twain when he was a 29-year-old journalist in San Francisco are the product of a man still unsure of his calling. .
Bob Hirst, general editor of the Mark Twain Project, holds a magnifying glass to show the very first Mark Twain signature to appear anywhere in the Territorial Enterprise newspaper in Virginia City, Nev.
Jeff Chiu/AP
We know him today as the
But Mark Twain's eventual success belied his more humble beginnings, according to a recently-discovered cache of his stories.
Scholars at the University of California, Berkeley, have tracked down about 110 stories Twain wrote when he was a 29-year-old journalist in San Francisco. Written between 1865 and 1866, the stories are 150-years old.
The stories, described by researchers at the Mark Twain Project at Berkeley, which unearthed the articles, like "opening a box of candy," give Twain scholars and fans a glimpse into the author's early years.
That's because the stories were written, at a time of great uncertainty in the author鈥檚 life, when he was trying to decide in which direction to take his career,
鈥淚t鈥檚 really a crisis time for him,鈥� Hirst said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 going to be 30 on 30 November 1865, and for someone not to have chosen a career by that time in this period was quite unusual.鈥�
In fact, it was a time of particular anguish for the now-celebrated writer.
鈥淗e was in the middle of an identity crisis,鈥� Mr. Hirst . 鈥淗e was facing debt and had not embraced his talent. He was tormented by it. He was drinking too much and didn鈥檛 know what to do with himself. He thought humor was literature of a low order.鈥�
Among in 1865 that read: 鈥淚f I do not get out of debt in three months 鈥� pistols or poison for one 鈥� exit me.鈥�
His writing, however, was replete with Twain's characteristic dry wit and reflected both his style and the place and era in which he was living.
San Francisco in the 1860s was taken up by gold rush mania, and Twain's sharp commentary honed in on the stories of gold spectators, miners, and police officers, offering a glimpse into the corruption of life on the American frontier.
鈥淏lackmail, corruption and bribery is the rule, and not the exception, among the municipal body, all of whom are 鈥� like so many shoplifters or highwaymen,鈥� he wrote, . 鈥淭he correspondent suggests the necessity of hanging half the policemen.鈥�
Twain fans can hopefully pore over more early examples of the author's famous wit soon. The Mark Twain Project plans to publish a book with the newly discovered articles in roughly 18 months.
鈥淲e鈥檝e reached the point where we鈥檙e willing to say, 鈥榃e鈥檝e done our homework, we鈥檙e ready to put this into a book,'鈥� .