what was Mark Twains impact on american literature?

Answer 1

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), who wrote under the name of Mark Twain, became, in America, a sort of national legend, like Bernard Shaw in England. According to D.C.Browning (p.141), "[h]e was an artist in grotesque and somewhat obvious humour, his style and cadence suggesting a talker rather than a writer. He has been called 'the Lincoln of American literature'." Twain belongs in the realistic period in American Literature (1865-1900). According to Holman (p.437), "in the work of Mark Twain, of William Dean Howells, and of Henry James, the greatest contributions of the age were made." In addition, from Twain´s work, one may have a good idea of spoken language at the time.

Answer 2

Mark Twain was the American novelist, essayist and speaker who spoke about America in change after the civil war. He wrote in the vernacular of the common people and showed his heros to be flawed, but human and interesting. His essays about his life talked about an America where a man could invent himself. He and his heros , and his literature is what is defined as picaresque, which in simple terms mean the hero has misadventures and adventures as he observes society and its foibles while standing for a principle.