Mark Twain was one of America’s greatest writers, and its first true celebrity. This course explores his life as a renowned author and cultural icon, as it is revealed in the pages of his major works.

These lectures primarily focus on seven major works, including Innocents Abroad, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. You will explore what these works tell us about Twain’s ambitions, his use of humor, his attitudes toward America, and even how he conceived and marketed his books.

This course includes a discussion of his pessimistic, unfinished manuscripts—discovered after his death—that include The Enchanted Sea Wilderness and Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes.