Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1869

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Innocents Abroad is Mark Twain’s first major work, based upon a trip the author took to Europe and the Holy Land aboard the steamer Quaker City between June 8, 1867 and November 19, 1867. The trip was unofficially sponsored by the Plymouth Church of Brooklyn, New York, and a rumor claimed that the church’s pastor, the renowned Henry Ward Beecher, along with Civil War hero William Sherman, would be participating in the expedition. Twain, who was working as a roving reporter for the San Francisco Alta California, viewed this as an opportunity to gather material for his first book. He persuaded the paper to pay his fare, and he would in return send back 50 letters reporting periodically on the activities of …

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3137 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "The Innocents Abroad". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 January 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=502, accessed 21 November 2024.]

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