Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad

Max Lester Loges (Lamar 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 1894

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Children's Literature
- Young Adult

Resources

Unfortunately, Tom Sawyer Abroad is not one of Mark Twain’s best efforts. Perhaps this impression is due to the reason it was conceived in the first place: the story was written at a time when Twain desperately needed money; in fact, the work was published as a book on the date that his publishing firm Webster and Country filed for bankruptcy. The project was initiated by a request from Mary Mapes Dodge, editor of the Saint Nicholas Magazine, a publication for children. She had offered Twain five thousand dollars for a story of 50,000 word which he considered to be a rather modest offer. He took the offer, but the manuscript is much shorter than 50,000 words.

Twain may have taken the idea for his story …

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1316 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "Tom Sawyer Abroad". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 August 2017 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8395, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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