Twain was more than a humorist. Behind his mask of humor lay a serious view of life. Tragedy had entered his own life in the poverty and early death of his father, the loss of a daughter, and his bankruptcy. His short story, 'The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg', published in 1900, which showed greed at work in a small town, is an indication of Twain's dark side.
The controversial 'Huckleberry Finn', which is periodically banned in schools or libraries because of alleged racial overtones, can be read by children, but it is not a child's book. It has elements of heartbreak and wisdom that can be appreciated best by adults. On the other hand, 'Tom Sawyer' is primarily a juvenile book but one that can be read with pleasure by adults.
Twain's chief works are: 'The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County', a collection published in 1867; 'The Innocents Abroad' (1869); 'Roughing It' (1872); 'The Gilded Age'--with Charles Dudley Warner (1873); 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876); 'A Tramp Abroad' (1880); 'The Prince and the Pauper' (1882); 'Life on the Mississippi' (1883); 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' (1884); 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court' (1889); 'The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson' (1894); and 'Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc' (1896). Printed posthumously were: 'The Mysterious Stranger' (1916); 'Mark Twain's Notebook' (1935); and 'Autobiography' (1959).
