Life on the Mississippi

Life on the Mississippi ( Life on the Mississippi ) is a 1883 short story of the American writer Mark Twain about his own life as a pilot before on various Mississippi riverboats during the period and after the American Civil War. The book has been frequently translated into German. In 1980 the factory was filmed.

Content

The book begins with a historical look back at the time when Hernando de Soto in 1542 as the first Europeans got the flow to the face. Further, the historical journey through French explorers such as Jacques Marquette and Robert Cavelier de La Salle goes in the 17th century to the first permanent European settlers. From the era of timber floating and the beginning of steam navigation on the current action is increasingly marked by autobiographical elements.

Besides our own memories and impressions in the book a number of anecdotes from the Mississippi area are introduced. The main strand of the plot consists of the description of the Apprenticeship of Samuel Clemens ( pen name Mark Twain ), who completed a multi-year training as a pilot on a Mississippi steamboat. He describes with great devotion the art of controlling ships over the ever-changing river with its swirls, sandbanks and shoals. After the end of his training, he contributed a long time as a pilot different ships on the Mississippi, to the civil war the shipping came to a standstill. This part of the story is first published in 1876 under the title Old times on the Mississippi.

In the second part of the book Mark Twain describes his return to the river after 21 years, when he took a trip from St. Louis to New Orleans with a steamboat. He describes the race of steamships with the railroad, the new and major cities and his observations on greed, gullibility and tragedies along the banks of the river and the many places bad architecture. Again, the action of numerous legends and anecdotes interspersed.

The book was published in 1883 in the United States and Great Britain was the first in which the author einsandte a typewritten manuscript to the publisher.

Expenditure

The book has been frequently translated into German and published in different equipment at several publishers.

  • Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi. Übers v. Otto Wilck. Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-7466-6092-9.
  • Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi. Übers v. Otto Wilck. Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 1969
  • Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi. Übers v. Otto Wilck. Georg Bitter Verlag, Recklinghausen 1969
  • Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi. Übers v. Helene Ritzer field. Insel Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1977
  • Mark Twain: Life on the Mississippi. Übers v. Otto Wilck. Diogenes Verlag, Zurich 1990.
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