Mark Twain Commemorative Plaque
Residenz Elisabeth, Pfarrgasse 2. Note: The plaque is dedicated to three writers: Theodor Herzl, Mark Twain, Franz Werfel
Residenz Elisabeth, Pfarrgasse 2. Note: The plaque is dedicated to three writers: Theodor Herzl, Mark Twain, Franz Werfel
Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, came from humble origins. He was born in Missouri in 1835, and he grew up in a small town on the Mississippi. He learned the profession of typesetter, and at an early age he worked as a journalist and travel writer, and later made a living as a pilot on a Mississippi steamer. His pen name “Mark Twain” means "two fathoms of water depth".
His breakthrough came with his first book, The Innocents Abroad (Die Arglosen im Ausland, 1869), a humorous, critical travel report about first trip to Europe.
After marrying and starting a family, he settled on the East Coast, in Hartford, Conneticut, where he wrote his world-famous bestsellers The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). These two novels are probably the best-known novels by Twain here in Austria, which were also successfully adapted for film.
Mark Twain died highly respected in 1910 in the USA.
Reference to Ischl
Mark Twain spent almost two years (from 1897 to 1899) in Austria. In the summer of 1898, he visited the Salzkammergut. His name can be found in the list of spa guests of the best hotel in town, the Hotel Elisabeth, where he stayed with his wife and daughter. However, he apparently did not enjoyed his stay because he wrote to a friend: "... we've been sweating for two days now in this hot hotel in this hot place. The hotel does not have an electric light, but candles that are extinguished throughout the house at 11:00 p.m. [...] We have gone back into the Middle Ages."
