The prolific biographer Ron Chernow is releasing his new biography, Mark Twain, today.
Twain was born and raised in Missouri but he lived in Connecticut for much of his adult life. Twain and his family lived in Hartford for 20 years, from 1871 through 1891, in a grand house I have shown before. many times, including here, just one week after I started this blog.
When Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain turned 70 in 1905, he began to consider where and how he would make his exit. Twain purchased over 230 acres of land in Redding, Connecticut, on the advice of his friend and biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, and engaged John Howells to design a home. Howells created a version of the Italian villa suited to the Connecticut climate and landscape.
Redding is home to the Mark Twain Library, founded in 1908 by Clemens. He moved into his new home, Stormfield, in the same year and lived there until his death in 1910. (The house was for sale and passed into the hands of new owners in 2023 . . . here is a video if you want to spend five minutes imagining yourself living in Mark Twain's Redding home.)
The library has a design model of an intended sculpture by Walter Russell, showing Twain with characters from his many books. Russell intended to construct the full-sized statues in a memorial garden, but in the Depression of the 1930s the funds could not be raised.
Ron Chernow is on a tour promoting his new book about Twain. He is scheduled to appear in Hartford and later in Redding in June, but unfortunately I have other commitments during that time, so I won't be able to attend his talks. But, I will get the book.
2 comments:
I've always been a fan of Mark Twain, and recently read Life on the Mississippi. That man did have a way with words.
Such a good author, and I've lived near Hannibal MO as well as Hartford, so have seen several places he lived. But of course his writing is what stands out most.
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