The 1890s

Abstract

The 1890s were a difficult decade for the Clemens as they dealt with the death of their daughter Susy at age twenty-four and financial struggles that brought them nearly to bankruptcy and led Twain to undertake a world lecturing tour to pay off their debts. More positively, by the mid-1890s, Twain was a global celebrity whose opinions were solicited on many matters and who enjoyed friendships with numerous political, business, and literary luminaries. In earlier works, Twain had spoofed religious tracts, pompous preachers and grandstanders, and pretentious moralizing, but during the 1890s, his criticism of Christianity, God, and the Bible became harsher. In 1896, however, Twain published his most enigmatic book—Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc—a glowing portrait of the fifteenth-century French warrior-saint who played a pivotal role in liberating France from long-standing British domination but was captured and burned at the stake for her alleged heresy.