Happy birthday to Mark Twain (aka Samuel L.anghorne Clemens) btd 1835 in Florida, Missouri (population 100 at the time). Supreme humorist, writer, journo, inventor and ferocious social satirist, he was named the Father of American Literature by William Faulkner, and creator of the American Novel by Ernest Hemingway. 

Twain wrote at least 24 novels, alongside many essays, short stories, articles, letters and lectures covering history, children’s books, autobiography, works of reference, science fiction and fiction. On the way, he created two immortal American icons, Tom Sawyer (The Adventures of, 1876) and Huckleberry Finn (Adventures of, 1885) He was clever, prolific, hardworking, passionate and steadfast in the face of many adversities; he also absolutely adored cats, which makes him very much our kind of writer.

A Genius Idea

When we say adored cats, we mean Twain really adored cats. Never a catless hour went by. Belvedere and I are seriously impressed. He had at least 32 of them, although not all at once. As you would expect, he gave them wonderful names: Sackcloth and Ashes, Billiards, Blatherskite, Satan (plus her kitten, Sin) and Sour Mash, among others. 

It was while summering in New Hampshire, away from his own cats, that Twain hit upon the genius idea (his words, not ours) of renting kittens by the month so that he wouldn’t be without feline company. They were all safely returned to their own home when he left for the winter. It really is an ingenious workaround.

Read more about Mark Twain in Literary Cats, part of the upcoming Creative Cats series from Clowder Press.