Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)

Ed. by Stephen E. Meats, Pittsburg State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: J. Michael Duvall (College of Charleston), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Tony Papanikolas (San Jose State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1882

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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The origin of

The Prince and the Pauper

(

PAP

) probably lies in

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

, which is the story of a boy like Tom Canty who dreams of and plays at being a king. The story line of the book was likely shaped by Charlotte Yonge’s

The Little Duke

, which Clemens read in 1876. Here the Duke of Normandy “profits from his experiences at the corrupt court of Louis IV to become a just and merciful ruler” (Emerson, 119). We know that by 1878 Clemens was well into writing

The Prince and the Pauper

and was reading selections from it at the Young Girl’s Club he sponsored. By 1880 he had completed the first draft of the novel and had requested several of his close friends to review it (Camfield, 445).

One of his major incentives to write the book was to demonstrate his skill at

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2196 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "The Prince and the Pauper". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 05 December 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7454, accessed 25 November 2024.]

Mark Twain, The Prince and the Pauper

Dates

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