Comment on Mark Twain’s work “Huckleberry Finn”of the view on humor and irony
A Thesis Submitted
to School of Foreign Languages, Xuchang University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts
By
Ma Dongge
Supervisor：Xu Zhongyong
May 15, 2010
Acknowledgement
This paper has finally come into being after several months of hard work.
From the very beginning when I chose the topic till the completion of the paper, I have benefited from many people whose help I must acknowledge.
I am particularly grateful to my tutor, Xu Zhongyong, for his valuable suggestions and commentary ideas, and for his patience in correcting the draft. Without his guidance and help, timely completion of this paper would not be possible.
Thanks are also due to my classmates and friends for their constant encouragement and assistance in the course of writing.
Yet I have to acknowledge that I am independently responsible for the paper and I am the person to blame for any pitfalls, flaws and neglects in it.
摘要
马克·吐温是一个世界闻名的幽默大师.《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》是他的代表作,这部小说堪称经典。这篇论文介绍了马克·吐温和他的幽默、讽刺，找出小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》中幽默的来源和目的,详尽地研究了马克·吐温的幽默与讽刺。关键词：马克·吐温，《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》，幽默，讽刺
Abstract
MarkTwain is a world-renowned humorist. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is his masterpiece, this novel has been listed in the conon of great novels.This paper introduces Twain’s biograph，explores the source and purpose of his humor , and has a study on MarkTwain’s humor and irony in detail.
Key words: MarkTwain, The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, Humor, Irony
Table of Contents Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................I 摘要.............................................................................................................................................II Abstract......................................................................................................................................III Table of Contents........................................................................................................................IV Introduction.. (1)
Chapter One MarkTwain and his humor and irony (2)
1.1 The Biograohical Sketch of Mark Twain (2)
1.2 The reason of Mark Twain’s humor and irony’s formation (3)
1.2.1 Social influence (2)
1.2.2 Personal encounters (3)
Chapter Two Four..Sources of Twain’s humor and irony in Huckleberry Finn (6)
2.1 The Vernacular language (6)
2.2S i t u a t i o n (6)
2.3C a r i c a t u r e (7)
2 .4 The contrast between speech and act (4)
Chapter Three Purpose and Effect of Twain’s humor in Huckleberry Finn (9)
3.1 Humor for fun (9)
3.2 Humor for irony (9)
Conclusion (14)
Works Cited (15)
Introduction
The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn written in 1884, became the masterpiece of Mark Twain. This novel was regarded as a piece of work which could best represent his writing talents partly , because it gave full play to humor. Hemingway once said “All modern American literature came from one book written by Mark Twain called The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn”.［3］
This novel was narrated by Huck, the sequel begins with its unschool hero under the motherly protection of Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson|. His father kidnaps him and imprisons him in a lonely cabin. Huck escapes to Jackson’island where he meets Miss Watson|’runway slave Jim. They start their way on a raft and begin their adventures during the Mississippi River. At last,Jim is set free in Miss Watson|’will and Huck decides to go on his adventures for he doesn’t want to have the so-called “civilized” life.
First, after the introductory part,this chapter tells us Mark Twain’biography and the formation of his humor and irony. In Chapter Two, based on the sources of Twain’humor and irony in Huckleberry Finn. Chapter Three introduces the purpose and effect of Twain’humor. The last part of this paper is the conclusion of Twain’s humor and irony.
Chapter One Mark Twain and his humor and irony
1.1Biographical sketch of Mark Twain
Mark Twain, the pseudonym of Samuel Langhome Clemems, was born in Mississippi, son of John Marshall Clemems, a restless and unsuccessful lawyer-land speculator, who settled at Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi in 1839. When he he was 12 , his father died and he had to leave school. He was successively a printer’apprentice , a tramp printer, a silver miner, a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi , and a frontier journalist in Nevada and California. These experiences gave him a lot of knowledge of humanity , which helped much on his writing career.
After the publishing of “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”,Twain became nationally famous. The Gilded Age was his first novel, which was an artistic failure, but it gave its name to the America of the post-bellum period which it attempted to satirize. Twain was most noted for his sister novels The The Adventure of Tom Sawyer and The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn, the later became his masterpiece. Because of three years’life on the Mississippi, he finished another famous work“Life on the Mississsippi”.
Twain is a great humorist, but he doesn’t write only for humor’s sake, instead, he uses humor to express his wisdom, which helps to enhance his humor. He makes full use of humor and irony to expose the society ,express his understanding of life and humanity.
1.2The reason of Twain’humor and irony’formation
When we refer to a literary giant, Mark Twain is remembered by men of letters firstly as a mastermind humor and a bitter satier writer.But what cause his humor and satire? In my opinion , there are two reasons: one is the social influence and the other is his personal encounters.
1.2.1Social inflences
Twain’ writing style was greatly affected by the American Civil War(1861-1865)
and the re-constraction after the war. Everything has two sides, the war not only gave the writer a hard life but also gave him some perious experiences which were important materials to his writing.
With the advent of the civil war, Twain begun his pilot career. He took large time in this life, listening to pilothouse talk of feuds, piracies, lynchings, medicine shows, and savage waterside slums. In 1861 he became a journalist and adopted “Mark Twain”as his pen name,then he made his mind to establish his fame by writing. He dug his way in writing style as a humorist with rich war experiences. As a realistic writer, Twain gradually noticed the darkness and the differences between what he saw superficially and what they really were in-depth. He begun to expose the social reality, sharply satirize the social evils and social injustices with his humorous words.
1.2.2Personal encounters
It is no doubt that the social influence of Twain’s day affected his attitude towards life, his outlook of society, his writing style and so on. However, there is another important reason which also can’t be ignored when we analyse his writing style.
As a world-renowned literary giant and a gifted humorist, Twain met countered countless personal hardships and sufferings.When he was twelve, his father’death was only a start, his family members left him one by one, bitterness fed on the man who had made the world laugh. Mark Twain is a optimistic person, but after the failure in business and the deaths of his loved ones, he changed his writing style into bitter satire after making the world laugh by his humor,that ie to say, his writing style was blended with humor and sharp satire then. All the experiences of the people are perious materials for his writing career, Mark Twain uses his sadness and splendid talent creates so many great works to express his humor in deed and satirize the real society.
Chapter Two Four Sources of Twain’Humor and Irony
in Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain presents before readers an immense world of humor in Huckleberry Finn. It is impossible to analyse every funny deed or act, witty talks of different characters in this novel. To have a clear study, we need a categorization. After a totally reading of Huckleberry Finn, I find four sources for Twain’humor and irony, which will be analysed respectively in the following sectioes.
2.1The Vernacular Language
Literature is a art of language. Novel as a kind of literary, undoubtedly, is related with language. Humorous literature makes a good use of language, including vernacular language.
Vernacular language is a kind of native language from a coutry or a locality, which can be expressed by slang and dialects.
As a famous humorist, Twain uses a lot of slangs and dialects in his novel“Huck Finn” . For example, in the explanatory part of this work, Twain wrote: “In this book a number of dialects are used : the Missouri negro dialect; the extremist form of the backwoods southwestern dialect; the ordinary pike county’dialect: and four modified varieties of the last. The shadings have not been done in hap-hazard fashion,or by guesswork, but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personsl familiarity with these several forms of speech.”［1］His father is a good example using a lot of slang of dialect whenever he opens his mouth, producing much fun. In Chapter Five, pap heard Huck became rich and was educated in school, so he returned home to catch Huck and begun to prattle:
“Well, I’ll learn her how to meddle. And looky here you drop that school, you hear? I’ll learn people to bring up a boy to put on airs over his own father and let on to be better’n what HE is.Your mother couldn’t read, and she couldn’t write, nuther,_before she died.None of the family couldn’t before THEY died.I can’t;and here you’re a-swelling yourself up like this. I ain’t the man to stand it—you hear? Say, lemme_hear you read. ”［1］
In this conversation,we can see a lot of slang and dialects, such as “looky”,“put on airs over”, “better’n”, “lemme”, “nuther”, and “a swelling”.We can guess some of their meaning, such as “looky”means “look”, “better’n”means “better and”, “nuther” means “neither”, “lemme” means “let me”.But there are some difficult ones, “put on airs over” and “a swelling”,they mean “act superior” and “an arrogant guy”.His vulgar langue and tone convey humor and laughter to us, the slang and dialects add more fun for the character .
In “Huck Finn”, there are two swindler, the duke and the king, they also give readers much laughter and fun through their words.Pay attention please,when the younger swindler wants Jim and Huck to call him Duke Bridgewater, the older one call him Duke Bilgewater on purse or not.
“Looky here, Bilgewater,” he says, “I’m nation sorry for you, but you ain’t the only person that’s had trouble like that.”［1］Maybe that’s only a little mistake made by the king, but if you analyse it carefully, you will find it very interesting and humorous. “Bilgewater”, which literally means the water accumulated in the bilge of a ship, is dirty and stinky. “Bridgewater” means the water under the bridge is the flow of water, natural clear. The humor formed by this sharp contrast humor make people laugh, giving people pleasure, but also showing disdain feelings which reflects the author's ironic humor vividly.
2.2Situation
A well-designed situation, which may involve either a single event or a series of event simple or complex, and the humou from an intricate situation is usually more brilliant.
The first humorious situation appears when Huck plans to escape from the deserted cabin where his father keeps him captivity.He kills a pig, and make some preparations as he narrated, “I fetched the pig in, and took him back nearly to the table and hacked into his throat with the ax, and laid him down to on the ground to bleed;…Well,next I took an old sack and put a lot of big rocks in it-all I could drug-and Istarted it from the pig, and dragged it to the door and through the woods down to the river and dumped it in, and down it sunk, out of sight.”［1］And then, he sprinkled its blood around “and pulled out some of my hair, and blooded the ax good, and stuck it on the back side, and slung the ax in the corner.”［1］I thought “they’ll follow the track of that sackful of rocks to the shore and then drug the river for me.”［1］Though Huck is only a little boy ,but his plan in making up a murder scene is perfect and successed, which is funny.
The most humorous situation in “Huck Finn” is the rescue of Jim. Rather than using a simple plan, Tom insists on following all the classic escape formulas of the romantic novels he has read. Tom chooses a very complex rescue way and doesn’t use convenient tools. Finally, they overcome all the difficulties and set Jim free,but Tom’leg is hurt for his heroics. For looking after Tom ,Jim is caught by adults. Everyone thinks there is no hope to let Jim have freedom,but Tom tells an unbelievable truth: the owner of Jim had already set Jim free.We can’t helping laughing,when we know that Huck and Tom just rescue a free person to free. The sudden turn of events has realized humorous effects.
2.3Caricature
In “Huck Finn”, there are a number of characters who are described like caricature. Mark Twain uses every possible opportunity to overstate these characters to achieve the desired humorous effect, whether it is for fun or for irony.
Huck’s father is a representative caricature. As the image of a drunkard, Huck described him like this“He was almost fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he was behind vines. It was all black, no gray; so was his long, mixed up
whiskers.There warn’t no color in his face, where his face showed; it was white; not like another man’s white, but a white to make a body sick, a white to make a body’s flesh orawl-a tree-toad white, a fish-belly white. As for his clothes-just rags, that was all. He had one ankle resting on t’other knee; the boot on that foot was busted, and two of his toes struck through, and he worked them now and then. His hat was lying on the floor-an old black slough with the top caved in, like alid.” ［1］Only a few sentences which use exaggerated comic style description, presenting us a drunk who is in old dress, living dirty, all day long only know that drinking, maybe he was drunk longer than he was awake .Through this exaggerated image,Twain give us a sense of humor and clownery.
Mark Twain attaches great importance to the use of concise, comic-style exaggeration, and even grotesque strokes, to increase the effect of the novel’s humor and satire. In Chapter Eighteen,Twain wrote:“so I slid out and slipped off up the road, and there warn’t anybody at the church, except maybe a hog or two, for ther warn’t any lock on the door, and hogs likes a puncheon floor in summer-time because it’s cool. If you notice, most folks don’t go to church only when they’ve got to;but a hog is different.”［1］The church is a grave place,but there aren’t serious preachers but some dirty hogs sleeping on the summer day. What a comic scene! This caricature brings up laughter, but after laughing we need have a thought: the church symbolizes religion, there aren’t people listening to the priest but some hogs. That’s a disrespect and satire to the power of religion. In a word, Twain uses a lot of comic or absurd figures and scenes to creat a kind of light-hearted humor. He is succeed in using caricature to mock the sick society.
2.4 The contrast between speech and act
When a person’s speech can’t accord with his own act, he look funny, then the humor appears. Huck’s father is a big example whose speech and act make a big contrast, it makes us laugh. The author depicts the drunkard:“yes, he’s got a father, but you can’t never find him, these days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard”.［1］
After reading this sentence, we can guess that Huck’s father can’t live without wines. But when the new judge wants he to quit drink and to be a normal person fron now on, he pronises. He cries in tears, and describes the variety of his own mistakes, and decides to have a fresh start. The judge and his wife are moved by tears, finally the old man make a premise on the paper. All people seem to believe that he wants to change himself, does not drink and to be a good father. But if you are familiar with him ,you will not believe his assurances. In the middle of night , his alcoholic attacks,he slips out for drinking and forgets all the words he has said before.Twain presents us a person whose act sharply contrast with his speech, that’s ridicious and funny. Humor implicits a tragedy laughter.
Besides Huck’s father, the duke and the king are the same people, whose deeds don’t accord with their words. The two swindlers try their best to make money by deception and lie. Sometimes, they make a speech on temperance to persuade the people quiting drinking. However, after lecture they will have a drink with the money they make through temperance lecture. That’s a obvious contrast between their speeches and acts which providing a humorous mockery on moral education.
Chapter Three Purse and Effect of Twain’s humor in
Huckleberry Finn
This novel is about a boy’adventure story, starting as a child's vision . Through this little boy’s naive and honest narration, let us understand the society a nd all kinds of social men, the whole work is in childish innocence which filled an atmosphere with humor and irony. Huck speaks the local dialects and tells us his own
personal experience.
3.1Humor for fun
H umor means the “quality of being funny［8］”,so we can find humor’s important purpose is for fun and laughter. In a word, humor is first produced simply for producing humor.
In the first chapter ,Huck can’t stand the living with the widow, so he makes his mind to escape from her home. But when Tom tells him if he can go back to the widow he will be one member of Tom’s gang of robbers. Unbelievablely, Huck agrees with Tom’s advice. That’s funny, do you think so? The reason which make Huck return to the boring life is to be an abominable robber. Humor is created by Huck’s innocence and simplicity.
There is another humorous chapter, in Chapter Fourteen, that’s a dialogue happens between Huck and Jim:“What’s de harem?”“The place where he keeps his wives. Don’t you know about the harem? Solomon had one; he had about a million wives.”［1］Jim is a black slave, Huck is a little white boy. Though one is a adult and the other is a child, but the difference of their skin’s color decides their leader power. Huck is like a adult when compared with Jim, so the funny answer produced when Huck open his month. Huck’s knowledge on the number of Solomon’wives is not clear, but tellsJim seriously as if he sees them with his own eyes. When you think a child is in an adult ‘seriousness to speak the words,you can’t do nothing but laughing.Of course, there will be a quession in our minds: how many wives does Solomon really hav e? I think Twain wants to expose a satire on the top ruler’s woman life and the ruling class here, but he uses this subtly humorous dialogue to reflect his view.
3.2Humor for satire
Undoubtedly, humor gives us a lot of fun and laughter. But there is another effect of humor, that is, satire. In Twain’s work, humor and satire is closely linked.
For example, in Chapter Three, Huck’s view on prayers is rich of humor and satire. He said:“I say to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don’t
the widow get back her silver-box that was stole? Why can’t Miss Watson fat up? No,says I to myself, there ain’t nothing in it.”［1］The adults just know to pray everyday, but that seems to be only a ceremony for consoling thenselves, because nothing changes after that. No one doubts the god, though he does nothing fir them. But little Huck uses his eyes and mind to analyse ,and find there is no god in the world. Maybe there is someone who suspects the god and the religion but only the little boy dares to say.I t hink Huck plays the same role like that brave child in “The Emperor's New Clothes” of “Andersen Fairy Tales”.Mark Twain uses a boy’s voice to satirize the foolishness and innocence of that people who are in blind faith in religion.
The novel has written a feud,which has been going on for several generations. Every minute and every scene the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords are going to fight to death with each other. Maybe their hate is large and sever, but to one’s ridiculousness, they have forgotten their initial reason for hating each other. The two families are funny and miserable, because they have fought years and years for an unknown reason and a large number of people died for this. Through this absurd feud, Twain give a sharp satire to the American society of that time with humor.
Conclusion
Mark Twain is a great humorist, he once said:“There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult-the humorous.” So to achieve humor in his writing, I dare to say he uses his lifelong time to persuit. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn presents before readers a world of humor, it also can be eyed a sharp satire.
This essay has covered four sources of Twain’s humor in Huckleberry Finn, there are still some other sources that have never been mentioned and even can’t be found, of course. But we have to admit that Twain make a full play of humor and irony in this novel. The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a masterpiece of humor and satire.
Works cited
[1]Mark Twain The Advertures of Huckleberry Finn Foreign Language Teaching And Research Press ,2006
[2] Neider Charles The Selected Letters of Mark Twain,1982.
[3] Eugene Moran, A People’s History of English and American Literature. New York: Nova Publishers,2002
[4] 马克吐温哈克贝利?费恩历险记.成时译.北京：人民文学出版社，2004.
[5] 常耀信.“美国文学简史.”南开出版社,2004
[6] 金莉,秦亚青.“美国文学.”北京:外语教学与外语研究出版社,1999
[7] 陶洁.“美国文学选读.”北京:高等教育出版社,2000
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论文种类：毕业论文是学术论文的一种形式，为了进一步探讨和掌握毕业论文的写作规律和特点，需要对毕业论文进行分类。由于毕业论文本身的内容和性质不同，研究领域、对象、方法、表现方式不同，因此，毕业论文就有不同的分类方法。
按内容性质和研究方法的不同可以把毕业论文分为理论性论文、实验性论文、描述性论文和设计性论文。后三种论文主要是理工科大学生可以选择的论文形式，这里不作介绍。文科大学生一般写的是理论性论文。理论性论文具体又可分成两种：一种是以纯粹的抽象理论为研究对象，研究方法是严密的理论推导和数学运算，有的也涉及实验与观测，用以验证论点的正确性。另一种是以对客观事物和现象的调查、考察所得观测资料以及有关文献资料数据为研究对象，研究方法是对有关资料进行分析、综合、概括、抽象，通过归纳、演绎、类
Mark Twain:from humor to satire Abstract:Mark Twain, a mastermind of humor and realism, is seen as a giant in world literature. His humor had great impact on the following men of letters; critics also attached significant importance to it and put forward various interpretations. However,humor could no more be found in Twain's later works. On the contrary, it was replaced by bitter satire. Why did Twain change his writing style as well his attitude towards life?What was the cause of this sharp conversion? Focusing on these questions, the paper tries to analyze the basic elements which affected Twain from social influence and personal encounters respectively, aiming at offering rational analysis of this shift as well as making Twain's works readily understood. I Introduction Mark Twain, the pseudonym of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, is the foreruner and Reputed realist in the arena of American literature. Because of his remarkable contribution to the nation, literary critics spoke highly of his achievements. For instance, these venerable titles‖the Lincoln of American literarure‖,‖the true father of our national literature ,‖‖Mark Twain –mirror of America‖ are used to highlight his pinnacles in literature. His faithful disciple, Ernest Heming way, more over, onve put it, ―all modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain ,called Huck lebury Finn..‖ As far as a literatry giant is concerned, Twain was remembered by men of letters firstly as a mastermind of hunmor and then as bitter satiric writer. In other words, Twain in his writing career experienced a change from being cheerful and optimistic to despairing and pessimistic But what cause his shift from humor to satir? Personally, both social influence and personal encounters play critical roles in changing his writing from humor to satire and his attitude toward life as well ⅡSocial influences Both the American Civil war( happened in 1861 and lasted till1865) and the re-construction after the war greatly affected Twain‘s writing style. Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, on30 November In 1835,into a lawyer family.With the advent of
最新英语专业全英原创毕业论文，都是近期写作 1 从功能分析的角度试析广告英语中语言的性别差异 2 《愤怒的葡萄》的生态主义分析 3 初中生英语听力理解的障碍因素及对策 4 从象征主义手法的运用浅析弗图纳多之死 5 苔丝之罪是谁之过 6 试探吸血鬼文化的起源 7 中式英语特点及发展趋势 8 《药》的两个英译本中翻译技巧比较 9 论狄更斯在《双城记》中的人道主义思想 10 从《马拉喀什》和《射象》看乔治?奥威尔散文的艺术风格 11 论标示语汉英翻译中的等效问题 12 A Comparative Study o n the Two Chinese Versions of Tess of the D’urbervilles from the Perspective of Nida’s Dynamic Equivalence 13 论第二语言习得与教学中的互动 14 CBI理论诠释及在英语教学中的应用 15 论《了不起的盖茨比》中“盖茨比”人物象征主义的运用 16 《玉石雕像》中的非言语交流 17 A Probe Into the Translation of the Hot Cyber Word—“Geili” 18 多丽丝莱辛的《金色笔记》中安娜的政治困惑分析 19 由王尔德的《莎乐美》探究法国象征主义对其唯美主义的影响 20 论中文电视栏目名称的英语翻译 21 对《一小时的故事》的批评分析 22 The Pursuit of Freedom and Love in E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View 23 从跨文化角度看电影标题汉译英 24 《厄舍屋之倒塌》中的哥特元素分析 25 《推销员之死》中的反英雄主义 26 论《弗兰肯斯坦》中怪物悲剧的必然性 27 从奥斯丁和伍尔夫看英国女权主义思潮的演变 28 分析奥利弗退斯特悲剧生活的原因 29 从《绝望主妇》析字幕翻译的目的和归化策略 30 文化视野下的中美家庭教育方法的比较 31 论《英国病人》中角色的自我认知 32 A Comparative Study of Women in Fortress Besieged and Pride and Prejudice 33 中英酒吧文化对比 34 论《紫色》中的姐妹情谊 35 从《推销员之死》看消费主义时代美国梦的破灭 36 中英称谓语的差异 37 An Analysis of the Fool in King Lear from the Perspective of New Historicism 38 论交际法在初中英语教学中的运用 39 文化因素对品牌翻译的影响 40 《道连葛雷的画像》叙事艺术的分析 41 基于认知的颜色词隐喻研究
作者简介: 李晓莉，在读硕士，山东大学外国语学院英语语言文学专业，山东济南研究方向: 英美文学邮政编码: 文章编号: ( ) 浅析马克吐温的黑色幽默 以哈克贝利费恩历险记中家庭对儿童成长的扭曲影响为例 李晓莉 摘要: 世纪年代盛行于美国文坛的黑色幽默文学可谓历史悠久，其源头可追溯到马克吐温时 代在其代表作哈克贝利费恩历险记中，尖刻辛酸的黑色幽默随处可见其中，马克吐温从家庭与儿 童成长关系的角度入手，揭露社会的丑恶与道德的伪善，刻画出家庭对儿童成长的扭曲影响，堪称黑色幽默 文学的经典之作 关键词: 黑色幽默; 家庭; 哈克; 汤姆 中图分类号: 文献标识码: 黑色幽默，又称病态幽默，绝望的喜剧，它不 仅带有家族相似的喜剧性特征，更由于浓重的悲剧性因 素的渗透而表现出某种基因变异的征兆 ［］ 美国韦氏 大辞典的补编六千词将黑色幽默解释为经常用病 态的讽刺的荒唐而可笑的情节来嘲笑人类的愚蠢法 国的彩色拉鲁斯词典对黑色幽默的定义是用尖刻 的辛酸的有时甚至是绝望的笔调着重刻画人世间的荒 谬黑色幽默一词最早随着法国作家安布莱顿黑 色幽默文选的出版而出现在人们视野之中布莱顿 将其描述为一种态度一种立场，或者说是一种独立于文 学而又能体现于文学的观点从而使黑色幽默首先 在法国作为一个特定的文学批评概念而引起关注 ［］ 至世纪年代，黑色幽默文学成为风行于美国文坛 的现代主义流派，与法国的荒诞派戏剧相呼应，在文学领 域大放异彩 其实，黑色幽默文学历史悠久在美国小说界，其源 头可以追溯到马克吐温时代，当代黑色幽默作品中的 许多风格题材和写作技巧都可以在他的作品中找到根 源本文将以马克吐温的代表作哈克贝利费恩历 险记为例，从家庭对儿童成长的扭曲影响入手，来探源 马克吐温的黑色幽默风格 一文章简介 黑色幽默繁荣昌盛之时一般是社会动荡不安之 日 ［］ 哈克贝利费恩历险记正是在这种社会状况
马克·吐温的幽默故事 赴宴 一次马克·吐温应邀赴宴。席间，他对一位贵妇说：“夫人，你太美丽了！”不料那妇人却说：“先生，可是遗憾得很，我不能用同样的话回答你。”头脑灵敏，言辞犀利的马克·吐温笑着回答：“那没关系，你也可以像我一样说假话。” 吃鱼 有一天，马克·吐温收到一个初学写作的青年的来信。信中说：“听说鱼骨头里含有大量的磷质，而磷质有补于脑子。那么要想成为一个作家，就必须吃很多很多的鱼才行吧？您是否吃了很多的鱼？吃的哪种鱼呢？”马克·吐温在回信中告诉他：“看来你要吃一对鲸鱼才行。” 车票 马克·吐温一次乘车外出，火车开得很慢。当查票员过来查票时，马克吐温递给他一张儿童票。查票员调侃道：“我还真没看出您还是个孩子呢！”马克·吐温回答：“现在我已经不是孩子了，但我买票上车时还是个孩子哩。” 演讲 马克·吐温来到法国旅游。一天，他独自去理发店理发。“先生，您像刚从外国来的?”“是的。”“您真走运，因为马克·吐温先生也在这里，今晚您可以去听他演讲。”“我不得不去。”“先生，您有入场券吗?”“没有。”“这太遗憾了!”理发师耸耸肩，“那您只好从头到尾站着听了，因为那里不会有空座位。”“对!”幽默大师说，“和马克·吐温在一起可真糟糕，他一演讲我就得站着。” 没事的时候 法国名人波盖取笑美国人历史太短，说：“美国人没事的时候，往往喜欢怀念祖宗，可是一想到祖父一代，就不能不打住了。”马克·吐温回敬说：“法国人没事的时候，总是想弄清他们的父亲是谁，可是很难弄清楚。”油画马克·吐温在著名画家惠斯勒的画室参观时，伸手去摸了一下一幅油画。惠斯勒装着生气地喊道：“当心！难道你看不出这幅画还没干吗？”“啊，没关系，反正我戴着手套。”马克·吐温答道。
摘要 马克·吐温是美国著名的幽默讽刺作家，他的小说作品既充满幽默诙谐的情趣，又有着严肃而深刻的思想涵，从而将幽默与讽刺熔炼为一炉，形成了独特的幽默讽刺风格。鉴于马克·吐温的重要影响，研究其幽默讽刺艺术的资料甚多，但都或多或少的存在一个缺陷，那就是没有给予马克·吐温的幽默艺术和讽刺艺术同样的、足够的重视，而是往往将两者分裂开来，忽视了幽默与讽刺在他作品中的紧密关联。本文在借鉴既往研究资料的基础上，给予马克·吐温的幽默艺术和讽刺艺术平等的地位，并将两者有机整合于同一个话语系统中，这种尝试对于今后有关马克·吐温的创作艺术研究尤其是幽默讽刺艺术的研究未必不是一个很好的借鉴。文章通过分析和评述马克·吐温的诸多作品，探究他的幽默讽刺艺术的共通特点——漫画式的夸和荒诞、凸显矛盾和差异的对比手法以及口语化和善用反语的语言风格，并通过这些特点具体阐述马克·吐温幽默艺术与讽刺艺术的高度凝练和有机统一。在这样的艺术风格和追求中，我们看到，马克·吐温实现了自己“要做生活的导师”这一创作理想，同时他的幽默讽刺艺术对美国文学乃至世界文学都产生了深远影响。 关键词：幽默讽刺荒诞夸对比口语化
ABSTRACT Mark Twain is a famous American writer of humor and irony, and his novels filled with both humor and taste, and has a serious and profound ideological content, which will humor and satire as a smelting furnace, forming a unique style of humor and irony. Given the important influence of the art of research information on their humor and irony are many, but are more or less there is a flaw, it is not given Mark Twain's humor and satire art. Similarly, adequate attention but often the two split off, ignoring the humor and satire in his works in the closely related. In this paper, drawing on the basis of previous research data, inventive, giving Mark Twain's humor, satirical art and equality, and the organic integration of both systems in the same discourse, through analysis and commentary Mark Twain lot works delve into the art of his humor and irony common characteristics - comic exaggeration and absurdity, highlighting the contradictions and differences in contrast techniques as well as the use of the language spoken and ironic style. Through research, we see that in such a pursuit of art, Mark Twain implements its own "do life mentor" ideal. Keywords:Humor and irony absurd exaggeration contrast colloquial
马克·吐温（Mark Twain），美国作家、演说家，真实姓名是萨缪尔·兰亨·克莱门（Samuel Langhorne Clemens）。“马克·吐温”是他的笔名，原是密西西比河水手使用的表示在航道上所测水的深度的术语。代表作品有小说《百万英镑》、《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》、《汤姆·索亚历险记》等。 马克·吐温12岁时，父亲去世，他只好停学，到工厂当小工。后来他又换了不少职业，曾做过密西西比河的领航员、矿工及新闻记者工作。渐渐地着手写一些有趣的小品，开始了自己的写作生涯。 [1]他于1910年4月21日去世，安葬于纽约州艾玛拉。 马克·吐温一生写了大量作品，题材涉及小说、剧本、散文、诗歌等各方面。从内容上说，他的作品批判了不合理现象或人性的丑恶之处，表达了这位当过排字工人和水手的作家强烈的正义感和对普通人民的关心；从风格上说，专家们和一般读者都认为，幽默和讽刺是他的写作特点。他经历了美国从初期资本主义到帝国主义的发展过程，其思想和创作也表现为从轻快调笑到辛辣讽刺再到悲观厌世的发展阶段，前期以辛辣的讽刺见长，到了后期语言更为暴露激烈。 马克·吐温是美国批判现实主义文学的奠基人，他的主要作品已大多有中文译本。2006年，马克·吐温被美国的权威期刊《大西洋月刊》评为影响美国的100位人物第16名. 1835年11月30日，马克·吐温出生于美国密苏里州佛罗里达的乡村贫穷律师家庭。他是家中7个小孩中的第6个。他的父
亲是当地的律师，收入微薄，家境拮据。小马克·吐温上学时就不得不打工。他十一岁那年父亲去世，从此他开始了独立的劳动生活，先在印刷厂当学徒，当过送报员和排字工，后来又在密西西比河上当水手和舵手。 [3] 1839年秋，马克·吐温一家迁往密苏里州汉尼拔（Hannibal）的一个密西西比河的港市，而这就成为了他后来的著作《汤姆·索亚历险记》和 《顽童流浪记》中圣彼得堡的城市的灵感。那时，密苏里州是联邦的奴隶州，而年轻的吐温开始了解奴隶制，这成为了往后在他的历险小说中的主题。马克·吐温是色盲，而这激起了他在社交圈子的诙谐玩笑。 [3] 1847年3月24日马克·吐温的父亲约翰·克莱门斯死于肺炎。1847年，家世寒微的马克·吐温开始去做印刷所学徒、报童、排字工人、水手、淘金工人、记者等工作。 [3] 1851年，马克·吐温成为一名排字工人，也有投稿，并开始给他哥哥奥利安创办的《汉尼拔杂志》（Hannibal Journal）写草稿。 [3] 1852年5月1日在波士顿的幽默周刊《手提包》上发表了他的处女作《拓殖者大吃一惊的花花公子》。 [3] 1858年，马克·吐温回到密苏里州。在下密西西比河到纽奥良的旅途中，轮船的领航员“碧士比”要吐温终身成为轮船领航员。 [3]
Comparison On satire in Luxun’s and Mark Twain’s Works HUANGHE S&T COLLEGE SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ZHOU ZHAN JUN (黄河科技学院外国语学院周战军) Abstract:Living during the period of 19th-20th century, Lu Xun and Mark Twain are two great representatives of Chinese and American novelists respectively. Both of them are masters of writing in satire. This article compares the similarities and differences in their satire and has the conclusion that their influence is still far-reaching. Key Words: comparison; satire; direct satire; roundabout satire I. Purpose of the thesis Both Lu Xun and Mark Twain are masters of satire and contribute a lot to Chinese and American literature respectively. They had great influence upon writers after them, especially for their writing vehicles—satire. So far many researchers have become increasingly interested in Lu Xun’s satire or Mark Twain’s satire. However, few studies have made on the comparison of Lu Xun’s satire and Mark Twain’s satire. This is one of the reas ons why I’m interested in this topic. For other reasons, they had a large number of similarities: Lu Xun was the penname of Zhou Shuren; Mark Twain, pseudonym of Samuel Clemens. The life span of the two writers covered nearly the same age, Lu Xun was born in 1881, and died in 1936; while Mark Twain lived from 1835 to 1910. Meanwhile, Lu Xun was the founder of modern Baihua; while Mark Twain played a very important role in spreading American Colloquialism. Both Baihua and Colloquialism are milestones in literature. The most important reason why I’d like writing this is that I appreciate Lu Xun and Mark Twain’s prominent satire. S ome experts had analyzed Mark Twain’s satire, they pointed out that Mark Twain mixed humor with satire. Some scholars even argued th at Mark Twain’s writing style was transferred from humor to satire. Still, other studies have shown that Lu Xun described the psychology and performance of characters to criticize the unawake people. In this thesis, I want to make a comparison on Lu Xun’s satire and Mark Twain’s satire, to have a preliminary study on the style of their satire. In order to finish this job, some books are helpful, such as Lu Xun’s Kong Yiji, The True Story of Ah Q, The Medicine,Mark Twain’s The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country, The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg. Meanwhile, some writer’s views about Lu Xun and Mark Twain’s satire are also very important, such as Li Chuanpen, his article “On Lu Xun’s satire” argues that Lu Xun made full use of people’s appearance, ps ychology and action to criticize people’s apathy. [1] He gives us an example―Kong Yiji’s words and clothings. Y e Mang, “On the Satire of Lun Xun’s Novel”, published in June 15th 2007, points out in The True Story of Ah Q, Lu Xun used Ah Q’s view to satirize the people’s indifference.Wei Desan, “On the Satire of Mark Twain” argues that Mark Twain made full use of the arrangement of the plots and humorous words to criticize the evil. [2]He Dongyan, “On Mark Twain’s Humor” points out Mark Twain mixed humor and satire to satirize the injustice. [3] The purpose of this paper is to make a comparison on Lu Xun’s and Mark Twain’s satire, to find out the differences and similarities of their satire. This paper falls into 3 sections: section one is to tell the purpose of this writing; section two is about the comparison on the style of their satire; section three is a conclusion that there are similarities and differences between Lu Xun and Mark Twain’s satire.
例子 马克吐温与一位夫人对坐，他对她说：“你真漂亮！”那位夫人高傲地说：“可惜我是在无法同样地赞美你。”而马克吐温毫不介意地说：“没有关系，你可以像我一样说句谎话。” 有位舞女给马克.土温写信,说要嫁给马克吐温,"如果我们的后代有我的容貌,你的头脑,多好啊!"可马克吐温回信,说:"如果是你的头脑,我的容貌呢?" 书与割草机 有一回，马克·吐温向领居借阅一本书，邻居说：“可以，可以。但我定了一条规则：从我的图书室借去的图书必须当场阅读。” 一星期后，这位邻居向马克·吐温借用割草机，马克·吐温笑着说：“当然可以，毫无问题。不过我定了一条规则：从我家里借去的割草机只能在我的草地上使用。” 1.马克.吐温的生平简介:美国伟大的文学巨匠,被H.L.满肯称之为"我们民族文学之父",他的"哈克贝利费恩历险记"(1884)和"密西西比河上"(1883)的发表,塑造 了世人对美国的新看法,他更为广泛地应用民间幽默来创作严肃的文学作品,这一点以前任何作家是不可比拟的. 2.马克.吐温的语言特色:对方言的灵活运用是独一无二的,他的文字口语化,简明 直接,句子结构简单朴实,甚至不合乎语法规则,属于典型的口头语言,他巧妙地应用口语来描述故事人物的日常生活,另外,他的故事人物,限定于特定历史时期与 特定区域,操持着浓重的方言,使他的乡土特色更为真实. 3.马克.吐温的写作风格:马克.吐温的幽默是非常有名的,他的大多数作品情调诙 谐滑稽,包含有一些生活笑话,喜剧情节,睿智的品论等,甚至一些实际上荒诞不经的故事,读起来非常有趣味.因曾作过记者,他同时也成了有趣机智的美国人的公 众偶像,报纸上到处都刊登有他那双关诙谐,玩世不恭的文章,而他的幽默均以双 关诙谐,极度夸张,重复陡落的特点代替拙劣的描述和漫骂,以一种艺术的风格抨 击社会不公平现象,讽刺浪漫主义的腐败. 参考资料：英美文学选读 既富于独特的个人机智与妙语，又不乏深刻的社会洞察与剖析，既是幽默辛辣的小的杰作，又是悲天悯人的严肃! 第一，他在美国西部幽默传统的基础上，发挥了极度夸张的艺术想象。 第二个特点是：作品常以第一人称“我”为主人公。这个“我”大都天真、老实，思想单纯，什么事情都一厢情愿，结果常常事与愿违。例如《哥尔斯密的朋友再度现洋》中的艾送喜，《关于我最近辞职的事实经过》中的小秘书，主人公总是怀着某种单纯的想法，但在实现中处处碰壁，说明主人公的想法是行不通的，而他越不明白这一点，就越显出理想与现实之间的反差。 第三个特点是幽默中含有讽喻。他在《自传》里总结他的经验：“为幽默而幽默是不可能经久的，幽默只是一股香味和一点花絮。我老是训诫人家，这就是为
龙源期刊网 https://www.doczj.com/doc/e95202024.html, 论马克吐温《王子与贫儿》中的黑色幽默 作者：王勃 来源：《校园英语·下旬》2015年第07期 【摘要】在19世纪的后期，著名的美国现实主义作家马克吐温创作了具有浓厚现代主义色彩的《王子与贫儿》。这一部小说当中，作者马克吐温通过其犀利的笔锋，揭露当时的英国上层阶级对于穷苦劳动人们的残酷镇压，同时也是对于这一时期美国资本主义对于人们压迫的真实描写。马克吐温借用各种描述的手法，为读者营造出了一种幽默的阅读效果，并以此为基础引发对于社会问题的思考。本文主要分析了马克吐温在《王子与贫儿》这一小说中的黑色幽默，以更加清晰的解析这一作品。 【关键词】王子与贫儿黑色幽默讽刺 一、前言 黑色幽默最早出现于法国安德烈布勒东所出版的《黑色幽默文集》当中，之后一些作家也逐步开始使用这一名词定义自身的作品。然而对于黑色幽默的定义，每一个作家都有着自身的定义和看法。而归结为一点，黑色幽默突破了而传统表现手法的限制，以幽默和笑脸来表现悲惨的情绪和无奈的现实，是具有独特特征的文学表现手法。其具体的表现主要有以下几点：第一，突出描写怪诞的世界和离奇的社会；第二，刻画的人物形象大都具有明显的病态的心理或者畸形的性格；第三，语言的阐述也富有游戏性和欺骗性；第四，文学体裁新颖而特殊，其故事情节也大都突破世俗限制。在上个世纪中后期，黑色幽默得到繁荣发展。虽然，马克吐温在1881年就创作了《王子与贫儿》，但是其中的写作手法和表现特征都具与黑色幽默相契合， 本文也是主要分析了这一步小说中的黑色幽默成分。 二、《王子与贫儿》中的黑色幽默元素 1.两条平行线索。马克吐温在《王子与贫儿》当中，从两个平行的线索当中勾勒整篇文章。一条线索以主人公汤姆的人生轨迹为角度，另一条以主人公爱德华的人生事迹为角度，这两条线索看似是相互独立的，而实际上又是相互衬托、相互补充的。并且，在这两条平行的线索当中，又蕴含着一定的对比特征，从而为读者勾勒一个具有强烈讽刺意味的幽默风格在里面。 汤姆出身于贫苦的家庭，清贫的生活让他始终有一个变成王子的梦想，并在自己玩耍的游戏当中扮演者王子的身份。而当他真的与王子爱德华互换身份成为王子之后，汤姆自然而然的开始享受上层社会的奢靡生活，其内心有贫苦人转换成王子的速度也非常之快。纵观全文，一个出身于贫苦的孩子，最终却获得国家继承人的身份，这无疑对于英国封建制度的观念来讲，具有非常浓厚的讽刺意味。同时也是对于根深蒂固的，出身决定发展这一观念的彻底否定。对
经典话语 一次马克·吐温应邀赴宴。席间，他对一位贵妇说：“夫人，你太美丽了！”不料那妇人却说：“先生，可是遗憾得很，我不能用同样的话回答你。”头脑灵敏，言辞犀利的马克·吐温笑着回答：“那没关系，你也可以像我一样说假话。” 马克·吐温收到一封信。这是一位青年人写来的，他想向马克·吐温请教成为大作家的诀窍。信中说：“听说鱼含大量的磷质，而磷是有利于脑子的。看来要成为一个大作家，一定要吃很多鱼吧？但不知道你究竟吃的什么鱼，又吃了多少呢？”马克·吐温回信说：“看来，你得吃一条鲸才行。” 车票马克·吐温一次乘车外出，火车开得很慢。当查票员过来查票时，马克吐温递给他一张儿童票。查票员调侃道：“我还真没看出您还是个孩子呢！”马克·吐温回答：“现在我已经不是孩子了，但我买票上车时还是个孩子哩。” 幽默故事 广告一位商界阔佬对马克·吐温说：“我想借助您的大名，给敝公司做个广告。”马克·吐温说：“当然可以。”第二天在马克·吐温主办的报纸上登出了如下文字：一只母苍蝇有两个儿子。她把这两个儿子视若掌上明珠，爱护备至。一天，母子三个飞到某某商业公司的商店里。一只小苍蝇去品尝包装精美的糖果，忽然双翅颤抖落下来，一命呜呼！另一只小苍蝇去吃香肠，不料也一头栽倒，顷刻毙命。母苍蝇痛不欲生，扑到一张苍蝇纸上意欲自杀，尽管大吃大嚼，结果却安然无恙！阔佬看完广告，气得直翻白眼。 演讲一次偶然的机会，马克·吐温与雄辩家琼西·M·得彪应邀参加同一晚宴。席上演讲开始了，琼西·M·得彪滔滔不绝，情感丰富地讲了20分钟，赢得了一片热烈的掌声。然后轮到马克·吐温演讲。马克·吐温站起来，面有难色地说：“诸位，实在抱歉，会前琼西·M·得彪先生约我互换演讲稿，所以诸位刚才听到的是我的演讲，衷心感谢诸位认真的倾听及热情的捧场。然而，不知何故，我找不到琼西·M·得彪先生的讲稿，因此我无法替他讲了。请诸位原谅我坐下。” 父亲法国名人波盖取笑美国人历史太短，说：“美国人没事的时候，往往喜欢怀念晚辈，可是一想到祖父一代，就不能不打住了。”马克·吐温回敬说：“法国人没事的时候，总是想弄清他们的父亲是谁，可是很难弄清楚。” 尴尬当马克·吐温还是一个不大知名的作家时，有人把他介绍给格兰特将军。两人握过手后，马克·吐温想不出一句可讲的话，而格兰特也保持平日的那种缄默态度。最后还是马克·吐温结结巴巴地说了一句：“将军，我感到很尴尬，你呢？” 车票马克·吐温外出乘车。当列车员检查车票时，他翻遍了每个衣袋，也没有找到自己的车票。刚好这个列车员认识他，于是就安慰马克·吐温说：“没关系，如果您实在找不到车票，那也不碍事。”“咳！怎么不碍事，我必须找到那张该死的车票，不然的话，我怎么知道自己要到哪儿去呢？” 双胞胎马克·吐温常常向人说起他小时候的一段伤心往事。据说，马克·吐温出生时是，他和他的双胞胎兄弟两人长得一模一样，连他们的母亲也分辨不出来。有一天，保姆为他们洗澡时，其中一个不小心跌入浴缸淹死了，没有人知道淹死的究竟是双胞胎中的哪一个。“最叫人伤心的就在这里。”马克·吐温说，“每个人都以为我是那个活下来的人，其实我不是。活下来的是我弟弟。那个淹死的人是我。” 蚊子马克·吐温有一次到某地旅店投宿，别人事前告知他此地蚊子特别厉害。他在服务台登记房间时，一只蚊子正好飞来。马克·吐温对服务员说：“早听说贵地蚊子十分聪明，果如其然，它竟会预先来看我登记的房间号码，以便晚上对号光临，饱餐一顿。”服务员听后不禁大笑。结果那一夜马克·吐温睡得很好，因为服务员也记住了房间号码，提前
第九课 马克?吐温——美国的一面镜子 (节选) 诺埃尔?格罗夫 在大多数美国人的心目中，马克?吐温是位伟大作家，他描写了哈克?费恩永恒的童年时代中充满诗情画意的旅程和汤姆?索亚在漫长的夏日里自由自在历险探奇的故事。的确，这位美国最受人喜爱的作家的探索精神、爱国热情、浪漫气质及幽默笔调都达到了登峰造极的程度。但我发现还有另一个不同的马克?吐温——一个由于深受人生悲剧的打击而变得愤世嫉俗、尖酸刻薄的马克?吐温，一个为人类品质上的弱点而忧心忡忡、明显地看到前途是一片黑暗的人。 印刷工、领航员、邦联游击队员、淘金者、耽于幻想的乐天派、语言尖刻的讽刺家：马克?吐温原名塞缪尔?朗赫恩?克莱门斯，他一生之中有超过三分之一的时间浪迹美国各地，体验着美国的新生活，尔后便以作家和演说家的身分将他所感受到的这一切介绍给全世界。他的笔名取自他在蒸汽船上做工时听到的报告水深为两口寻(12英尺)——意即可以通航的信号语。他的作品中有二十几部至今仍在印行，其外文译本仍在世界各地拥有读者，由此可见他的享誉程度。 在马克?吐温青年时代，美国的地理中心是密西西比河流域，而密西西比河是这个年轻国家中部的交通大动脉。龙骨船、平底船和大木筏载运着最重要的商品。木材、玉米、烟草、小麦和皮货通过这些运载工具顺流而下，运送到河口三角洲地区，而砂糖、糖浆、棉花和威士忌酒等货物则被运送到北方。在19世纪50年代，西部领土开发高潮到来之前，辽阔的密西西比河流域占美国已开发领土的四分之三。 1857年，少年马克?吐温作为蒸汽船上的一名小领航员踏人了这片天地。在这个新的工作岗位上，他接触到的是各式各样的人物，看到的是一个多姿多彩的大干世界。他完全地投身到这种生活之中，经常在操舵室里听着人们谈论民间争斗、海盗抢劫、私刑案件、游医卖药以及河边的一些化外民居的故事。所有这一切，连同他那像留声机般准确可靠的记忆所吸收的丰富多彩的语言，后来都有机会在他的作品中得以再现。 蒸汽船的甲板上不仅挤满了富有开拓精神的人们，而且也载着一些娼妓、赌棍和歹徒等社会渣滓。从所有这些形形色色的人身上，马克?吐温敏锐地认识了人类，认识了人们的言与行之间的差距。他在蒸汽船上工作的四年半时间是他真正接受教育的开端，而且也是最具有深远意义的教育。到了晚年，马克?吐温还声言是密西西比河使他了解了各种各样的人的本性。这种生活体验对他的全部创作都起了促进作用，然而他描写得最为成功的还是那些密西西比河上的人物。 随着铁路运输的发展，社会上对汽船领航员的需求日渐减少，而内战的爆发又阻碍了商业贸易的发展。这时，马克?吐温便离开了密西西比河流域。他在南方邦联游击队的一支杂牌队伍里当了两个星期的兵。那支队伍想方设法避免与敌军交战。在确信“我比发明撤退的人更精通撤退”之后，马克?吐温离开了那支队伍。 他乘驿站马车来到西部，在内华达州的华苏地区受到当时正流行的淘金热的诱惑。同那只有既幸运而又锲而不舍的追求者才能取得的巨大财富三心二意地打了八个月交道之后，他遭到了失败。在破产和灰心之余，他接受了为弗吉尼亚市《领土开发报》当记者的工作，这一行动将获得文学界永久的感激。 自从他因淘金失败而感到心灰意冷之后，马克?吐温便开始努力博取作为一名报社记者和幽默作家的地区性声望。从事新闻报道工作当然不能使他像淘金成功者一样立成巨富，但在挣钱方面他的笔杆却比他的锄镐要有效得多。1864年春季，在他加盟《领土开发报》还不足两年之时，他又乘驿站马车前往旧金山，那儿在当时和现在都是有前途的年轻作家成长
马克吐温的幽默故事 \ 有一次，美国小说家马克.吐温到芝加哥一家旅店住宿，有人告诉他此地蚊子特别厉害。他在服务台登记房间时，一只蚊子正好飞来。马克.吐温对服务员说：“我早就听说贵地蚊子十分聪明，果不其然。它竟会预先来看我的房间号码，以便夜晚光临，饱餐一顿。”服务员听了不禁大笑。这一夜，马克.吐温睡得很好，因为服务员记住了房间号码，认真地事先做了一切该做的事。 一次偶然的机会，马克·吐温与雄辩家琼西·M·得彪应邀参加同一晚宴。 席上演讲开始了，琼西·M·得彪滔滔不绝，情感丰富他讲了20分钟，赢得了一片热烈的掌声。然后轮到马克·吐温演讲。 马克·吐温站起来，面有难色地说：“诸位，实在抱歉，会前琼西·M·得彪先生约我互换演讲稿，所以诸位刚才听到的是我的演讲，衷心感谢诸位认真的倾听及热情的捧场。然而，不知何故，我找不到琼西·M·得彪先生的讲稿，因此我无法替他讲了。请诸位原谅我坐下。” 法国名人波盖取笑美国人历史太短，说：“美国人没事的时候，往往喜欢怀念祖宗，可是一想到祖父一代，就不能不打住了。” 马克·吐温回敬说：“法国人没事的时候，总是想弄清他们的父亲是谁，可是很难弄清楚。” 当马克·吐温还是一个不大知名的作家时，有人把他介绍给格兰特将军。 两人握过手后，马克·吐温想不出一句可讲的话，而格兰特也保持平日的那种缄默态度。最后还是马克·吐温结结巴巴地说了一句：“将军，我感到很尴尬，你呢？” 马克·吐温外出乘车。当列车员检查车票时，他翻遍了每个衣袋，也没有找到自己的车票。刚好这个列车员认识他，于是就安慰马克·吐温说：“没关系，如果您实在找不到车票，那也不碍事。”“咳！怎么不碍事，我必须找到那张该死的车票，不然的话，我怎么知道自己要到哪儿去呢？” 马克·吐温常常向人说起他小时候的一段伤心往事。据说，马克·吐温出生时是双胞胎，他和他的双胞胎兄弟两人长得一模一样，连他们的母亲也分辨不出来。 有一天，保姆为他们洗澡时，其中一个不小心跌入浴缸淹死了，没有人知道淹死的究竟是双胞胎中的哪一个。 “最叫人伤心的就在这里。”马克·吐温说，“每个人都以为我是那个活下来的人，其实我不是。活下来的是我弟弟。那个淹死的人是我。” 曾有一位专门喜欢在细节上吹毛求疵的批评家指责马克·吐温说谎。马克·吐温回答说：假如你自己不会说谎，没有说谎的本领，对谎话是怎样说的一点知识都没有，你是怎样判断我是说谎呢？只有在这方面经验丰富的人，才有权这样明目张胆地武断指责。” 一次马克·吐温应邀赴宴。 席间，他对一位贵妇说：“夫人，你太美丽了！”不料那妇人却说：“先生，可是遗憾得很，我不能用同样的话回答你。”头脑灵敏，言辞犀利的马克·吐温笑着回答：“那没关系，你也可以像我一样说假话。” 马克·吐温收到一封信。这是一位青年人写来的，他想向马克·吐温请教成为大作家的诀窍。信中说：“听说鱼含大量的磷质，而磷是有利于脑子的。看来要成为一个大作家，一定要吃很多鱼吧？但不知道你究竟吃的什么鱼，又吃了多少呢？”马克·吐温回信说：“看来，你得吃一条鲸才行。”
语言艺术的幽默小故事 (2011-04-14 15:56:50) 转载▼ 标签： 儿子收集的资料 1、英国著名剧作家肖伯纳到莫斯科旅游，在街上遇到了一位聪慧的小女孩，十分投缘，便站在街头天南地北的和她聊了很久，临分别时，肖伯纳说：“回去告诉你妈妈，今天你在街上和世界名人肖伯纳聊了很久。”小女孩看了他一眼，也学着他的口气说：“回去告诉你妈妈，今天你和漂亮的苏联小姑娘安娜聊了很久。” 小姑娘眼里没有尊卑贵贱之别，让人忍俊不禁。 2、国共两党谈判期间，国民党代表在以周恩来、王若飞为代表的中共代表团义正词严、咄咄逼人的气势下，理屈词穷、恼羞成怒：“和你们共产党谈判真是对牛弹琴。”“对，牛弹琴！”巧妙的反戈一击，不仅充满机趣，也包含智慧。 3、美国著名作家马克·吐温写了一部著名讽刺作品《镀金时代》立刻引起轰动，在记者招待会上马克·吐温不禁脱口说道：“美国国会议员中有些人是狗婊子养的”。报上连篇累牍加以报道。有些美国议员纷纷抗议，要求马克·吐温在报上公开道歉。马克·吐温答应了，于是在报上公开发文：“日前，小的在宴席上信口雌黄，说美国国会议员中有些人是狗婊子养的，议员先生们对此大加问责，细细考虑，此言确有不妥，现修改如下：美国国会议员中有些人不是狗婊子养的。” 4、唐伯虎为一老妇祝寿，儿女欢天喜地，恭请唐伯虎为之写祝词，伯虎也不推辞，提笔写道：“这个婆娘不是人”，一言既出，老妇脸现怒色。“九天仙女下凡尘”，老妇由怒变喜。“生下儿女都是贼”，儿女皆惊，恨上心头。“偷来蟠桃献至亲”，结语一出，众人欢娱。真是一波三折，充满机变，令人叹为观止。 5、安徒生是丹麦著名童话作家，尽管受到孩子们的喜爱，但有些人就是不喜欢他。有一次，一个绅士见到安徒生，讥笑他：“安徒生，你脑袋上面的玩意儿，能算个帽子吗？”“你帽子下面的玩意儿，能算个脑袋吗？”语气一致，词语移易，令人为之捧腹。 6、建国初期,美国记者基辛格嘴巴非常尖刻，来中国的时候故意发难问周恩来：“为什么你们中国人走路都是那么低头弯腰的?不像我们美国人走路抬头挺胸。”周恩来回答说：“你见过上山和下山吗？因为你们走的是下坡路，我们走的是上坡路啊。” 7、美国记者看到周恩来总理口袋里有支派克钢笔，问：“中国不会生产钢笔吗，要用我们国家的笔？”周总理说：“这是一位抗美援朝的将军送给我的，是他的战利品，我能不随身携带吗？” 8、一天，德国大诗人歌德在公园散步，在一条狭窄的小路上遇到了一位反对他的批评家，这位傲慢的批评家说：“你知道吗？我这个人从来不给傻瓜让路。”歌德却笑着说：“我则恰恰相反。"说完闪身让批评家过去。 9、马克·吐温有一次到一个小城市演讲，他决定在演讲之前先理理发。 “您喜欢我们这个城市吗？”理发师问他。 “啊！喜欢，这是一个很好的地方。”马克·吐温说。 “您来得很巧，”理发师继续说，“马克·吐温今天晚上要发表演讲，我想您一定是想去听听喽？”