BY SCOTT STIFFLER | He wasn’t the first person to pilot a Mississippi riverboat, go west, travel abroad, lose fortunes, give lectures or loathe Congress — but under the pen name of Mark Twain, Samuel Langhorne Clemens wrote about all of that, and more, in a manner that’s been greatly admired, widely copied and rarely if ever equaled. Two upcoming events will mark, so to speak, what would have been Twain’s 179th birthday.
On that very date, Nov. 30, writer and tireless Twain enthusiast Peter Salwen will lead a 90-minute walking tour. “People don’t generally associate Mark Twain with New York,” notes Salwen, “but in his day he was just about the biggest celebrity in town. And at the same time, New York itself played a major role in advancing and shaping Twain’s personal and family life as well as his career and ideas.” Among the two dozen stops: Twain’s Greenwich Village homes, the hotel where he met his future wife and the publishing house that secured a place in literary infamy by taking a pass on his first book. You’ll also hear about how another NYC publishing entity launched Twain onto the national stage by running his comedic narrative about a gambler’s jumping frog.
Also on Nov. 30, Twain’s distinctive prose style gets feted by Cornelia Street Cafe. Their long-running series celebrating the birthdays of great American poets will take a detour from its normal form of choice to honor the great American cynic (or righteously angry crusader, depending on how you interpret him). Readings by Michael Lydon, Dee Nelson, Frank Ridley and Kim Sykes will be interspersed with period music played by Ellen Mandel. The Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn masterpieces are of course represented, as well as excerpts from memoirs, essays, diatribes, tall tales and aphorisms.
“Every sentence of Twain’s prose bursts with quirky, intelligent energy,” says Lydon, who notes that although “his writing is as alive today as the day he penned it,” controversy still follows the author for his “liberal use of the ‘N-word,’ his atheism, and his radical critique of American imperialism.”
The “Mark Twain’s New York” walking tour begins at 1 p.m. on Sun., Nov. 30 (rain date, same time on Sun., Dec. 7). Meet at 500 Broadway, btw. Broome & Spring Sts. $20. Info & Reservations: 917-620-5371. For more info, visit MarkTwainsNewYork.com.
“A Celebration of Mark Twain’s 179th Birthday” happens at 6 p.m. on Sun., Nov. 30 at the Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., west of Sixth Ave., off Bleecker). $15 admission includes one drink. Reservations: call 212-989-9319 or visit corneliastreetcafe.com.
