|
Published early in 1872, MT's second major work is about
going west to dig for wealth in the rocks of Nevada and
ultimately finding it instead as a writer and entertainer.
It was written between 1870 and the end of 1871, and based
on experiences MT had had (mostly as Samuel Clemens, of
course) between 1861 and 1866. In between these two sets of
dates, in 1867, the transcontinental railroad was
completed, an event which, MT wrote his publisher, "has
turned so much attention in that direction" -- that is, to
the West. As a travel narrative that keeps going west, the
book was written and advertised as a companion to the
eastward moving Innocents Abroad. During the long
and often difficult period of writing it, MT's mood swung
often between discouragement and enthusiasm. Roughing
It sold well, though it was never as popular with
American readers as Innocents . Its ultimate value
to MT may have been to turn his imagination in directions
that became, as his career went on, the sources of his
greatest power -- that is, to vernacular American
experience and toward his own past.
|
