Wizyta w Odessie Marka Twaina i jego postrzeganie Rosji

Abstract

Samuel Clemens, a 32-year-old, little-known reporter and journalist, writing under the pen name Mark Twain, travelled in June-November 1867, together with a group of American tourists, on the ship "Quaker City" to Europe and to the Holy Land. His trip was financed with the amount of $ 1,250. by the newspaper "Alta California", to which he sent his reports, describing the cities, regions and countries he visited. At the beginning of June 1867 Twain sailed off the New York harbour, only to return after five months, on November 19. The route of this trip went through such places as Azores Islands, Gibraltar, Tangier, Marseilles, Genoa, Livorno, Rome, Naples, Athens, Constantinople, Odessa, Sevastopol, Smyrna, Beirut, Egypt, Spain and Bermuda. During the expedition there were trips organized to interesting places, including from the port of Marseille to Paris and Versailles, from Genoa to Milan, Florence and Pisa, and from Beirut to Jerusalem. As Twain mentioned, he wrote fifty letters from the trip to the editors of "Alta California", six of which were lost. From August 2, 1867 to January 8, 1868 the newspaper published his texts in a series under the title "The Holy Land Excursion. Letter from ‘Mark Twain’. Special Travelling Correspondent of the Alta." The author complied with the contract, completing those missing letters, that is, writing them again. After returning he delivered numerous lectures, for which he collected – as he said – "a round sum of money." Some of Twain's letters were also published by "New York Tribune" and "New York Herald", which brought him popularity on the East Coast, even before the book edition about this trip.