Mark Twain, The Gilded Age

Max Lester Loges (Lamar University)
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The origin of

The Gilded Age

lies in a dinner party conversation between Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner about the deplorable state of contemporary American literature. Their wives challenged them to produce something better, and the two authors collaborated on a book whose title ultimately named the era that the book describes. The book satirizes the corrupt political and business practices of Post Civil War America and the features of the sentimental and melodramatic novels the authors found so irksome. For instance, recent historical events that had their parallels in

The Gilded Age

include the attempt of Kansas Senator William Pomeroy to purchase his Senate re-election, the Credit Mobilier Scandal, and the general political corruption in the Tammany Hall machine of New York City.…

3306 words

Citation: Loges, Max Lester. "The Gilded Age". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 September 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=782, accessed 19 March 2024.]

782 The Gilded Age 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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