Who was Blucher in The Innocents Abroad?

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Mark Twain uses a fictional character in The Innocents Abroad to help him tell representative stories based on different passengers on the Quaker City. In his original Alta letters, he used a character named Mr. Brown.

Mr. Brown shows up roughly twenty one times in the Alta letters (roughly because it depends how you divide up the mentions in each letter). Seven of those times, Brown becomes Blucher in The Innocents Abroad. One time Brown become a more generic ‘thoughtful old pilgrim’. Two times Brown’s stories in the Alta letters become Jack’s stories in the book.

Mark Twain’s Quaker City Letters

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Mark Twain’s book The Innocents Abroad was based on his trip on the Quaker City side-paddle steamship. Twain’s ticket was paid for by the Daily Alta California newspaper in San Francisco, which paid the $1250 ticket price (roughly $25,000 in today’s dollars) in exchange for 50 letters during the journey which would be published in the paper. Some letters were lost in transit, and made up later. In addition to the letters sent to the Alta, Twain also sent several letters to papers in New York. Below is a list of all of the letters sent based on the Quaker City trip, which are the basis for The Innocents Abroad. To read the article, click on the publication date. Locations are those given in the article, even if made up by Twain (i.e. Baldwinsville). The table is sortable and searchable.

Daily-Alta-California on Quint Books

Who was Blucher in The Innocents Abroad?

Mark Twain’s Quaker City Letters