The Ordeal of Mark Twain

work by Brooks

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July 1, 2026

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Van Wyck Brooks's The Ordeal of Mark Twain is a psychological study that explores how Samuel Clemens, known as Mark Twain, may have emotionally crippled himself and limited his artistic genius due to his Calvinist upbringing. Brooks suggests that Twain repressed his natural artistic inclinations because of his religious background.1

Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, was a celebrated American humorist, journalist, and novelist. He gained international acclaim for his travel narratives like The Innocents Abroad and adventure stories for young readers, such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain's later years were marked by powerful moral essays addressing issues like antisemitism, imperialism, and the brutal rule in the Congo.23

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Van Wyck Brooks
Brooks’s book The Ordeal of Mark Twain (1920; rev. ed., 1933) was a psychological study attempting to show that Twain had crippled himself emotionally and curtailed his genius by repressing his natural artistic bent for the sake of his Calvinist upbringing. In The Pilgrimage of Henry James…
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Brooks’s book The Ordeal of Mark Twain (1920; rev. ed., 1933) was a psychological study attempting to show that Twain had crippled himself emotionally and curtailed his genius by repressing his natural artistic bent for the sake of his Calvinist upbringing. In The Pilgrimage of Henry James…
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Freudian criticism
…biography in works such as The Ordeal of Mark Twain (1920). Professional analysts have applied their techniques to literature, notably Ernest Jones in Hamlet and Oedipus (1910 and 1949), which traces the famous problem of Hamlet’s irresolution back to William Shakespeare’s own Oedipal guilt.
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…biography in works such as The Ordeal of Mark Twain (1920). Professional analysts have applied their techniques to literature, notably Ernest Jones in Hamlet and Oedipus (1910 and 1949), which traces the famous problem of Hamlet’s irresolution back to William Shakespeare’s own Oedipal guilt.
Read More