Mark Twain, considered the “father of American literature,” was devoted to his cats, keeping up to 19 at a time and even renting kittens while on vacation. He gave them unusual names and believed interbreeding with cats would improve humans. Twain died the day after Halley’s Comet returned in 1910.
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been called the “great American novel” and William Faulkner has given the author and humorist the lofty title of “father of American literature.” Behind the scenes, however, Samuel Langhorne Clemens – his real name – was an eccentric man devoted to his cats. Clemens always kept the cats in the house, up to 19 at a time. And when the writer went on vacation, he even rented kittens so he’d never be without a feline companion, or three.
Cats, comets and creativity:
Clemens once said: “If man could be interbred with the cat, it would improve man but deteriorate the cat.”
Twain gave his cats unusual names, including: Apollinaris, Beelzebub, Blatherskite, Buffalo Bill, Satan, Sin, Sour Mash, Tammany, Zoroaster, Soapy Sal, Pestilence, and Bambino.
Clemens was born in 1835, shortly after Halley’s Comet whizzed across the sky. The author always said that he would die when the comet returned, and he did, the day after the comet returned in 1910.
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