Mark Twain sah zu Beginn des siebenten Lebensjahrzehnts durch einen Buchhändlerkonkurs sein Vermögern zusammenbrechen und tilgte in wenigen Jahren durch literarische Produkte seine sämmtlichen Schulden, ohne dabei geistig zu verfallen, wie vor ihm in derselben Lage Sir Walter Scott. | Mark Twain saw his fortune collapse at the beginning of the seventh decade of his life due to a bookseller's bankruptcy and paid off all his debts in a few years through literary products, without thereby falling into mental decline, as Sir Walter Scott had done before him in the same situation. |