This is one of many similar benches seen around the USA. It depicts the famous American author, lifesized, sitting on the right side of a bench, book in his right hand while he looks to his left as if momentarily distracted. There is no information at the site about the artist or date. It is apparently made from bronze or some other alloy.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called "the Great American Novel."
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which provided the setting for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. After an apprenticeship with a printer, he worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's newspaper. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his singular lack of success at mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1865, his humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, based on a story he heard at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp California where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story brought international attention, even being translated to classic Greek. His wit and satire, in prose and in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty.
Though Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, he invested in ventures that lost a great deal of money, notably the Paige Compositor, which failed because of its complexity and imprecision. In the wake of these financial setbacks he filed for protection from his creditors via a bankruptcy filing, and with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers eventually overcame his financial troubles. Twain chose to pay all his pre-bankruptcy creditors in full, though he had no responsibility to do this under the law.
Twain was born shortly after a visit by Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with it," too. He died the day following the comet's subsequent return. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of his age," and William Faulkner called Twain "the father of American literature.'"
As for the asteroid, Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"2362 Mark Twain (1976 SH2) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 24, 1976 by N. Chernykh at Nauchnyj. This asteroid is named after a famous American writer and author Mark Twain.
by N. Chernykh
Discovery site Nauchnyj
Discovery date September 24, 1976
Designations
MPC designation 2362
Named after Mark Twain
Alternative names 1976 SH2
Orbital characteristics
Epoch May 14, 2008
Ap 2.6199868
Peri 1.7706844
Eccentricity 0.1934334
Orbital period 1188.0912858
Mean anomaly 262.78715
Inclination 3.95454
Longitude of ascending node 9.14977
Argument of peri 350.53368
Physical characteristics
Absolute magnitude (H) 13.7"