Editing Humorist (section)

==Twain as the iconic American humorist==
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[[Mark Twain]] (pen name of Samuel Langhorn Clemens, 1835–1910) was widely considered the "greatest humorist" the U.S. ever produced, as noted in his ''New York Times'' obituary.<ref name="Obituary New York Times">{{Cite news |date=1910-04-22 |title=MARK TWAIN IS DEAD AT 74; End Comes Peacefully at His New England Home After a Long Illness. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1910/04/22/archives/mark-twain-is-dead-at-74-end-comes-peacefully-at-his-new-england.html |access-date=2023-08-28 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=2023-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230828215541/https://www.nytimes.com/1910/04/22/archives/mark-twain-is-dead-at-74-end-comes-peacefully-at-his-new-england.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It's a distinction that garnered wide agreement, as [[William Faulkner]] called him "the father of [[American literature]]".<ref name="faulkner">{{cite book |last=Jelliffe |first=Robert A. |title=Faulkner at Nagano |year=1956 |publisher=Kenkyusha, Ltd |location=Tokyo}}</ref>
 
The United States national cultural center, the [[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts]], has chosen to award a [[Mark Twain Prize for American Humor]] annually since 1998 to individuals who have "had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist best known as Mark Twain".<ref name="kennedy-center1">{{cite web |url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/marktwain/ |title=The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2017 |publisher=Kennedy-center.org |access-date=2014-06-25 |archive-date=2014-06-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627025220/http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/specialevents/marktwain/ |url-status=live }}</ref>