<P> At this time he also wrote "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed" for The Century Magazine . This piece detailed his two - week stint in a Confederate militia during the Civil War . He next focused on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, written with the same historical fiction style as The Prince and the Pauper . A Connecticut Yankee showed the absurdities of political and social norms by setting them in the court of King Arthur . The book was started in December 1885, then shelved a few months later until the summer of 1887, and eventually finished in the spring of 1889 . </P> <P> His next large - scale work was Pudd'nhead Wilson, which he wrote rapidly, as he was desperately trying to stave off bankruptcy . From November 12 to December 14, 1893, Twain wrote 60,000 words for the novel . Critics have pointed to this rushed completion as the cause of the novel's rough organization and constant disruption of the plot . This novel also contains the tale of two boys born on the same day who switch positions in life, like The Prince and the Pauper . It was first published serially in Century Magazine and, when it was finally published in book form, Pudd'nhead Wilson appeared as the main title; however, the "subtitles" make the entire title read: The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy of The Extraordinary Twins . </P> <P> Twain's next venture was a work of straight fiction that he called Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc and dedicated to his wife . He had long said that this was the work that he was most proud of, despite the criticism that he received for it . The book had been a dream of his since childhood, and he claimed that he had found a manuscript detailing the life of Joan of Arc when he was an adolescent . This was another piece that he was convinced would save his publishing company . His financial adviser Henry Huttleston Rogers quashed that idea and got Twain out of that business altogether, but the book was published nonetheless . </P> <P> To pay the bills and keep his business projects afloat, Twain had begun to write articles and commentary furiously, with diminishing returns, but it was not enough . He filed for bankruptcy in 1894 . During this time of dire financial straits, he published several literary reviews in newspapers to help make ends meet . He famously derided James Fenimore Cooper in his article detailing Cooper's "Literary Offenses". He became an extremely outspoken critic of other authors and other critics; he suggested that, before praising Cooper's work, Thomas Lounsbury, Brander Matthews, and Wilkie Collins "ought to have read some of it". </P>

Where was the author when he wrote the words