.  A friend of mine heard that Samuel Clemens or Mark Twain
> wrote a story that was considered pornographic, he wrote this story while
> abroad.


If your friend is thinking of 1601, it's scatological for sure, but not
pornographic, even by 19th century standards. It was not written abroad, but
supposedly at Quarry Farm.

If your friend is thinking of Twain's speech on Onanism, then yes, it's
pronographic, and it was written in Paris. But it's a speech, not a story.

If your friend is thinking about MAMMOTH COD, it's not even certain it was
written by Twain. One reading of the piece is usually convincing evidence
against Twain's authorship. I'm not aware of any proof or even strong
evidence of his authorship, but there's been endless speculation.

Far more interesting than either of these minor, immature, and not very
entertaining pieces, are Twain's writings that reflect his views on
sexuality. A nice overview by John Stahl covers this topic in the MARK TWAIN
ENCYCLOPEDIA. And if you add MARK TWAIN IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN to his
bibliography, you have access to just about everything scholarly on the
subject.

Kevin Mac Donnell
Austin TX