I’m reading Solomon Northup’s biography “Twelve Years a Slave,” and chapter 2 makes me wonder if Twain read it and incorporated parts of it into his stories.

Specifically, chapter 2 speaks of Gadsby’s, in Washington (D.C.), of which Twain wrote a short story.

Also, the account of wandering around at night in the dark within the hotel reminds me of that or another Twain story.

Did Twain acknowledge being influenced by “12 Years a Slave”?

-- B. Clay Shannon
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