Refiguring Huckleberry Finn

Much about Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is ageless, yet its author was completely immersed in the age in which he wrote. Refiguring “Huckleberry Finn” looks at ways that contemporary American culture and history influenced the formation of Mark Twain’s masterwork. It also shows how the novel reflects Twain’s deep investment in what Carl F. Wieck calls “an open-minded, unbiased perception of the wellsprings of the American spirit.” Clearly, Twain knew the Mississippi River and its people well. With Frederick Douglass, William Dean Howells, Ulysses S. Grant, and John Hay (Abraham Lincoln’s personal secretary) among his friends, Twain also knew America. That understanding, Wieck shows us, is richly evident in Huckleberry Finn by the ways Twain explored themes of justice, rights, knowledge, and truth; engaged with the ideas of Douglass, Lincoln, and Thomas Jefferson; and expressed concern over the public discourse on race and equality. In addition, in discussions that range from number play in the novel to the symbolic potential of the Mississippi’s awesome, one-way flow, Wieck looks closely at Twain’s storytelling craft. Filled with new and challenging insights, Refiguring “Huckleberry Finn” reintroduces us to one of our greatest novels and one of our finest novelists.

Michael Patrick Hearn re-examines the 116-year heritage of that archetypal American boy, Huck Finn and follows his adventures along every bend of the Mississippi River. Hearn's annotations draw on primary sources including the original manuscript, Twain's revisions and letters, and period accounts.

Examines Mark Twain's writing of Huckleberry Finn, calling into question commonly held interpretations of the work on the subjects of youth, youth culture, and race relations, based on research into the social preoccupations of the era in which it was written.

"Seelye's version seems even funnier than the original, and also more moving, since Seelye's Huck Finn is even less sentimental about life and Tom Sawyer than Twain's Huck Finn. He is also more perceptive about black people than the original." -- Hughes Rudd, CBS News "Seelye has stitched together a whale of a book. Without reference to Twain's own version, it is almost impossible to see the seams where 1970 joins 1884." -- Geoffrey Wolff, Newsweek

Everyone knows the story of the raft on the Mississippi and that ol' whitewashed fence, but now it’s time for youngins everywhere to get right acquainted with the man behind the pen. Mr. Mark Twain! An interesting character, he was...even if he did sometimes get all gussied up in linen suits and even if he did make it rich and live in a house with so many tiers and gazebos that it looked like a weddin’ cake. All that’s a little too proper and hog tied for our narrator, Huckleberry Finn, but no one is more right for the job of telling this picture book biography than Huck himself. (We’re so glad he would oblige.) And, he’ll tell you one thing—that Mr. Twain was a piece a work! Famous for his sense of humor and saying exactly what’s on his mind, a real satirist he was—perhaps America’s greatest. Ever. True to Huck’s voice, this picture book biography is a river boat ride into the life of a real American treasure.

Hailed as a great American novel, the book describes the adventures of Huck Finn and a runaway slave Jim, down the Mississippi river. The series of escapades and situations and the journey down the river is truly a voyage. Mark Twain brilliantly etches the contemporary American society, he also captures the comedy, terror, resilience and spontaneity of boyhood.

Victor Doyno offers a new, accessible, and innovative approach to America's favorite novel. Doyno presents new material from the revised manuscript of Huckleberry Finn and also draws on Samuel Clemens's unpublished family journal, his correspondence, and his concerns about the lack of international copyright law.

The Classics to Color series converts timeless tales into fun and relaxing coloring books. Experience the aesthetic aspect of these marvelous works like never before by adding your own artistic touch! The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is undeniably a classic piece of literature, often hailed as one of the most important novels of all time. Now, you can color individual scenes from Huck Finn’s famous journey in this fun coloring book. Decorative images with accompanying text highlight the exciting narrative, illustrating some of the most noteworthy scenes from Twain’s definitive work. This book contains thirty-eight engaging full page illustrations culled from the finest moments from this rousing ride. Whether it’s Huck and Jim travelling up the Mississippi on a raft or Huck loathing and opposing his etiquette lessons from Miss Watson, this book is filled with iconic scenes from the novel for you to envision however you like! Familiarize yourself with Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and find your own great escape while coloring these fun illustrations.

From its first appearance onward, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been both praised and condemned, enshrined as one of the world’s great novels and banned from libraries and classrooms. This new edition is designed to enable modern readers to explore the sources of its greatness, and also to take a fresh, open-minded look at the source of the current controversy about its place in the canon: its representation of race and slavery. Based on the first American edition of 1885, this Broadview Edition includes all 174 original illustrations by E.W. Kemble. Appendices include contemporary reviews, passages deleted from the original manuscript, advertisements for the book, and a range of materials, from newspaper articles to minstrel show scripts to contemporary fiction, showing how race and slavery were depicted in the larger culture at the time.

Presented at the Broward County Library (Florida) on September 11, 1984, to coincide with Banned Books Week and to mark the centennial of the "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," the address in this booklet reviews the reasons why this classic book has always been in trouble with the censors. Drawing upon the Pulitzer Prize winning biography, "Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain," the lecture updates the chronology of the banning of "Huck Finn," which began when the Concord Public Library in Massachusetts attacked the book in 1885. (HOD)