Synopses & Reviews
In addition to the entire text of what some consider the quintessential American novel, this comprehensive volume features materials that help place the novel in perspective with its time and place. "Contexts" includes essays on the composition of the novel, the people and history of the Upper Mississippi Valley, slavery, and the critical reception of the novel upon its publication. "Readings" includes Henry Nash Smith's introduction to the 1958 Riverside Edition of the novel, as well as critical essays.
Synopsis
This edition features vivid nineteenth-and twentieth-century accounts of slavery, runaways, and river travel -- and doesn't shy away from the controversies that have swirled around this novel from its earlies days.
About the Author
Paul Lauter is the Smith Professor of Literature at Trinity College. He has served as president of the American Studies Association and is a major figure in the revision of the American literary canon.
Table of Contents
I. Contexts Victor Doyno, The Composition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn George E. Bates, Jr. et al., "Barges" from Historic Life Styles in the Upper Mississippi River Valley Lorenzo J. Greene, Gary R. Kremer, and Antonio F. Holland, From Sunup to Sundown: The Life of the Slave Rev. William Henry Milburn, from Pioneers, Preachers, and People of the Mississippi Valley Lawrence W. Levine, William Shakespeare and the American People Steven Mailloux, "The Bad-Boy Boom" from Rhetorical Power Shelley Fisher Fishkin, from Was Huck Black? Mark Twain and African-American Voices Victor Fischer, Huck Finn Reviewed: The Reception of Huckleberry Finn in the United States, 1885-1897 II. The Text Adventures of Huckleberry Finn III. Readings Henry Nash Smith, Introduction to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Alan Trachtenberg, The Form of Freedom in Huckleberry Finn David L. Smith, Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse Norman Mailer, Huckleberry Finn: Alive at 100 Toni Morrison, Re-Marking Twain Chronology Works Cited For Further Reading