Synopses & Reviews
How does one teach Mark Twainandrsquo;s
Huckleberry Finn, a book as controversial as it is central to the American literary canon? This collection of essays edited by James S. Leonard offers practical classroom methods for instructors dealing with the racism, the casual violence, and the role of women, as well as with structural and thematic discrepancies in the works of Mark Twain.
and#9;The essays in Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom reaffirm the importance of Twain in the American literature curriculum from high school through graduate study. Addressing slavery and race, gender, class, religion, language and ebonics, Americanism, and textual issues of interest to instructors and their students, the contributors offer guidance derived from their own demographically diverse classroom experiences. Although some essays focus on such works as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurandrsquo;s Court and The Innocents Abroad, most discuss the hotly debated Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, viewed alternately in this volume as a comic masterpiece or as evidence of Twainandrsquo;s growing pessimismandmdash;but always as an effective teaching tool.
and#9;By placing Twainandrsquo;s work within the context of nineteenth-century American literature and culture, Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom will interest all instructors of American literature. It will also provoke debate among Americanists and those concerned with issues of race, class, and gender as they are represented in literature.
Contributors. Joseph A. Alvarez, Lawrence I. Berkove, Anthony J. Berret, S.J., Wesley Britton, Louis J. Budd, James E. Caron, Everett Carter, Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua, Pascal Covici Jr., Beverly R. David, Victor Doyno, Dennis W. Eddings, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, S. D. Kapoor, Michael J. Kiskis, James S. Leonard, Victoria Thorpe Miller, Stan Poole, Tom Reigstad, David E. E. Sloane, David Tomlinson
Review
andldquo;A wonderful tool. This volume offers a wealth of resources from a range of critical perspectives.andrdquo;andmdash;Steven Mailloux, University of California, Irvine
Review
andldquo;This book makes the case, for those who still need to be convinced, that Mark Twain needs to be taught for all of the insight his work provides into our past as well as our present.andrdquo;andmdash;Rhett Jones, Brown University
Review
andldquo;As someone who taught Mark Twain for almost forty years, I flattered myself by thinking I knew what I was doing. Yet I can say without hesitation that, whatever I thought I knew, I was much instructed by Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom. This book is a significant addition to the mass of materials available on Mark Twain.andrdquo;andmdash;James M. Cox, Dartmouth College
Synopsis
How does one teach Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, a book as controversial as it is central to the American literary canon? This collection of essays edited by James S. Leonard offers practical classroom methods for instructors dealing with the racism, the casual violence, and the role of women, as well as with structural and thematic discrepancies in the works of Mark Twain.
The essays in Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom reaffirm the importance of Twain in the American literature curriculum from high school through graduate study. Addressing slavery and race, gender, class, religion, language and ebonics, Americanism, and textual issues of interest to instructors and their students, the contributors offer guidance derived from their own demographically diverse classroom experiences. Although some essays focus on such works as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and The Innocents Abroad, most discuss the hotly debated Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, viewed alternately in this volume as a comic masterpiece or as evidence of Twain's growing pessimism--but always as an effective teaching tool.
By placing Twain's work within the context of nineteenth-century American literature and culture, Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom will interest all instructors of American literature. It will also provoke debate among Americanists and those concerned with issues of race, class, and gender as they are represented in literature.
Contributors. Joseph A. Alvarez, Lawrence I. Berkove, Anthony J. Berret, S.J., Wesley Britton, Louis J. Budd, James E. Caron, Everett Carter, Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua, Pascal Covici Jr., Beverly R. David, Victor Doyno, Dennis W. Eddings, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, S. D. Kapoor, Michael J. Kiskis, James S. Leonard, Victoria Thorpe Miller, Stan Poole, Tom Reigstad, David E. E. Sloane, David Tomlinson
Synopsis
A collection of articles on Twain’s work expressing a broad range of critical perspectives and pedagogical methods, intended to address race, gender and class issues in the classroom.
About the Author
“A wonderful tool. This volume offers a wealth of resources from a range of critical perspectives.”—Steven Mailloux, University of California, Irvine “This book makes the case, for those who still need to be convinced, that Mark Twain needs to be taught for all of the insight his work provides into our past as well as our present.”—Rhett Jones, Brown University“As someone who taught Mark Twain for almost forty years, I flattered myself by thinking I knew what I was doing. Yet I can say without hesitation that, whatever I thought I knew, I was much instructed by Making Mark Twain Work in the Classroom. This book is a significant addition to the mass of materials available on Mark Twain.”—James M. Cox, Dartmouth College
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Who's Teaching Mark Twain, and How? / James S. Leonard
I. Discovering Mark Twain
From Innocence to Death: An Approach to Teaching Twain / Dennis W. Eddings
Race and Mark Twain / S. D. Kapoor
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc in Today's Classroom / Victoria Thorpe Miller
Parody and Satire as Explorations of Culture in The Innocents Abroad / James E. Caron
Connecticut Yankee: Twain's Other Masterpiece / Lawrence I. Berkove
A Connecticut Yankee in the Postmodern Classroom / James S. Leonard
Opportunity Keeps Knocking: Mark Twain Scholarship for the Classroom / Louis J. Budd
II. Rediscovering Huckleberry Finn
andquot;Huckleberry Funandquot; / Everett Carter
Huck's Helplessness: A Reader's Response to Stupefied Humanity / David E. E. Sloane
Teaching: Huckleberry Finn: The Uses of the Last Twelve Chapters / Pascal Covici Jr.
andquot;Blame de pint! I reck'n I knows what I knowsandquot;: Ebonics, Jim, and New Approaches to Understanding Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Jocelyn Chadwick-Joshua
The Challenge of Teaching Huckleberry Finn / Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Huck Finn's Library: Reading, Writing, and Intertextuality / Anthony J. Berret, S. J.
The Relationship of Kemble's Illustrations to Mark Twain's Text: Using Pictures to Teach Huck Finn / Beverly R. David
Using Audiovisual Media to Teach Huckleberry Finn / Wesley Britton
High-Tech Huck: Teaching Undergraduates by Traditional Methods and with Computers / David Tomlinson
III. Playing to the Audience
The Innocents Abroad Travels to Freshman Composition / Tom Reigstad
On Teaching Huck in the Sophomore Survey / Victor Doyno
To Justify the Ways of Twain to Students: Teaching Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Culturally Diverse Students in an Urban Southern Community College / Joseph A. Alvarez
andquot;Pretty Ornery Preachingandquot;: Huckleberry Finn in the Church-Related College / Stan Poole
andquot;When I read this book as a child . . . the ugliness was pushed asideandquot;: Adult Students Read and Respond to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Michael J. Kiskis
Contributors
Index