Huck Finn notes
Huck Finn notes
Ernest Hemingway said “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Published in 1885, the novel is set in 1835-1845 in the Mississippi River Valley
Today, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn stands as a central document – some would say the central document – of American literature and as an acclaimed classic of world literature. Its impact on American writers who came after Twain has been enormous. In his “Introduction,” Justin Kaplan articulates the essential point:
“By writing in Huck’s voice and from Huck’s point of view and raising the boy’s first person, semiliterate regional vernacular to an astonishing level of naturalness, descriptive power, and lyricism, Mark Twain not only revolutionized the art of American storytelling but also enlarged its social range.”
Mark Twain
It is a beautiful expression of Twain – a mixture of humor and horror, loneliness and love.
Optimism – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – “hymn to boyhood”
Pessimism – “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” – an increasingly harsh attack upon the injustices of society and the folly of mankind.
Two levels
1. An entertaining adventure story
2. A criticism of society and human nature (life)
Sources of Humor:
1. Everything that happens we see through Huck’s eyes – very naïve, rough and unpolished. Huck’s surprised reactions to our common things make us laugh.
2. Huck tells us about it in his own words; speaking ungrammatically, getting some difficult words slightly wrong. Yet his colorful expressions are fresh, original, and hilarious.
Horror and Loneliness:
Huck is cruelly disturbingly honest, describing people as they are – unattractive, liars, swindlers, killers
Huck is lonely – Pap is brutal and drunk Widow Douglas and Miss Watson nor teal family
He takes to the river to find love, a search for love
Picaresque type novel: episodic plot (series of self-contained little stories)
BUT: Huck is not proper picaresque hero
Ernest Hemingway said “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Published in 1885, the novel is set in 1835-1845 in the Mississippi River Valley
Today, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn stands as a central document – some would say the central document – of American literature and as an acclaimed classic of world literature. Its impact on American writers who came after Twain has been enormous. In his “Introduction,” Justin Kaplan articulates the essential point:
“By writing in Huck’s voice and from Huck’s point of view and raising the boy’s first person, semiliterate regional vernacular to an astonishing level of naturalness, descriptive power, and lyricism, Mark Twain not only revolutionized the art of American storytelling but also enlarged its social range.”
Mark Twain
It is a beautiful expression of Twain – a mixture of humor and horror, loneliness and love.
Optimism – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – “hymn to boyhood”
Pessimism – “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” – an increasingly harsh attack upon the injustices of society and the folly of mankind.
Two levels
1. An entertaining adventure story
2. A criticism of society and human nature (life)
Sources of Humor:
1. Everything that happens we see through Huck’s eyes – very naïve, rough and unpolished. Huck’s surprised reactions to our common things make us laugh.
2. Huck tells us about it in his own words; speaking ungrammatically, getting some difficult words slightly wrong. Yet his colorful expressions are fresh, original, and hilarious.
Horror and Loneliness:
Huck is cruelly disturbingly honest, describing people as they are – unattractive, liars, swindlers, killers
Huck is lonely – Pap is brutal and drunk Widow Douglas and Miss Watson nor teal family
He takes to the river to find love, a search for love
Picaresque type novel: episodic plot (series of self-contained little stories)
BUT: Huck is not proper picaresque hero