Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

You don't know about me, without you have read a book by the name of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", but that ain't no matter. So begins, in characteristic fashion, one of the greatest American novels. Narrated by a poor, illiterate white boy living in America's deep South before the Civil War, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the story of Huck's escape from his brutal father and the relationship that grows between him and Jim, the slave who is fleeing from an even more brutal oppression. As they journey down the Mississippi their adventures address some of the most profound human conundrums: the prejudices of class, age, and colour are pitted against the qualities of hope, courage, and moral character. Enormously influential in the development of American literature, Huckleberry Finn remains a controversial novel at the centre of impassioned critical debate. This edition discusses all the current issues and the evolution of Mark Twain's penetrating genius. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Introduction by George Saunders Commentary by Thomas Perry Sergeant, Bernard DeVoto, Clifton Fadiman, T. S. Eliot, and Leo Marx "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn ," Ernest Hemingway wrote. "It's the best book we've had." A complex masterpiece that spawned controversy right from the start (it was banished from the Concord library shelves in 1885), it is at heart a compelling adventure story. Huck, in flight from his murderous father, and Jim, in flight from slavery, pilot their raft through treacherous waters, surviving a crash with a steamboat and betrayal by rogues. As Norman Mailer has said, "The mark of how good Huckleberry Finn has to be is that one can compare it to a number of our best modern American novels and it stands up page for page."

Introduction by George Saunders Commentary by Thomas Perry Sergeant, Bernard DeVoto, Clifton Fadiman, T. S. Eliot, and Leo Marx "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn ," Ernest Hemingway wrote. "It's the best book we've had." A complex masterpiece that spawned controversy right from the start (it was banished from the Concord library shelves in 1885), it is at heart a compelling adventure story. Huck, in flight from his murderous father, and Jim, in flight from slavery, pilot their raft through treacherous waters, surviving a crash with a steamboat and betrayal by rogues. As Norman Mailer has said, "The mark of how good Huckleberry Finn has to be is that one can compare it to a number of our best modern American novels and it stands up page for page."

ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. Complete and unabridged. Includes 174 original illustrations and original cover. Crisp text set in modern easily read font. Mark Twain's characters are surprising, unforgettable and truly human. The character Huckleberry Finn is based on one of Twain's childhood friends. Twain writes "In Huckleberry Finn I have drawn Tom Blankenship exactly as he was. He was ignorant, unwashed, insufficiently fed; but he had as good a heart as ever any boy had. His liberties were totally unrestricted. He was the only really independent person-boy or man-in the community, and by consequence he was tranquilly and continuously happy and envied by the rest of us. And as his society was forbidden us by our parents, the prohibition trebled and quadrupled its value, and therefore we sought and got more of his society than any other boy's." It is little surprise then that children are perennially drawn to Huck and his adventures. The dialogue faithfully reproduces the common speech of his day. Twain explains, "In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary 'Pike County' dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech." The plot combines adventure, suspense and mischief with the darker side of humanity: murder, deceit, brutality and racial prejudice. It is a great adventure story and much more, enlivened by Twain's trademark humor and observations of human nature. Mark Twain, the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 - April 21, 1910) was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". This original edition contains E. W. Kemble's 174 original illustrations and the original cover. Twain's record of reported speech precisely captures the language of the Antebellum South, and so, as one might expect, there are words that are unacceptable today. Since times have changed, these have also been changed, but otherwise the text is original.

This Norton Critical Edition includes: The American first edition text, plus the reinstated “raft passage” from Life on the Mississippi (1883), complete with all original illustrations by Edward Windsor Kemble and, for the raft passage, John Harley. Editorial matter by Thomas Cooley. A rich selection of contextual and source documents centred on the novel’s historical background, language, composition and reception, four of them new to the Fourth Edition. Seventeen carefully chosen critical assessments of Mark Twain’s greatest work, ten of them new to the Fourth Edition. A chronology and a selected bibliography. About the Series Read by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format—annotated text, contexts and criticism—helps students to better understand, analyse and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.

This Norton Critical Edition includes: The American first edition text, plus the reinstated “raft passage” from Life on the Mississippi (1883), complete with all original illustrations by Edward Windsor Kemble and, for the raft passage, John Harley. Editorial matter by Thomas Cooley. A rich selection of contextual and source documents centred on the novel’s historical background, language, composition and reception, four of them new to the Fourth Edition. Seventeen carefully chosen critical assessments of Mark Twain’s greatest work, ten of them new to the Fourth Edition. A chronology and a selected bibliography. About the Series Read by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format—annotated text, contexts and criticism—helps students to better understand, analyse and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.