Topic 3: Mark Twain

Mark Twain

"Mark Twain Tonight!" sets Mark Twain on the stage in conversation:

YouTube - Hal Holbrook in "Mark Twain Tonight!" (1967)

YouTube - Mark Twain Tonight Clip 1 of 10

Assignments

This week we begin a long study of Mark Twain. To accomplish this week's goals, you must:

Read chapters 1-5 of Huckleberry Finn:
Complete the practice quiz before we meet f2f
Discuss authors and works in-class
Discuss the first 5 chapters of Huckleberry Finn online

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by Mark Twain, first published in England in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. It is among the first in major American literature to be written in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn, a friend of Tom Sawyer and narrator of two other Twain novels (Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer, Detective). It is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The book is noted for its colorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River. Satirizing a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist about twenty years before the work was published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing look at entrenched attitudes, particularly racism.

Perennially popular with readers, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has also been the continued object of study by literary critics since its publication. It was criticized upon release because of its coarse language and became even more controversial in the 20th century because of its perceived use of racial stereotypes and because of its frequent use of racial slurs despite strong arguments that the protagonist, and the tenor of the book, is anti-racist.

From Wikipedia