Product Description

This is the first edition of "Huckleberry Finn" ever to be based on Mark Twain's entire original manuscript - including its first 663 pages, which had been lost for more than a hundred years when they were discovered in 1990 in a Los Angeles attic. The text of the "Mark Twain Library" edition (first published in 1985) has been re-edited using this manuscript, restoring thousands of details of wording, spelling, and punctuation that had been corrupted by Mark Twain's typist, typesetters, and proofreaders. The revised "Mark Twain Library Huckleberry Finn" is sure to become the standard edition for all students and readers of Mark Twain. The authoritative new edition of this beloved work includes all of the 174 first-edition illustrations by Edward Windsor Kemble, which the author called 'rattling good'. It also contains a new gathering of manuscript pages, photographically reproduced, and an appendix of passages from the manuscript, including the long-lost 'ghost story', which illustrate how extensively Mark Twain revised his work. The editors have also revised and updated their explanatory notes, the maps of the Mississippi River valley, and the glossary of slang and dialect words. The story of Huck and his companion Jim, a runaway slave, as they travel down the Mississippi to escape from slavery and 'sivilization' has been delighting readers around the world since Twain first published it in 1885. Simply put, it is a masterpiece: revolutionary in its narrative method, surpassingly funny, and at the same time deeply perceptive about human nature. No other American novel of the nineteenth century still commands so vast an audience, and certainly no other retains the capacity to stir controversy with its sharp satire on American racism. A responsible critical text to produce this authoritative critical text, the editors studied all aspects of Mark Twain's manuscript, working notes, proof sheets, and letters. To judge the authority of every variant, they created a unique electronic database that made it possible to analyze - by speaker and date of composition - every word in the manuscript and first edition. This title presents an inside view of how Mark Twain wrote "Huckleberry Finn". The new appendixes of "Three Passages" and "Manuscript Facsimiles" will give teachers and students as well as the general reader a close-up view of Mark Twain's writing process. They can follow the evolution of three key passages, as the author searched for the right word, the truest dialect, and the most telling description.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1270994 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 535 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
A seminal work of American literature that still commands deep praise and elicits controversy, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is essential to the understanding of the American soul. The recent discovery of the first half of Twain's manuscript, long thought to be lost, made front-page news. And this unprecedented edition, which contains for the first time omitted episodes and other variations present in the first half of the handwritten manuscript, as well as facsimile reproductions of thirty manuscript pages, is indispensable to a fuller understanding of the novel. The changes, deletions and additions made in the first half of the manuscript indicate that Mark Twain frequently checked his impulse to write an even darker, more confrontational book than the one he finally published.

Review
"One of the great scholarly enterprises of the century....Since the 1970s the...members of the Mark Twain Project at the University of California have been turning out magnificent editions of the writer's letters, notebooks, travel narratives and fiction. If you want to enjoy, and to understand fully, the genius of Mark Twain, the California editions are the only texts to have." - Michael Shelden, London Telegraph"

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Customer Reviews

An Unvarnished Look at the Human Soul
For such a simple story, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn often proves to be elusive for its readers. Here are some guideposts to look out for:

This story is told by Huck, and is not in the classic shape of a novel. Rather it is a precursor to Ulysses and Remembrance of Things Past, where other great writers attempted to capture the essence of our internal dialogue.

Huck is also hiding a lot from himself. You as the reader can quickly see through him though. He is trying to put a brave and positive face on a very dangerous situation. We all do that.

Huck also has to face himself before the book ends. What really is important? We can all spout a lot of moral talk, but what we do is critical.

If we lived in Huck's times, we would also see that there was an emormous moral dilemma. The rules of humanity were often not applied to black people. You could choose to go along and feel like a hypocrite (if you thought about what you were doing), or you could do the right thing. Sensitive people of that day often found it hard to do the right thing. If your neighbors were open-minded and you lived in the North, you might do one thing. If your neighbors were slaveholderes and lived in the South, you might do another.

Also, think about the trip down the river as an analogy for going through life. How will it turn out if you just let your direction go with the current?

Possibly the greatest American Novel ever-written
Mark Twain's "The Adventure's of Huckleberry Finn," is arguably the greatest American novel ever-written. Twain in his characteristic satiric fashion constructs an avator for freedom in Huckleberry Finn, and a comment on American society in the 1800s through his beautiful idiomatic prose. As Huck winds down the meandering Mississippi, the reader is wisked away on a page-turning sojourn like no other. However, most readers will make this book more than a sojourn; this book will become a torn and tattered escape that barely rests on their bookshelves before going on another journey with another mind. A 10 out of 10, which symbolizes the beauty of literature, and the real reason why reading a book will exist long after computers become a trite household appliance- this book is transportable and 2 1/2 inches of sure beauty. No metal, no chips, just literary genius.

Brilliant!!!
This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's pure story telling, and really funny. The characters are so alive that when you finish reading it you start to miss them. When Huck says he's "striking out for the territories" you wish you were going with him! If you like Vonnegutt then buy this book, its got the same mix of the funny and the profound. Come to think of it, if you like STORIES buy this book because it really is one of the best ones ever written.