Twain publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885
On this day in 1885, Mark Twain publishes his famous–and famously controversial–novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens) first introduced Huck Finn as
the best friend of Tom Sawyer, hero of his tremendously successful novel
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876). Though Twain saw Huck’s
story as a kind of sequel to his earlier book, the new novel was far
more serious, focusing on the institution of slavery and other aspects
of life in the antebellum South.
At the book’s heart is the journey of Huck and his friend Jim, a
runaway slave, down the Mississippi River on a raft. Jim runs away
because he is about to be sold and separated from his wife and children,
and Huck goes with him to help him get to Ohio and freedom. Huck
narrates the story in his distinctive voice, offering colorful
descriptions of the people and places they encounter along the way. The
most striking part of the book is its satirical look at racism, religion
and other social attitudes of the time. While Jim is strong, brave,
generous and wise, many of the white characters are portrayed as
violent, stupid or simply selfish, and the naive Huck ends up
questioning the hypocritical, unjust nature of society in general.
Even in 1885, two decades after the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
landed with a splash. A month after its publication, a Concord,
Massachusetts, library banned the book, calling its subject matter
“tawdry” and its narrative voice “coarse” and “ignorant.” Other
libraries followed suit, beginning a controversy that continued long
after Twain’s death in 1910. In the 1950s, the book came under fire from
African-American groups for being racist in its portrayal of black
characters, despite the fact that it was seen by many as a strong
criticism of racism and slavery. As recently as 1998, an Arizona parent
sued her school district, claiming that making Twain’s novel required
high school reading made already existing racial tensions even worse.
Aside from its controversial nature and its continuing popularity with young readers, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
has been hailed by many serious literary critics as a masterpiece. No
less a judge than Ernest Hemingway famously declared that the book
marked the beginning of American literature: “There was nothing before.
There has been nothing as good since.”
(More Events on This Day in History)
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American Revolution
- 1776 Lord Dunmore dispatches note of “inexpressible mortification”
-
Automotive
- 2001 Dale Earnhardt killed in crash
-
Civil War
- 1817 Lewis Armistead born
-
Cold War
- 1964 United States punishes nations for trading with Cuba
-
Crime
- 2003 Arsonist sets fire in South Korean subway
- 2011 Green River serial killer pleads guilty to 49th murder
-
Disaster
- 1965 Avalanche kills 26 in British Columbia
-
General Interest
- 1856 Know-Nothings convene in Philadelphia
- 1930 Pluto discovered
- 1948 De Valera resigns
- 1967 J. Robert Oppenheimer dies
-
Hollywood
- 1929 First Academy Awards announced
-
Literary
- 1931 Toni Morrison’s birthday
-
Music
- 1959 Ray Charles records “What’d I Say” at Atlantic Records
-
Old West
- 1878 Murder ignites Lincoln County War
-
Presidential
- 1861 Davis becomes provisional president of the Confederacy
-
Sports
- 1979 Richard Petty wins Daytona 500 after last-lap crash
-
Vietnam War
- 1965 United States warns of forthcoming bombing operations
-
World War I
- 1913 Raymond Poincare becomes president of France
-
World War II
- 1943 Nazis arrest White Rose resistance leaders
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