Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism [Paperback]

Mark Twain (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393091465 | ISBN-13: 978-0393091465 | Publication Date: May 1977 | Edition: 2

"One can read it at ten and then annually ever after, and each year find that it is as fresh as the year before, that it has changed only in becoming somewhat larger."--Lionel Trilling

Product Details

• Paperback: 452 pages
• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc; 2 edition (May 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393091465
• ISBN-13: 978-0393091465
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,334,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Reluctant Classic, March 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism (Paperback)

_Huckleberry Finn_ has become, to paraphrase one of Mark Twain's many aphorisms, a classic---one of those imposing literary edifices that many feel they should read but haven't. I struggled with the novel for years, flipping through it at age twelve (expecting another _Tom Sawyer_) and giving up shortly after Jim and Huck amble down the river. Several subsequent efforts failed. It wasn't until I took a college course on American Literature that I finally read _Huck Finn_ the whole way through.

The novel is a masterpiece, a flawed masterpiece but a masterpiece nonetheless. Much of it is instantly memorable, and maybe that's part of the problem, because Huck the character, like Don Quixote and Holden Caulfield and a host of others, has become bigger than the book---this boy is ever present in the collective consciousness, and anything that looms so prominently is bound to deflect the very real rewards and virtues of the book itself.

That is where the Norton critical edition comes in handy. Here, the Huck we've heard about is explained, put into context---the long passage in the heart of the Mississippi is given nuance and analysis, with the text itself complimented by Twain's letters and thoughts on the act of composition. _Huckleberry Finn_ is turned back into book, and a very good book at that, with its leisurely pace, its endless sidetracks, and its puzzling ending all threading together into a sensible, coherent, but still magical structure.

It's a very good novel. It's also a very tough novel, the kind that requires all the help you can get, and the Norton edition certainly gives it to you.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Nice, March 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism (Paperback)

I love Mark Twain! I am currently learning English in China. It is really hard for me to learn it here because there is not an evironment. But I tried to read some books in English and it did affect me a lot! From all the books I like Mr Mark Twain's best. Because his stories are mainly all about the childlife and I am also a kid, in fact. I am 14 years old. This helped me to know what American Children thought and lear my vocabularies. I know I wasn't able to win the contest because my English is poor, but I do think Mark Twain's books are nice. I have learned lots of words from it. I have also learned some in Chinese in our Chinese Text Book. One is called " Electing the State Minister", this passage is really nice and it not only is humor but also let us know what the U.S. Society used to be. In fact, I think he is the greatest author in the States. The book "Huck Finn" however, is a continue of the book "Tom Sawyer Adventure", and it shows us what happens next and also tell us what Huck had experienced. It tell me what the 19th Century boys in America thought and helped me to understand that I should not study all the time, as the Chinese students are hard at studying and I will find time to relax. And this did help my study! May I ever thanked him for giving us such good books. May I ever remeber him for helping me to know many things.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Norton Critical Edition adds excellent material, July 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism (Paperback)

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic tale which everyone should read. I would like to recommend the Norton Critical Edition in particular for the additional material at the end of the book. Everyone who likes this story really needs to read the "Raft Episode" which Twain's publisher unfortunately insisted be cut out of the book. The other essays are also insightful and interesting reads.