Pudd'nhead Wilson (Bantam Classics) [Paperback]

Mark Twain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1984 | Series: Bantam Classics

At the beginning of Pudd'nhead Wilson a young slave woman, fearing for her infant's son's life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master's.  From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels.  On its surface, Pudd'nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century mystery:  reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution.  Yet it is not a mystery novel.  Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes.  Written in 1894, Pudd'nhead Wilson glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed irony:  a gem among the author's later works.

Editorial Reviews

Review

(in full The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, and the Comedy of Those Extraordinary Twins) Novel by Mark Twain, originally published as Pudd'nhead Wilson, A Tale (1894). A story about miscegenation in the antebellum South, the book is noted for its grim humor and its reflections on racism and responsibility. Roxana, a light-skinned mixed-race slave, switches her baby with her white owner's baby. Her natural son, Tom Driscoll, grows up in a privileged household to become a criminal who finances his gambling debts by selling her to a slave trader and who later murders his putative uncle. Meanwhile, Roxy raises Valet de Chambre as a slave. David ("Pudd'nhead") Wilson, an eccentric lawyer, determines the true identities of Tom and Valet. As a result Roxy is exposed, Wilson is elected mayor, Tom is sold into slavery, and Valet, unfitted for his newly won freedom, becomes an illiterate, uncouth landholder. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

From the Publisher

At the beginning of Pudd'nhead Wilson a young slave woman, fearing for her infant's son's life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master's. From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels. On its surface, Pudd'nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century mystery: reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution. Yet it is not a mystery novel. Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes. Written in 1894, Pudd'nhead Wilson glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed irony: a gem among the author's later works.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Classics (January 1, 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553211587
• ISBN-13: 978-0553211580
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.4 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #503,104 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( T ) > Twain, Mark

More About the Author

Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an American humorist, satirist, social critic, lecturer and novelist. He is mostly remembered for his classic novels The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Story for all ages, October 2, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pudd'nhead Wilson (Bantam Classics) (Paperback)

Pudd'nhead Wilson is a great story that can be read by those of all ages. For a book that was written over a hundred years ago, it is amazing to see all of the aspects that make todays books and movies so great; a murder, a great court scene, thrilling dectective work, a switched birth, and overall an ironic and surprising ending. Its not a long book and it can be read in one or two sittings. The social overtones in this book also really make you think about race relations today. Twain is a fablous author and although this book is not as great as Huck Finn, if you loved that as I did, you will certainly enjoy Puddn'head Wilson

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Contrived, Curtailed and Quaint. But Delightful., January 24, 2004

By 

Peter Reeve (Thousand Oaks, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pudd'nhead Wilson (Bantam Classics) (Paperback)

This was my third Twain novel, after Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Although this is a much later work, the similarities are striking: the contrived plot (we have to believe that two babies, entirely unrelated and one with some African heritage, are so alike that even their father cannot tell them apart), the device of having a male character disguise himself as a woman, the cruel treatment by a boy of his adoptive parents, and so on.

"Pudd'nhead Wilson" is Twain's shortest novel and shows signs of having been pruned. Some characters, -- Rowena, for example -- play a significant part early on, then disappear. Wilson himself plays no part throughout most of the story. My guess is that Twain originally intended a much longer novel, with more incidents and secondary plotlines.

The fingerprint aspects of the story will seem quaint, and often downright inaccurate, to the modern reader, but at the time they must have been quite startling. The technique had not yet been officially adopted by law enforcement. Some of you may remember an episode of "Alias Smith and Jones" in which Hannibal learns about fingerprinting from this book.

A (perhaps the chief) delight of the book is the selection of aphorisms from "Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar", appended to each chapter heading. It's a great excuse for Twain to peddle some marvelous quotables. Every reader will choose a favorite; mine is "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry".

The Bantam Classics edition has a very poor introduction by Langston Hughes, consisting mostly of a plot synopsis (fine if you want to remove all suspense from your reading experience) padded out with generous quotations from the text. Some editorial notes would have been nice too, to help out with a few unfamiliar phrases; this novel is after all more than a hundred years old. I'm sure there must be better editions out there.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Forget Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn..., August 23, 2006

By 

Brian A. Oard (Midwestern USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pudd'nhead Wilson (Enriched Classics (Pocket)) (Mass Market Paperback)

Huckleberry who?? "Pudd'nhead Wilson" is Mark Twain's best novel. Forget about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and the Connecticut Yankee and those lazy riverboat days on the Mississippi. This is the book that people should think of when they think of Twain. It's a masterpiece of American comedy, as well as a pointed satire of racism and American slavery and an entry in the nature-nurture debate. This is Twain at his best--even better, in my opinion, than the late novella "The Mysterious Stranger."