Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Thomas Ruys Smith (University of East Anglia)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.2: American (US) Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth Century, 1783-1900.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1884

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel
Picaresque
Children's Literature
- Young Adult

Resources

Mark Twain’s most famous novel, perhaps the most famous American novel ever published, begins with a series of warnings: “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot” (xxv). In all the long years since its publication in 1884, Twain’s disingenuous threat has availed little: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been dissected and discussed in extraordinary detail, and praised and blamed accordingly. Thus far at least, this disarmingly – or deceptively – simple tale of an outcast young boy attempting to help a runaway slave escape to freedom seems capable of bearing the weight of c…

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3883 words

Citation: Smith, Thomas Ruys. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 September 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1643, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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