Timeless Classic: Huckleberry Finn

Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain (1885)

NOTICE: 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. By Order of The Author

I just reread Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, subtitled "Tom Sawyer’s Companion," and was again enchanted with the remarkable craft exhibited by Mark Twain in evoking the timeless quality of life along the Mississippi when that was the great frontier of America.

Huckleberry Finn is one of the all time classics of American literature, perhaps THE all time classic. What is surprising to me, is how many different editions there are. My edition, edited by Bernard DeVoto, claims to be the most accurate of the various ones that have been published since its first publication in 1885. Since my edition is not listed, I placed my review under this edition, which links to a different edition than shown on the buying sites.

Where was I - oh yes - the most accurate edition - What inaccuracies, you ask? Well, Twain's work has been censored in various ways in order to satisfy prevailing tastes or morals. The book has also been edited various times to clean up the language - more on that later. The book has been a children's favorite for years, in fact, I was first introduced to it as a boy, in a special youth edition, minus a few of the more colorful or controversial euphemisms.

According to the preface, which is almost a book in itself, Mark Twain hated proofreading his work. Therefore, lots of proofreaders replaced words that they misunderstood or thought needed replacing. By comparing the most definitive edition with Mark Twain's own typewritten manuscript of Huckleberry Finn, he noted thirty-seven replaced words and several hundred punctuation changes, which he corrected.

The fact that Huckleberry Finn could be thought controversial says more about its critics than about the book.

Although set in the 1840s, Huckleberry Finn is a timeless story about transcending man's inhumanity to man, and all this wisdom is taught by a 13 year-old, marginally educated boy who narrates his own story. Huck has the nobility of spirit to see through the labels and barriers society has erected to enforce limitations on individuals. In the end, he chooses to do the right thing, in spite of the fact he believes he is risking his immortal soul to do it. Now, if only the agenda driven critics would actually read the book, they would be lauding it rather than denigrating it.

Besides the noble thesis around which the story is constructed, Twain was the first writer to successfully integrate the vernacular into American literature. Spelling the words as they were pronounced, rather than the dictionary spelling offers many opportunities for hilarity, and Twain seldom, if ever, misses.

Enough about the scholarly value of Huckleberry Finn - it's a fun book, full of adventure and new developments that unfold with the turning of pages. Humor abounds and you will hardly leave a page without chuckling; and also nodding as universal truths are revealed through the simple interactions of the young boy. You will meet characters of all stripes, all expertly conveyed by Mark Twain's deadly accurate prose. When you finally work your way to the end, you will have added Huck Finn, Jim, and the others, to your list of literary friends, and will value the time you spent getting to know them.

Also recommended, Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi