Hemingway said: “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn… It’s the best book we’ve had. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”
I first read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I was in Junior High School (aka, Middle School). I was in 8th Grade and the whole English class was assigned Tom Sawyer which I read quickly and enjoyed. Our School Library had a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn so I quickly read that, too. The story of Huck, an orphan, and Jim, a runaway slave, traveling on a raft on the Mississippi River made for some thrilling reading.
Fast forward 60 years and now there’s James by Percival Everett. James tells the story of Jim (aka, James) during that trip on the Mississippi River from a slave’s point of view. Several times in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huck and Jim get separated. James fills in those gaps. And James’ “adventures” are way more harrowing than Huck’s. He’s hunted as a runaway slave with a $300 reward for his capture.
James’ goal is to return to Hannibal and reunite with his wife and daughter…and then head North for freedom. But Everett puts plenty of obstacles and dangers in James’ way.
If you’re a fan of Huck Finn, you’ll be fascinated by the stories James tells. GRADE: A (for both novels)
Very Unforgotten books! I remember reading FINN in the summer after 6th grade, as we moved from Conn to NH, having just read SAWYER in the last weeks of elementary school (not assigned, just typical of my reading of particularly 25c Lancer “Magnum Easy-Eye Editions” from the tables at W. T. Grant’s…my FINN was the Not Terribly More Expensive Signet Classic edition with an interesting intro and the Hemingway quotation in shorter form on the back cover. Then moving on to the rather good if lightweight TOM SAWYER ABROAD and the considerably less good TS, DETECTIVE (which is a slightly grimmer if lower-stakes version of the rushed final chapters of FINN), a novella and a short novelet in another Magnum volume. And I had heard Brandow DeWilde’s reading of the some of the grimmer middle chapters of FINN on a Caedmon album borrowed from Enfield, CT’s library, and dubbed onto an open-reel tape, on my parents’ aging machine, that I might still have in a box somewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0t3NKJBQ4p0 to hear that.
Look forward to giving JAMES a spin.
Bad typing strikes again (Chromebooks, however, have terrible keyboards)–Brandon DeWilde. Brandow is the lost Brando brother.
Todd, I use a Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard. When I have to use a standard keyboard, my typos escalate!
Todd, HUCK FINN is one of the banned books schools all over the country are keeping from students. Yes, the reason is Twain’s frequent use of the N-word, but suppressing a great book is unconscionable.
Not endorsement so much, sadly, as honest reportage, that.
I was always struck by the fact that HUCKLEBERRY FINN was written sometime between 1876 and 1885–12 to 20 years after the end of the Civil War.
Now this is strictly a personal opinion and not to be taken seriously, but I conclude from this that either Twain was living in the past, or the book is about something other than Slavery.
Dan, Mark Twain’s books always have multiple levels. That’s why every time I reread a Twain book, new insights always pop up!
Twain/Clemens was commenting on the past and the present, the monstrosity of slavery and much of what had followed even after legal slavery was abolished. And the most serious part of the novel was about the continuing human condition in that and other ways.
Todd, Twain captured the sense of desperation of both Huck and Jim fleeing from Life in the South.
Not that life in the North was at that time enough better, even in states where chattel slavery had been outlawed. And not every monstrosity dealt with in FINN is tied directly to slavery, by any means.
I reread this when I first started reading books with ereaders. It was the first one and showed me I could do it. I found I had remembered it pretty well from the first time I read it.
Jeff, I reread HUCK FINN when I was working on my dissertation. Diane read HUCK FINN before she read JAMES.
JAMES is brilliant. So too Huck Finn.
Patti, the surprise in JAMES blew my mind!