Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn:
Text, Illustrations, and Early Reviews

This collection offers a complete early edition of Huckleberry Finn, the 174 illustrations from the first edition, and the obscene illustration that appeared in the sales prospectuses. Also included: dozens of early reviews from newspapers and magazines across the country; early ads; the London and American first edition covers; and a 1930 article by E.W. Kemble describing his experiences illustrating Huckleberry Finn compiled by Virginia H. Cope at University of Virginia.

• Born to Trouble PBS show. LOCAL
• Huck Finn by Chapter
• Mark Twain Resources on the World Wide Web
• Mark Twain Association
• Dawn Hogue's Huck Finn Lesson Good page on race.
• Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks
  Clay Burell writes: For advanced and WORLDLY/MATURE kids, a novel I just finished called _Rule of the Bone_ by Russell Banks is a great complement to _Huck Finn_. Banks basically transposes it to the life of a mohawked, multiply-pierced 15-year-old boy in a small-town, upstate NY trailer park, c. 1995. A rebel due to father-in-law's sexual abuse, he opts for the streets, dealing pot, hanging out with bikers and less savory types (a child pornographer, eg, is especially chilling, though by suggestion more than explication) before finally meeting his "Jim," an old Jamaican who initiates him into Rasta 'wisdom....'--which is ultimately neither entirely refuted nor embraced by the writer as an answer.

  All first person, like Huck. Savages contemporary white hypocrisies (moral, political, economic) as bitterly as Twain. Thematizes the difference between criminality (legality as defined by 'the Man') and sinfulness (inner moral law at odds with prevailing legality). VERY cool and maybe more accessible, being contemporary--Huck readers might enjoy doing a comparison as an independent novel assignment.

  BUT again, be warned--explicit sexual language, marijuana use (somewhat valorized) and methamphetamine use (condemned) abound. A reflective, thoughtful end with no easy answers, but a sense of some redemption.

  Said a colleague about it: "I loved it. Thought it was by a guy who read HF, hated it, read Catcher in the Rye, re-read HF, then wrote this book."

  SOURCES: Large files complete book
  

• Source Huck Finn

  ---