The book that got Mark Twain condemned as an integrationist in his own time, and a racist in ours

NEWPORT, R.I. - Jan. 10, 2014 - PRLog -- "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. ... It's the best book we've had. ... There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." - Ernest Hemingway

""Huckleberry Finn took the first journey back. He was the first to look back at the republic from the perspective of the west. His eyes were the first eyes that ever looked at us objectively that were not eyes from overseas. ... And because he turned back we have him forever." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Since its publication almost exactly 130 years ago, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been praised as the great American novel, the touchstone of modern American fiction, and the first grand experiment in American literary realism.

It has also been much maligned and frequently banned – in its own time for the outrage of presenting a black as a friend operating on equal terms with a white, and in modern times as a racist screed decried for its use of the racial epithet "nigger".

In Why Read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?, Dennis Doherty (SUNY, New Paltz) shows both of these criticisms to be simplistic. Doherty reveals the book as a seminal picaresque "coming of age" journey – a quest for truth – and clearly demonstrates how the novel speaks directly to the heart of racism not only in the past, but in the present.

Both the paper and Kindle editions of Doherty's excellent study include numerous beautiful illustrations created by Edward Windsor Kemble for the original 1884 first edition of Twain's masterpiece.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dennis Doherty teaches literature and creative writing at the State University of New York, New Paltz. His poetry collections include Fugitive (2007) and Crush Test (2010), both published by Codhill Press. Doherty's poems, essays and stories have appeared throughout the literary press. He lives in Rosendale, NY, with his wife and three daughters.

Kindle Edition $4.95

Paper Edition $12.95

100 pages / ISBN-10: 061594583X / ISBN-13: 978-0615945835

Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches

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