CRITICISM

Alberti, John. “The Nigger Huck: Race, Identity, and the Teaching of Huckleberry Finn.” College English 57, no. 8 (December 1995): 919-937.

Reviews the reception history of Huckleberry Finn, especially the reaction to the word “nigger,” and suggests guidelines for teaching the novel in the modern classroom.

Arac, Jonathan. “Putting the River on New Maps: Nation, Race, and Beyond in Reading Huckleberry Finn.” American Literary History 8 (spring 1996): 110-29.

Review of books about Twain.

———. “Why Does No One Care about the Aesthetic Value of Huckleberry Finn?” New Literary History 30, no. 4 (autumn 1999): 769-84.

Argues that Huckleberry Finn is critiqued more for its social and political values than for its aesthetic merits.

Beaver, Harold. Huckleberry Finn. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1987, 214 p.

General study covering sources, characterization, and social and critical responses to the novel.

Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. Was Huck Black?: Mark Twain and African-American Voices. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 270 p.

Study of the ways in which Huckleberry Finn can be identified as a force for better racial relations.

Fowler, Gregory. “‘If I warn't too drunk to get there—’: On Race.” Journal of American and Comparative Cultures 24, nos. 1/2 (spring/summer 2001): 49-58.

Analysis of controversies surrounding the teaching of the novel, with the suggestion that expurgating “offensive” language is counter-productive.

Graff, Gerald, and James Phelan, eds. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by Gerald Graff and James Phelan. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995, 551 p.

Overview of critical controversies surrounding the novel, with extensive introductory material.

Hoffman, Andrew Jay. Inventing Mark Twain: The Lives of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1997, 572 p.

Examines Samuel Clemens's persona of “Mark Twain.”

Horn, Jason Gary. Mark Twain and William James: Crafting a Free Self. Columbia, Mo.: U. of Missouri Press, 1996, 189 p.

Study of the connections between Twain and philosopher James as evidenced in Huckleberry Finn, Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, and No. 44: The Mysterious Stranger.

Jackson, Robert. “The Emergence of Mark Twain's Missouri: Regional Theory and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Southern Literary Journal 35, no. 1 (fall 2002): 47-69.

Argues for a regional reading of the novel which highlights Twain's affinity for the culture of his native Missouri.

LeMaster, J. R., and James D. Wilson, eds. The Mark Twain Encyclopedia, edited by J. R. LeMaster and James D. Wilson. New York: Garland Publishing, 1993, 840 p.

Extensive guide to Twain's works.

Mensch, Elaine and Harry Mensch. Black, White, and Huckleberry Finn: Re-imagining the American Dream, Tuscaloosa, Ala.: U. of Alabama Press, 2000, 167 p.

Questions the elevated position of Huckleberry Finn in the American canon.

Mitchell, Arlene Harris. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Review of Historical Challenges.” In Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints, edited by Nicholas Karolides, Lee Buress, and John M. Kean, pp. 498. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1993.

Examines historical attempts to ban Huckleberry Finn.

Quirk, Tom. Coming to Grips with Huckleberry Finn: Essays on a Book, a Boy, and a Man. Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, 1993, 167 p.

Collection of essays discussing structure, issues of autobiography, the novel's heirs, and political correctness in Huckleberry Finn

Schmidt, Peter. “Seven Recent Commentaries on Mark Twain.” Studies in the Novel 34, no. 4 (winter 2002): 448-64.

Review of books about Twain, as well as an evaluation of a 2002 television documentary about the author.

Shaw, Peter. Recovering American Literature. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1995, 203 p.

Argues for more “free discussion” of American literature.

Skandera-Trombley, Laura E., and Michael J. Kiskis, eds. Constructing Mark Twain: New Directions in Scholarship, edited with an introduction by Laura E. Skandera-Trombley and Michael J. Kiskis. Columbia, Mo.: U. of Missouri Press, 2001, 252 p.

Collection of essays exploring new aesthetic and intellectual approaches to Twain's work.

Sundquist, Eric J., ed. Mark Twain: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Eric J. Sundquist. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1994, 204 p.

Collected critical essays with introduction, chronology, and bibliography.

Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: An Authoritative Text, Contexts and Sources, Criticism, edited by Thomas Cooley. New York: Norton, 1999, 402 p.

Critical edition, including the original text and critical essays.

———. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, edited by Susan Harris. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000, 392 p.

Riverside edition of the text, with introduction, historical contexts, critical essays, and bibliography.

———. The Annotated Huckleberry Finn, edited by Michael Patrick Hearn. New York: Mark Twain Foundation (in conjunction with W. W. Norton), 2001, 480 p.

Extensively annotated edition of the novel, with book-length introduction and bibliography..

Additional coverage of Twain's life and career is contained in the following sources published by Thomson Gale: American Writers; American Writers: The Classics, Vol. 1; Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Vol. 20; Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: Biography & Resources, Vol. 3; Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults, Vols. 2, 3, 11, 14; Children's Literature Review, Vols. 58, 60, 66; Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography, Vol. 1865-1917; Contemporary Authors, Vols. 104, 135; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vols. 11, 12, 23, 64, 74, 186, 189; DISCovering Authors; DISCovering Authors: British; DISCovering Authors: Canadian Edition; DISCovering Authors Modules: Most Studied Authors Module, Novelists Module,; DISCovering Authors 3.0; Exploring Novels; Exploring Short Stories; Junior DISCovering Authors; Literary Movements for Students, Vol. 1; Literature and Its Times, Vol. 2; Literature Resource Center; Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, Eds. 1, 2;Nonfiction Classics for Students, Vol. 4; Novels for Students, Vols. 1, 6; Reference Guide to American Literature, Ed. 4; Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Ed. 2; Short Stories for Students, Vols. 1, 7; Short Story Criticism, Vols. 6, 26, 34; Something About the Author, Vol. 100; St. James Guide to Fantasy Writers; St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers,Ed. 4; St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers; Supernatural Fiction Writers; Twayne's United States Authors; Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vols. 6, 12, 19, 36, 48, 59; World Literature Criticism; Writers for Children; Writers for Young Adults; and Yesterday's Authors of Books for Children, Vol. 2.