Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Good points, Spitfire. Thinking about modern children's stories, Lemony Snicket quite often comments on the narrative and addresses the reader in his 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. The opening sentences of the first book, The Bad Beginning, are:
If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. In this book, not only is there no happy ending, there is no happy beginning and very few happy things in the middle.
On page 2 he uses the word "rickety" and stops to expain what it means:
...occasionally their parents gave them permission to take a rickety trolley - the word "rickety", you probably know, here means "unsteady" or "likely to collapse" - alone to the seashore, where they would spend the day as a sort of vacation as long as they were home for dinner.
In Chapter 2, Lemony Snicket writes:
As I'm sure you know, to be in one's own room, in one's own bed, can often make a bleak situation a little better...
Such asides are a frequent feature of his quirky, playful style.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Carlotta King »

I always thought Lemony Snicket was female..... :oops:
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by John Pickup »

So did I. But I also thought Jean Sidobre was female. What's in a name!
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Spitfire »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Good points, Spitfire. Thinking about modern children's stories, Lemony Snicket quite often comments on the narrative and addresses the reader in his 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'.
Thanks for that, Anita. I haven't read any Lemony Snicket, though the books seem to be everywhere (in fact, now that I think about it :idea: there may be one lurking on one of my bookshelves somewhere... ) I like the snippets that you have quoted. It seems an unusual style for a current writer, but I may be wrong.

By the way, does anyone have a spare £900 that I can borrow? :lol:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1885-1st-Edit ... 2336faf2e6" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Wonderful illustrations. *sigh*
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

That first edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn looks sumptuous.

Lemony Snicket's writing style is unusual. The narrator of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' wants the reader to notice him and wonder about him, but at the same time he's determined to remain something of an enigma.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Lemony Snicket = Daniel Handler! He has done a few book signings in the UK on trips over from America.

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=cr&ei= ... el+Handler" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Poppy »

I have read several Lemony Snicket books - interesting to hear his real name! - thanks Tony. I have enjoyed all of his books that I have read - he has got a very unique and talented style. I think I read up to about book eight in his Series of Unfortunate Events and by this time, the plot was getting a bit samey for me. A very good author, though; very descriptive and mysterious.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Stephen »

I had TAoHF as a boy - but never got round to reading it! I now have both books on my Kindle, so just need to find the time. But I do remember watching the television adaptation 'Huckleberry Finn and his Friends' which covered both books, and I noticed then that the second half seemed more gritty and less fun than the first.
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Courtenay »

I started reading Huckleberry Finn a few years ago and absolutely loved it, until I got to the point where Huck is separated from Jim and then takes "the king" and "the duke" on board. I felt the story really floundered at that point - the two are such obvious conmen (and complete creeps) that it beggars belief that Huck, even with his own lack of "sivilised" morals and manners, could keep on sticking around with them for so long. I'm afraid I got so disillusioned with the book, as this episode dragged on for chapter after chapter, that I eventually lost interest and stopped reading. :?

What do others here think of that section? Do you also find it a drag, or is there something deeper in it that I simply missed? (Please try not to give away how the book ends if you can avoid it, as I might go back to it one day!)
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I agree that the "king" and the "duke" become wearisome after a while. Huck learns a few lessons from spending time in their company, but I'm sure he could have learnt them a bit sooner! Another episode (not involving the "king" and the "duke") also seems drawn out to me, towards the end of the book, but Mark Twain obviously has his reasons for spinning out that episode until certain characters - and the reader - can barely stand it!
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Enikyoga »

Ironically, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in the UK (and Canada) in December 1884 before being published three months later in the USA in February 1885. I do not know whether this temporary delay in its publication in the writer's (Mark Twain) own country had to do with the obvious "controversies" entailed in the book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures ... berry_Finn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: Mark Twain - Huckleberry Finn, etc.

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Thanks for the link, Stephen. It seems that, when it was first published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was criticised mainly for being vulgar. Also of interest is Mark Twain's statement that he wrote both The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for an adult audience:
Upon issue of the American edition in 1885 several libraries banned it from their shelves. The early criticism focused on what was perceived as the book's crudeness. One incident was recounted in the newspaper, the Boston Transcript:

The Concord (Mass.) Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain's latest book from the library. One member of the committee says that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he thinks it contains but little humor, and that of a very coarse type. He regards it as the veriest trash. The library and the other members of the committee entertain similar views, characterizing it as rough, coarse, and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating, the whole book being more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people.

Twain later remarked to his editor, "Apparently, the Concord library has condemned Huck as 'trash and only suitable for the slums.' This will sell us another twenty-five thousand copies for sure!"

In 1905, New York's Brooklyn Public Library also banned the book due to bad word choice and Huck's having "not only itched but scratched" within the novel, which was considered obscene. When asked by a Brooklyn librarian about the situation, Twain replied:

I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote 'Tom Sawyer' & 'Huck Finn' for adults exclusively, & it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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