In Its Distrust Of Too Much Civilisation And Its Concern With The Way Language Turns Dreamy And Corrupt When Divorced From The Real Condition Of Life, Huckleberry Finn Echoed Some Of The Central Concerns Of Life Today. Like All Great Works Of Fiction Where No Story Is Told As If It Is The Only One, Huck Finn Is Open-Ended, The 'Unfinished Story' Where The True Meaning Is Left To The Conscience And Imagination Of Each Reader.

Recounts the adventures of a young boy and an escaped slave as they travel down the Mississippi River on a raft.

Focusing on the overarching theme of religious satire in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, this study reveals the novel's hidden motive, moral and plot. The author considers generations of criticism spanning the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, along with new textual evidence showing how Twain's richly evocative style dissects Huck's conscience to propose humane amorality as a corrective to moral absolutes. Jim and Huck emerge as archetypal twins--biracial brothers who prefigure America's color-blind ideals.

Ranging from the laudatory to the openly hostile, 15 essays by prominent African American scholars and critics examine the novel's racist elements and assess the degree to which Twain's ironies succeed or fail to turn those elements into a satirical attack on racism. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Of all the contenders for the title of The Great American Novel, none has a better claim than The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Intended at first as a simple story of a boy's adventures in the Mississippi Valley ”a sequel to Tom Sawyer” the book grew and matured under Twain's hand into a work of immeasurable richness and complexity. More than a century after its publication, the critical debate over the symbolic significance of Huck's and Jim's voyage is still fresh, and it remains a major work that can be enjoyed at many levels: as an incomparable adventure story and as a classic of American humor. Enriched eBook Features Editor R. Kent Rasmussen provides the following specially commissioned features for this Enriched eBook Classic: * Chronology * Filmography and Stills from the 1920 Silent Film Huckleberry Film * Contemporary Reviews of Huckleberry Finn * Further Reading * Online Mark Twain Resources and Places to Visit * Photos of Mark Twain Sites and First Edition Frontispiece * Selection of E.W. Kemble’s Illustrations for the First Edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and John Harley’s Illustrations for the First Edition of Life on the Mississippi * Enriched eBook Notes The enriched eBook format invites readers to go beyond the pages of these beloved works and gain more insight into the life and times of an author and the period in which the book was originally written for a rich reading experience.

The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before him rose the black night of Space, like a wall. His mighty bulk towered rugged and mountain-like into the zenith, and His divine head blazed there like a distant sun. At His feet stood three colossal figures, diminished to extinction, almost, by contrast -- archangels -- their heads level with His ankle-bone. When the Creator had finished thinking, He said, "I have thought. Behold!" He lifted His hand, and from it burst a fountain-spray of fire, a million stupendous suns, which clove the blackness and soared, away and away and away, diminishing in magnitude and intensity as they pierced the far frontiers of Space, until at last they were but as diamond nailheads sparkling under the domed vast roof of the universe. At the end of an hour the Grand Council was dismissed. They left the Presence impressed and thoughtful, and retired to a private place, where they might talk with freedom. None of the three seemed to want to begin, though all wanted somebody to do it.