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Pudd'nhead Wilson (Bantam Classics)
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Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Author: Mark Twain
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Our Price: $4.95
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Author: Mark Twain
Publisher: Bantam Classics
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Pudd'nhead Wilson (Bantam Classics) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780553211580
ISBN: 0553211587
Label: Bantam Classics
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 160
Publication Date: 1984-02-01
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Product Release Date: 1984-01-01
Studio: Bantam Classics
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780553211580
ISBN: 0553211587
Label: Bantam Classics
Manufacturer: Bantam Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 160
Publication Date: 1984-02-01
Publisher: Bantam Classics
Product Release Date: 1984-01-01
Studio: Bantam Classics
Editorial Review of Pudd'nhead Wilson (Bantam Classics)
At the beginning of Pudd'nhead Wilson a young slave woman, fearing for her infant's son's life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master's. From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels. On its surface, Pudd'nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century mystery: reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution. Yet it is not a mystery novel. Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes. Written in 1894, Pudd'nhead Wilson glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed irony: a gem among the author's later works.
Customer Reviews of Pudd'nhead Wilson (Bantam Classics)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Owner and the Slave-but Which is Which?
Review: It is a shame and an irony that really, really good writers end up with their books becoming required reading in school, a fact that, naturally, makes students avoid them like the plague, "them" referring to both the writers and their books. Happily, though, PUDD'NHEAD WILSON is pretty slim for a novel, the edition I have weighing in at only 149 pages, so it might actually attract some reader other than a poor, benighted student on whose bowed shoulders yet another inscrutable assignment has been laid. Such a reader will be greatly rewarded for having picked up this book, for it fairly bursts with Twain's ironic humor, biting social commentary, and fascinating character studies.
Now, I have no idea as to why Twain chose to title this tale as he did, for "Pudd'nhead" Wilson is hardly more major a character than many of the others who populate the story, and is perhaps even less so than some. Roxy--slave, freed woman, and slave again--is more of a catalyst for much of the action than is Wilson. Tom Driscoll, not the real Thomas a Becket Driscoll, but Valet de Chambre, who grows up believing himself to be Tom, is another nominee for the role of principal protagonist. Wilson's receipt of his nickname, it is true, gives us one of Twain's first commentaries in the book on people who cannot distinguish sarcasm from literal fact, and, yes, it is Wilson's acumen that saves two innocent men from hanging and brings to light the web of deception that Roxy began spinning years before. Still, had I written such a story, I do not believe that choosing the name of that particular character as the title would have occurred to me, but perhaps that is Twain's genius. The nickname is assuredly ironic, and this story is full of ironies.
Also curious is the presence of the twin Italians, Luigi and Angelo. Their part in the story is clear enough, of course, for their treatment by the townspeople is a powerful indictment of a society that can revere an idol on one day, only to cast the infidel down into the mire the next, thanks solely to rumor, innuendo and erroneous appearance. Still, this could have been accomplished with a single foreign visitor to the town, and Twain's choice to present us with twins is perplexing, particularly since Luigi consistently overshadows Angelo in the story line. Twain's own preface to the story is not to be taken as an explanation here, for he is being as witty and non-literal is the preface as he is in the story proper. Thus far, I can find no satisfactory explanation for the use of twins, although I have no doubt that Twain could give one were he so inclined (and still able to communicate in the mortal world).
Conventional analysis of PUDD'NHEAD WILSON makes much of Twain's condemnation of slavery, and such examples as Chambers' inability to rejoin white society successfully after his true identity as Tom Driscoll is made known clearly show the demeaning and destructive nature of slavery. Yet, I feel that Twain goes far beyond the institution of slavery in his commentary on universal human nature--and that commentary is anything but an affirmation of positive aspects of humanity. Can any son sink so low as Chambers in deceiving his own mother and selling her back into slavery "down" the river? For that matter, could any mother sink so low as to ensure that both her son and the babe entrusted to her care both grew to sordid manhood through living a lie? Pudd'nhead Wilson, Luigi and Angelo may be the only fully honorable characters in the story--and the twins hightail it back to Europe as quickly as they can, leaving the sordidness of society in Dawson's Landing as far behind them as possible.
Inasmuch as comprehending a novel such as this hinges on both the writer's creativity and the reader's skill in interpreting the creation, and because the reader's skill has much to do with his knowledge of the society that the writer is depicting, I do find myself wondering whether a reader who is intimately familiar with the culture of the "Deep South" may understand and, therefore, enjoy Twain more fully than one who is not. Will a reader from, say, the Midwest, who may never have listened to speech along the southern reaches of the Mississippi River fully appreciate the phonetic spellings of Roxy's discourses? Will every reader understand equally the significance of Roxy's reaction when she realizes that Chambers has sold her DOWN the river rather than up? These are neither criticisms of the book nor weaknesses in it; they are merely cautions that not every reader may find PUDD'NHEAD WILSON as meaningful as others may.
For my part, I suggest that this tale is both fascinating reading and accurate commentary on a large segment of society in the U.S. I also suggest that the society described in the story did not entirely vanish at the end of the 19th century and that Twain's depictions of many of the flaws in that society are as valid today as when they were set to paper. In short, I can think of no reason whatsoever not to read PUDD'NHEAD WILSON. It is thought-provoking but in a most enjoyable way.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: More quality Twain
Review: While this isn't Twain's strongest work, he delivers another literary treasure in this book. This is a rustic, grassroots novel where Twain again shows his gift for capturing the lighter side of life while offering some thought-provoking observations about human nature. This isn't as memorable as Tom Sawyer or as strong as Huck Finn, but it is still well worth your time. While I don't recommend this book as a starting point if you haven't read Twain (Tom Sawyer is the place to begin), this is a great read that all Twain fans should enjoy.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: PUDD'NHEAD WILSON
Review: Mark Twain might have been a sad, grim man with the bleakest conceivable outlook on life, but the man could turn a phrase like nobody's business.
Pudd'nhead Wilson is a fairly short novel, but there's a lot going on. There's a white baby switched at birth with an identical-looking 1/32nd black baby (who is therefore a slave). There are political and financial machinations all around.
Most interesting is Twain's use of fingerprinting as a crime-solving device. He was, in fact, ahead of his time, as governmental police agencies were only beginning to use fingerprinting to identify criminals a few years after this book was published. What seems to us now to be rather common sense and everyday must have been cutting edge, CSI type stuff to Twain's original audience.
Twain uses his trademark distinct, vivid and real vernaculars when writing dialogue, including the heavy use of the N-word, which ignorant people have been fussing about for generations.
We also get a very vivid idea of exactly what it means to be "sold down the river" in its original sense.
My copy of the novel has an introduction by Langston Hughes, which I recommend first-time readers skip until they have completed the novel, because he basically walks the reader through the book's plot in five pages.
Pudd'nhead Wilson is a fast, engaging novel, combining mystery with Twain's typical biting social commentary.
RECOMMENDED
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Typical Twain, but fun read
Review: Twain's Puddn'head Wilson is typical of his other works in that we see many of the same exploits and devices--satire and witticisms, boys dressing up as girls, slave dialect and southern slang, mistaken identities. Perhaps this short novel goes out a little more so than others in that it not only is a comical portrayal of stereotypes and the problems that they cause, but it has elements of both drama and mystery as well.
The story begins with Puddn'head Wilson, a man named so because many of the people don't understand his eccentric ideals, coming to Dawson's Landing to establish his career as a lawyer. He has an unusual habit of collecting fingerprints, which most in the southern town don't give much credence to--however, this is great foreshadowing for the final climactic courtroom scene. Roxy, a slave, makes a decision to switch her baby with that of her master's in order to try to give her child a better station in life. After successfully doing this, many years pass without anyone suspecting what she has done. Thus, Chambers is actually Tom, and vice versa, and they go about this way in life.
One of the interesting aspects of the book is the title. Pudd'nhead Wilson comes to be the most important character by the novel's end, but he is not the focus of the book. Tom is the major focus, and we see him find out who his real mom is, as well as his real identity, his actual history. There are times when Tom appears to be on the verge of changing from an arrogant, self-centered person to someone better, but his "true" self always seems to get the better of him and he never makes that change. We can see that the way he treats his mother as well as Wilson.
Twain's point interposed in the storyline is the devastating effects slavery has on society. While he uses several scenes to highlight this, perhaps one of the most moving is Roxy's willingness to be sold "down the river" to help out Tom out of a jam, something that Tom doesn't even truly appreciate. This is a moment of complete and utter self-sacrifice; Tom's reaction to his mother's cries seemingly is parallel with society's indifference about the harshness of slavery.
Still, while Twain is able to make a point about slavery and take serious views on its ill effects, he is also able to maintain his humorous edge and then take the novel into an interesting direction--leading to a final murder mystery. In this scene, Wilson is able to use some of his fingerprinting tactics to successfully prove who the real murderer was.
This novel does have its problems, and seems a bit disproportioned at times. For instance, while we follow Tom throughout his early childhood and beginning adulthood, we never really follow Chambers, the one who he is switched with at the beginning. Also, there is only a scattering of focus on Roxy, Tom's mother, within the novel.
Over all, this is typical Twain, but maybe not with the same impact of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer. Still, this is a quick, fun read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Using a murder mystery and a tale of mistaken identity to explore the question of racial identity
Review: Pudd'nhead Wilson is classic Twain: it manages to be as fun and as funny as it is disturbing and bleak. The entertainment results from both the comedy inherent in mistaken identity and the straightforward detective story that frames the narrative. The tragedy arises from Twain's complicated treatment of social hypocrisy, slavery, racial identity, and the debate between the influences of one's heredity and one's environment.
The novel, like Twain's earlier "The Prince and the Pauper," features switched-at-birth boys: Tom, who is born to Judge Percy Driscoll, and Chambers, who is born to a slave named Roxy and is 1/32 black. Roxy exchanges the babies to keep hers from being "sold down the river," and the two change names--and races. They later become rivals when the new Tom lords his authority over the new Chambers. A second pair of boys, the dashing Luigi and Angelo, are former vaudevillian actors who arrive in town and become implicated in a murder. (In an early draft of the novel, the two were conjoined twins--and Twain didn't quite excise or revise all the relevant passages.) The amateur investigator and accidental detective, David "Puddn'nead" Wilson, is a lawyer who has become the town outcast and who pursues the mystery to expose the townsfolk's self-importance and self-deception.
If you're looking for a detective thriller, this one is a bit far-fetched. (There is a subplot involving Wilson's dabbling in the new "science" of fingerprint identification that is fascinating.) But the plot is incidental to Twain's humor and, especially, his themes.
There has been on ongoing debate between critics of this book that will never be resolved: between readers who condemn Twain, for implying that Tom's wickedness and indolence result because of his genetic make-up (i.e., because he was "born" black), and readers who defend Twain, who feel that he was arguing that Tom's faults resulted from his family and the society (i.e., because he was "raised" white). Similarly, Roxy's portrayal is alternately troubling (she is devious, wicked, and mad) and sympathetic (she is quite intelligent and will do anything for her child). I tend to side with those who defend Twain, because it's clear that Twain doesn't much care for the traditions and principles of (white) society, which is why an outcast like Wilson must become the hero. But I also feel that Twain, deliberately choosing ambiguity over pedantry, was investigating the nature versus nurture debate without definitively answering the question--and the fact that readers seem split on the verdict hints to me that he succeeded. Twain dares to ask the question: What is race, and does it really exist?
In spite of its occasional profundity, the novel as a whole, which is quite short, is really an exercise in absurdity that perhaps only Twain could make work. (Most young readers who know Twain through his early works won't cotton on to "Pudd'nhead Wilson.") The book has an unfinished, first-draft feel, and it feels almost patched together from various stories and plots (which it is). But fans of Twain's other works would be making a mistake not to read it.
Review Summary: The Owner and the Slave-but Which is Which?
Review: It is a shame and an irony that really, really good writers end up with their books becoming required reading in school, a fact that, naturally, makes students avoid them like the plague, "them" referring to both the writers and their books. Happily, though, PUDD'NHEAD WILSON is pretty slim for a novel, the edition I have weighing in at only 149 pages, so it might actually attract some reader other than a poor, benighted student on whose bowed shoulders yet another inscrutable assignment has been laid. Such a reader will be greatly rewarded for having picked up this book, for it fairly bursts with Twain's ironic humor, biting social commentary, and fascinating character studies.
Now, I have no idea as to why Twain chose to title this tale as he did, for "Pudd'nhead" Wilson is hardly more major a character than many of the others who populate the story, and is perhaps even less so than some. Roxy--slave, freed woman, and slave again--is more of a catalyst for much of the action than is Wilson. Tom Driscoll, not the real Thomas a Becket Driscoll, but Valet de Chambre, who grows up believing himself to be Tom, is another nominee for the role of principal protagonist. Wilson's receipt of his nickname, it is true, gives us one of Twain's first commentaries in the book on people who cannot distinguish sarcasm from literal fact, and, yes, it is Wilson's acumen that saves two innocent men from hanging and brings to light the web of deception that Roxy began spinning years before. Still, had I written such a story, I do not believe that choosing the name of that particular character as the title would have occurred to me, but perhaps that is Twain's genius. The nickname is assuredly ironic, and this story is full of ironies.
Also curious is the presence of the twin Italians, Luigi and Angelo. Their part in the story is clear enough, of course, for their treatment by the townspeople is a powerful indictment of a society that can revere an idol on one day, only to cast the infidel down into the mire the next, thanks solely to rumor, innuendo and erroneous appearance. Still, this could have been accomplished with a single foreign visitor to the town, and Twain's choice to present us with twins is perplexing, particularly since Luigi consistently overshadows Angelo in the story line. Twain's own preface to the story is not to be taken as an explanation here, for he is being as witty and non-literal is the preface as he is in the story proper. Thus far, I can find no satisfactory explanation for the use of twins, although I have no doubt that Twain could give one were he so inclined (and still able to communicate in the mortal world).
Conventional analysis of PUDD'NHEAD WILSON makes much of Twain's condemnation of slavery, and such examples as Chambers' inability to rejoin white society successfully after his true identity as Tom Driscoll is made known clearly show the demeaning and destructive nature of slavery. Yet, I feel that Twain goes far beyond the institution of slavery in his commentary on universal human nature--and that commentary is anything but an affirmation of positive aspects of humanity. Can any son sink so low as Chambers in deceiving his own mother and selling her back into slavery "down" the river? For that matter, could any mother sink so low as to ensure that both her son and the babe entrusted to her care both grew to sordid manhood through living a lie? Pudd'nhead Wilson, Luigi and Angelo may be the only fully honorable characters in the story--and the twins hightail it back to Europe as quickly as they can, leaving the sordidness of society in Dawson's Landing as far behind them as possible.
Inasmuch as comprehending a novel such as this hinges on both the writer's creativity and the reader's skill in interpreting the creation, and because the reader's skill has much to do with his knowledge of the society that the writer is depicting, I do find myself wondering whether a reader who is intimately familiar with the culture of the "Deep South" may understand and, therefore, enjoy Twain more fully than one who is not. Will a reader from, say, the Midwest, who may never have listened to speech along the southern reaches of the Mississippi River fully appreciate the phonetic spellings of Roxy's discourses? Will every reader understand equally the significance of Roxy's reaction when she realizes that Chambers has sold her DOWN the river rather than up? These are neither criticisms of the book nor weaknesses in it; they are merely cautions that not every reader may find PUDD'NHEAD WILSON as meaningful as others may.
For my part, I suggest that this tale is both fascinating reading and accurate commentary on a large segment of society in the U.S. I also suggest that the society described in the story did not entirely vanish at the end of the 19th century and that Twain's depictions of many of the flaws in that society are as valid today as when they were set to paper. In short, I can think of no reason whatsoever not to read PUDD'NHEAD WILSON. It is thought-provoking but in a most enjoyable way.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: More quality Twain
Review: While this isn't Twain's strongest work, he delivers another literary treasure in this book. This is a rustic, grassroots novel where Twain again shows his gift for capturing the lighter side of life while offering some thought-provoking observations about human nature. This isn't as memorable as Tom Sawyer or as strong as Huck Finn, but it is still well worth your time. While I don't recommend this book as a starting point if you haven't read Twain (Tom Sawyer is the place to begin), this is a great read that all Twain fans should enjoy.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: PUDD'NHEAD WILSON
Review: Mark Twain might have been a sad, grim man with the bleakest conceivable outlook on life, but the man could turn a phrase like nobody's business.
Pudd'nhead Wilson is a fairly short novel, but there's a lot going on. There's a white baby switched at birth with an identical-looking 1/32nd black baby (who is therefore a slave). There are political and financial machinations all around.
Most interesting is Twain's use of fingerprinting as a crime-solving device. He was, in fact, ahead of his time, as governmental police agencies were only beginning to use fingerprinting to identify criminals a few years after this book was published. What seems to us now to be rather common sense and everyday must have been cutting edge, CSI type stuff to Twain's original audience.
Twain uses his trademark distinct, vivid and real vernaculars when writing dialogue, including the heavy use of the N-word, which ignorant people have been fussing about for generations.
We also get a very vivid idea of exactly what it means to be "sold down the river" in its original sense.
My copy of the novel has an introduction by Langston Hughes, which I recommend first-time readers skip until they have completed the novel, because he basically walks the reader through the book's plot in five pages.
Pudd'nhead Wilson is a fast, engaging novel, combining mystery with Twain's typical biting social commentary.
RECOMMENDED
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Typical Twain, but fun read
Review: Twain's Puddn'head Wilson is typical of his other works in that we see many of the same exploits and devices--satire and witticisms, boys dressing up as girls, slave dialect and southern slang, mistaken identities. Perhaps this short novel goes out a little more so than others in that it not only is a comical portrayal of stereotypes and the problems that they cause, but it has elements of both drama and mystery as well.
The story begins with Puddn'head Wilson, a man named so because many of the people don't understand his eccentric ideals, coming to Dawson's Landing to establish his career as a lawyer. He has an unusual habit of collecting fingerprints, which most in the southern town don't give much credence to--however, this is great foreshadowing for the final climactic courtroom scene. Roxy, a slave, makes a decision to switch her baby with that of her master's in order to try to give her child a better station in life. After successfully doing this, many years pass without anyone suspecting what she has done. Thus, Chambers is actually Tom, and vice versa, and they go about this way in life.
One of the interesting aspects of the book is the title. Pudd'nhead Wilson comes to be the most important character by the novel's end, but he is not the focus of the book. Tom is the major focus, and we see him find out who his real mom is, as well as his real identity, his actual history. There are times when Tom appears to be on the verge of changing from an arrogant, self-centered person to someone better, but his "true" self always seems to get the better of him and he never makes that change. We can see that the way he treats his mother as well as Wilson.
Twain's point interposed in the storyline is the devastating effects slavery has on society. While he uses several scenes to highlight this, perhaps one of the most moving is Roxy's willingness to be sold "down the river" to help out Tom out of a jam, something that Tom doesn't even truly appreciate. This is a moment of complete and utter self-sacrifice; Tom's reaction to his mother's cries seemingly is parallel with society's indifference about the harshness of slavery.
Still, while Twain is able to make a point about slavery and take serious views on its ill effects, he is also able to maintain his humorous edge and then take the novel into an interesting direction--leading to a final murder mystery. In this scene, Wilson is able to use some of his fingerprinting tactics to successfully prove who the real murderer was.
This novel does have its problems, and seems a bit disproportioned at times. For instance, while we follow Tom throughout his early childhood and beginning adulthood, we never really follow Chambers, the one who he is switched with at the beginning. Also, there is only a scattering of focus on Roxy, Tom's mother, within the novel.
Over all, this is typical Twain, but maybe not with the same impact of Huckleberry Finn or Tom Sawyer. Still, this is a quick, fun read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Using a murder mystery and a tale of mistaken identity to explore the question of racial identity
Review: Pudd'nhead Wilson is classic Twain: it manages to be as fun and as funny as it is disturbing and bleak. The entertainment results from both the comedy inherent in mistaken identity and the straightforward detective story that frames the narrative. The tragedy arises from Twain's complicated treatment of social hypocrisy, slavery, racial identity, and the debate between the influences of one's heredity and one's environment.
The novel, like Twain's earlier "The Prince and the Pauper," features switched-at-birth boys: Tom, who is born to Judge Percy Driscoll, and Chambers, who is born to a slave named Roxy and is 1/32 black. Roxy exchanges the babies to keep hers from being "sold down the river," and the two change names--and races. They later become rivals when the new Tom lords his authority over the new Chambers. A second pair of boys, the dashing Luigi and Angelo, are former vaudevillian actors who arrive in town and become implicated in a murder. (In an early draft of the novel, the two were conjoined twins--and Twain didn't quite excise or revise all the relevant passages.) The amateur investigator and accidental detective, David "Puddn'nead" Wilson, is a lawyer who has become the town outcast and who pursues the mystery to expose the townsfolk's self-importance and self-deception.
If you're looking for a detective thriller, this one is a bit far-fetched. (There is a subplot involving Wilson's dabbling in the new "science" of fingerprint identification that is fascinating.) But the plot is incidental to Twain's humor and, especially, his themes.
There has been on ongoing debate between critics of this book that will never be resolved: between readers who condemn Twain, for implying that Tom's wickedness and indolence result because of his genetic make-up (i.e., because he was "born" black), and readers who defend Twain, who feel that he was arguing that Tom's faults resulted from his family and the society (i.e., because he was "raised" white). Similarly, Roxy's portrayal is alternately troubling (she is devious, wicked, and mad) and sympathetic (she is quite intelligent and will do anything for her child). I tend to side with those who defend Twain, because it's clear that Twain doesn't much care for the traditions and principles of (white) society, which is why an outcast like Wilson must become the hero. But I also feel that Twain, deliberately choosing ambiguity over pedantry, was investigating the nature versus nurture debate without definitively answering the question--and the fact that readers seem split on the verdict hints to me that he succeeded. Twain dares to ask the question: What is race, and does it really exist?
In spite of its occasional profundity, the novel as a whole, which is quite short, is really an exercise in absurdity that perhaps only Twain could make work. (Most young readers who know Twain through his early works won't cotton on to "Pudd'nhead Wilson.") The book has an unfinished, first-draft feel, and it feels almost patched together from various stories and plots (which it is). But fans of Twain's other works would be making a mistake not to read it.