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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.4
EAN: 9780940450073
ISBN: 0940450070
Label: Library of America
Manufacturer: Library of America
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 1126
Publication Date: 1982-11-01
Publisher: Library of America
Studio: Library of America

Here for the first time in one volume are the most famous and characteristic of Mark Twain's works. Through each of them runs the powerful and majestic Mississippi. The river represented for Twain the complex and contradictory possibilities in his own and the nation's life: the place where civilization's comforts meet the violence and promise of freedom of the frontier. It was the place, too, where Twain's youthful innocence confronted the grim reality of slavery. The nostalgic re-creation of childhood in "Tom Sawyer"--"simply a hymn put into prose form to give it a worldly air," said Twain--and the richly anecdotal memoir of his days as a riverboat pilot in "Life on the Mississippi" give way to the realism and often dark comedy of "Huckleberry Finn" and the troubled exploration of slavery in his mystery, "Pudd'nhead Wilson." Together, these four books trace the central trajectory of his life and career, and they can be read as a single masterpiece.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Pudd'nhead Wilson Specifically
Review: Pudd'nhead Wilson is, in my opinion, Mark Twain's most underappreciated book. It's a "mystery" in structure, so I don't intend to summarize the story at all. It's also Twain's most powerful assessment of the effects of slavery and racism in America, but once again I don't want to spoil the development except to say that Twain "felt" the horrors of Jim Crow more than any other white intellectual of his era.

Twain has been demonized in some places because of his use of language in Huckleberry Finn and other books, which would be considered hateful and racist today. Well, friends, it was hateful and racist in Twain's time also, and Twain consistently uses it in such a way that its insensitivity and hatefulness is revealed. Huckleberry Finn is not a book aimed at children; it's rowdy and complex and it requires a kind of detachment that only a mature frontal cortex can manage. What makes HF such a great book is precisely the reliance and friendship that evolves between the runaway white boy and the runaway slave. No other book before Twain portrayed such an intimacy.

I have a personal "investment" in Pudd'nhead Wilson, the character, which I needn't explain, except to say that large numbers of African-Americans and European-Americans might find themselves equally invested by the miracle of DNA testing.

This Library of America publication is first-rate. If you haven't read Huckleberry Finn at least twice in your life, you ought to read it now. And if you haven't read Pudd'nhead Wilson, you'll be both entertained and stimulated by it.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Puddin' head Wilson: A Brief Review
Review: One of the most entertaining books I have read in a long time. Truly, "a page turner". Enlightening insight into southern society in smalltown Missouri during the 1840's.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great edition
Review: I doubt that anyone reading these reviews is trying to decide whether or not they will enjoy reading the stories in this volume - most likely they've read them already and want to know if this is an edition worth buying. This is definitely worth buying. The printing is crisp. The paper is lightweight, smooth-surfaced, and acid-free; over 1100 pages are only 1 and 1/8 inches thick. The dimensions are perfect. The binding appears to be strong yet limber - the book opens easily with good visualization of all margins. Library of America, the publishers, seems dedicated not only to preserving American writings, but doing so with style. I plan to put more of their books on my wish list - Melville and Hawthorne perhaps. My only regret is that I already own the complete writing of Poe from another publisher.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Wonderful book, wonderful series
Review: If pressed to mention a series of books I love more than all others, I would have to cite Library of America; this is not because I am a fan of stictly American literature, but because I have never seen a series so dedicated--and so good at--a mission of preserving and presenting a body of literature of such greatness in such a worthy manner. Perhaps some day there will be a Library of Russia, Library of France, Library of England, etc.

Twain is a delight and underrated by modern critics; here lies a good collection of some of his fine works. Especially good are Life on the Mississippi and Pudd'nhead Wilson, along with the indesposable Huckleberry Finn. Also contained is Tom Sawyer, which I cannot praise, but I cannot deny its position as a classic and its deservence to be included in this volume.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Grand View of A Grandeur
Review: Once they were absolute rulers - laws made to meet their needs, unstinting respect their due, their commands obeyed without hesitation or reluctance. They are vanished today, the last of their lineage in tourist boats, unremarked, nearly unremembered. Nearly two centuries ago, the Mississippi steamboat pilot was a legendary figure. Mark Twain conveys us to that time and environment in one of his finest writings. Life On the Mississippi is a superb descriptive achievement in portraying the river scene , but also conveys vivid images of the people living on and along it. It's an outstanding example of painting with both a broad brush and enhancing with fine detail.

Beginning with a history of European "discovery" and exploration of this mighty stream, Twain moves us into his own history as a "cub" pilot. Perhaps no-one before or since has so effectively exposed what it meant to "tackle the river" in learning to safely man the wheel of a river steamer. From his first astonishment at discovering he must "get a notebook and write down" the names of all the points, landmarks, snags and "crossings" through the realization that most of that information would change before his next trip, he comes to understand that a pilot must "know the river" with full dedication. As we follow him through the process he introduces us to the river's wonders and the people it supports. He explains the ranking of pilots, steamboat captains, mates and "hands." None of his observations are boring, from the most mundane river condition to dramatic events such as boiler explosions.

Those fearing that Twain's information may be "outdated" may take heart. Much of the book views his early days on the river from the vantage point of thirty years later. He is reminiscing, but Twain's excellent style brings us with him into each memory. Our feelings readily align with his as he guides us. The latter part of the book is a collection of images of the river valley in the latter part of the 19th Century as Twain revisits the river after a long absence. The only real distinction, apart from the automobile, which did for the railroad what the latter did to the steamboat, are the statistics of agriculture and industry. His descriptions of towns, villages and cities differ little from what we might encounter duplicating his journey.

During this pilgrimage, Twain brings in numerous anecdotal episodes to further sparkle his descriptive and historical accounts. Although all are entertaining at one level or another, several stand out as representatives of Twain's inventive genius. Ritter's Narrative is among the grimmest of Twain's essays in any of his publications. It's a story of a long-term quest for vengeance with a bizarre outcome. A far lighter note is struck with the story of a sleepwalking steamboat pilot. An account of the pilots organizing a "protective association" is told with light humour, not quite obscuring the serious nature of its intent.

In all, no matter that this book's focus lies in a period stretching back nearly two centuries, the writing is vigorous enough to capture today's readers. The history is related with Twain's always lively skill, something as mundane as a sunset is imparted with his special verve. This book can be taken up repeatedly; for reminders of a lost era, for an examination of values or, the best reason of all, for a prime example of what North America's greatest writer could produce in his passion for narrative.

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