Ernest Hemingway famously claimed, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. […] There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.” How can such high praise be reconciled when The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is both one of the most beloved and one of the most controversial novels in American history?
On Tuesday, November 18, Janet H. delivered a well-researched and passionate presentation on Mark Twain. Janet examined the man, the writer, and Huckleberry Finn’s lasting place in modern literature. Twain’s writings address the horrors and injustices of slavery, and Janet handled this sensitive subject with care and insight.
After showing Conan O’Brien’s heartfelt acceptance speech for the Mark Twain award for American Humor, Janet admitted she knew little about the writer before her research—other than knowing he was funny. She learned numerous autobiographies exist (“shouldn’t there be only one?”) and recommended The Autobiography of Mark Twain (1959), edited by Charles Neider.
Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835 and spent his childhood along the Mississippi River in Hannibal, Missouri. Twain was adventurous, humorous, and empathetic by nature. Upon his father’s death, Twain lived a “Charles Dickens-type misery” as a printer’s apprentice. He later became a journeyman printer, a steamboat pilot, a Confederate soldier, and a newspaper reporter. Writing about fraud and corruption was dangerous, so he began using the pen name “Mark Twain” (a nautical term). His extensive travels through Europe, the Middle East, and Hawaii inspired his humorous and satirical travel writings. Twain married and had four children—only one living passed the age of thirty.
While living in Hartford, Connecticut, Twain wrote many of his classics: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1881), Life on the Mississippi (1883), and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Huckleberry Finn tells the story of fourteen-year-old Huck, who befriends Jim, an enslaved man escaping toward freedom. Narrated in Huck’s colloquial voice, they share an eventful journey as they drift down the Mississippi River. Throughout the story, Huck struggles between his own conscience and societal prejudices. The book faced controversy as early as 1885: It was described as “coarse, trashy, inelegant, irreligious, obsolete, inaccurate, and mindless.” In later decades, it was challenged and even banned because of its racial slurs and prejudices of the time. Modern readers who defend the novel argue that Twain’s language is a deliberate critique of racism and slavery rather than an endorsement.
Upon spending so much time with Mark Twain and his works, Janet joked that she was sad to part with her “new boyfriend.”
Janet’s presentation wraps up the CWLC Fall 2025 session. Spring 2026 meetings will commence on Tuesday, March 3. Please refer to the program schedule for upcoming presentations on “Nominees for the Nobel Prize in Literature Who Never Won.”
Have a wonderful holiday season and HAPPY READING!
Posted by Mooréa G.