Satire or Evasion?: Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn

Published by Duke University Press 1992

Satire or Evasion?

Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn

Edited by: James S. Leonard , Thomas Tenney and Thadious M. Davis
With contributions by: John H. Wallace

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822381716

Overview
Contents

About this book

Though one of America’s best known and loved novels, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has often been the object of fierce controversy because of its racist language and reliance on racial stereotypes. This collection of fifteen essays by prominent African American scholars and critics examines the novel’s racist elements and assesses the degree to which Twain’s ironies succeed or fail to turn those elements into a satirical attack on racism. Ranging from the laudatory to the openly hostile, these essays include personal impressions of Huckleberry Finn, descriptions of classroom experience with the book, evaluations of its ironic and allegorical aspects, explorations of its nineteenth-century context, and appraisal of its effects on twentieth-century African American writers. Among the issues the authors contend with are Twain’s pervasive use of the word “nigger,” his portrayal of the slave Jim according to the conventions of the minstrel show “darky,” and the thematic chaos created by the “evasion” depicted in the novel’s final chapters. Sure to provoke thought and stir debate, Satire or Evasion? provides a variety of new perspectives on one of this country’s most troubling classics. Contributors. Richard K. Barksdale, Bernard W. Bell, Mary Kemp Davis, Peaches M. Henry, Betty Harris Jones, Rhett S. Jones, Julius Lester, Donnarae MacCann, Charles H. Nichols, Charles H. Nilon, Arnold Rampersad, David L. Smith, Carmen Dubryan, John H. Wallace, Kenny Jackson Williams, Fredrick Woodard

Author / Editor information

James S. Leonard is Professor of English at The Citadel.

Thadious M. Davis is Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought and Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	iii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction: The Controversy over Huckleberry Finn James S. Leonard and Thomas A. Tenney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Huck Finn and the Authorities
The Case Against Huck Finn John H. Wallace Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
The Struggle for Tolerance: Race and Censorship in Huckleberry Finn Peaches Henry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
History, Slavery, and Thematic Irony in Huckleberry Finn Richard K. Barksdale Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Jim and Huck in the Nineteenth Century
The Ending of Huckleberry Finn: "Freeing the Free Negro" Charles H. Nilon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
The Veil Rent in Twain: Degradation and Revelation in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mary Kemp Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Mark Twain and the Black Challenge Carmen Subryan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse David L. Smith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
Blackface and White Inside
Twain's "Nigger" Jim: The Tragic Face behind the Minstrel Mask Bernard W. Bell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
Minstrel Shackles and Nineteenth-Century "Liberality" in Huckleberry Finn Fredrick Woodard and Donnarae MacCann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Huck and Jim: A Reconsideration Betty H. Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	154
Nigger and Knowledge: White Double-Consciousness in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Rhett S. Jones Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Huck Finn in the Twentieth Century
Morality and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Julius Lester Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
"A True Book-With Some Stretchers": Huck Finn Today Charles H. Nichols Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Afro-American Literature Arnold Rampersad Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	216
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; or, Mark Twain's Racial Ambiguity Kenny J. Williams Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	228
For Further Reading Thomas A. Tenney Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277

Language: English
Publisher: Duke University Press
Pages
- Main content: 288

eBook

Published: November 26, 1991
ISBN: 9780822381716