Satire or Evasion?

by Leonard, James S.; Tenney, Thomas Asa; Davis, Thadious M.; Wallace, John H. (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780822311744
• ISBN10: 0822311747
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-01-01
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Though one of Americars"s best known and loved novels, Mark Twainrs"sAdventures of Huckleberry Finnhas 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 novelrs"s racist elements and assesses the degree to which Twainrs"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 ofHuckleberry 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 Twainrs"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 novelrs"s final chapters. Sure to provoke thought and stir debate,Satire or Evasion?provides a variety of new perspectives on one of this countryrs"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

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	v
Introduction: The Controversy over Huckleberry Finn	1	(15)
James S. Leonard
Thomas A. Tenney
Huck Finn and the Authorities
The Case Against Huck Finn	16	(9)
John H. Wallace
The Struggle for Tolerance: Race and Censorship in Huckleberry Finn	25	(24)
Peaches Henry
History, Slavery, and Thematic Irony in Huckleberry Finn	49	(13)
Richard K. Barksdale
Jim and Huck in the Nineteenth Century
The Ending of Huckleberry Finn: ``Freeing the Free Negro''	62	(15)
Charles H. Nilon
The Veil Rent in Twain: Degradation and Revelation in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	77	(14)
Mary Kemp Davis
Mark Twain and the Black Challenge	91	(12)
Carmen Subryan
Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse	103	(21)
David L. Smith
Blackface and White Inside
Twain's ``Nigger'' Jim: The Tragic Face behind the Minstrel Mask	124	(17)
Bernard W. Bell
Minstrel Shackles and Nineteenth-Century ``Liberality'' in Huckleberry Finn	141	(13)
Fredrick Woodard
Donnarae MacCann
Huck and Jim: A Reconsideration	154	(19)
Betty H. Jones
Nigger and Knowledge: White Double-Consciousness in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	173	(26)
Rhett S. Jones
Huck Finn in the Twentieth Century
Morality and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn	199	(9)
Julius Lester
``A True Book---With Some Stretchers'': Huck Finn Today	208	(8)
Charles H. Nichols
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Afro-American Literature	216	(12)
Arnold Rampersad
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; or, Mark Twain's Racial Ambiguity	228	(11)
Kenny J. Williams
For Further Reading	239	(32)
Thomas A. Tenney
Contributors	271	(6)
Index	277