Frank, you left comments in my email box, but I accidentally deleted them. Could you offer those comments again via Beyond Eastrod or here? Much appreciated.
I said that I preferred Tom Sawyer (the book) to Huckleberry Finn (the book). I just could never glom on to Huck (the character). Also, like you, I suspect I might not have liked Mr. Clemens all that much (though we both worked of The Inquirer).
Below are the comments I made on RT's post on ole Sam Clemens:
I'm a huge Mark Twain/Sam Clemens fan. I love his novels and short stories, especially "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
I also love his non-fiction books, like "Roughing It."
As for being racist, Twain was a man of his times and more enlightened than most, it seems to me. One should not judge Twain or other historical figures by modern standards. This is not fair.
There is a great passage in Twain's autobiography that I recall.
Twain wrote that when he was a child, there was a little slave boy who sang and laughed all day long. Twain complained to his mother about the loud child and said he could not stand him.
His mother told Twain that she was fine with the boy singing, laughing and acting wild. But she could not stand it when the young slave was quiet.
She told Twain that during those rare quiet moments, she believed he was thinking about his mother, who was sold "down the river,' which meant the young boy would never see his mother again.
I'm not doing the passage justice, as I've not read it in some years, but I recall this simple tale being a powerful condemnation of slavery.
Twain, the writer of this passage, was in fact no racist.
The language of "Huckleberry Finn" was how people of his time and place spoke and wrote. We should not judge this by today's standards. We should be thankful that an artful and insightful - and funny - writer captured the times and language for us in a great novel.
And although I don't share Twain's world-view on many issues, I think I would have loved to have shared a good cigar and drink with him, while arguing over the politics, religion and events of the day.
And no doubt Twain would have made me laugh, as he has so many times when I've read his works.
Hi Paul, I've never thought of Twain as a racist and I quite agree that people should be judged in terms of the time they lived in, not the time we are living in, which is hardly perfect, either. I was maybe 11 or 12 when I read Tom Sawyer. I loved it and immediately read Huckleberry Finn, which just didn't have the same magic for me, and never would. Twain the writer I love. What better summary of Wagner's music is there than Twain's "it's better than it sounds"? But I think I would have found Mr. Clemens less charming than Mr. Twain.
Frank and Paul: Regarding Clemens as something of a racist, you should consider the compelling evidence and argument presented in Ron Powers' biography. Yes, Clemens was of his era, but I am not sure that adds up to a defense; again, I refer you to the Powers argument.
Tom Sawyer is charming and funny. Huck Finn is dark and funny and not very charming. In Huck Finn Twain tackles subject matters a bit more weighty than he did in Tom Sawyer.
Like Hemingway, I think very highly of Huck Finn.
I wrote in a column years ago after visiting Mark Twain's house in Hartford that one should read Mark Twain twice: once when we are children, and again when we are adults.
RT,
I read Ron Powers book years ago and I didn't care for it. He judged Mark Twain a bit too harshly, not taking into consideration where Twain was born and when, and how he was raised.
I read the book years ago, but if I recall correctly, Powers took Twain to task for noting in "Roughing It" that the Indians he saw were drunks and thieves.
True, he did, but he was making an observation, and an accurate one, according to other books I've read, about the rough Indians he encountered near the silver mines in Nevada and in the mining towns.
This was not an indictment of all American Indians, it was merely the ones he met and had dealings during his time there. As I've noted before, he was a man of his age. This was a common enough view of the Indians who sought out miners and settlers during this time.
Frank, you left comments in my email box, but I accidentally deleted them. Could you offer those comments again via Beyond Eastrod or here? Much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI said that I preferred Tom Sawyer (the book) to Huckleberry Finn (the book). I just could never glom on to Huck (the character). Also, like you, I suspect I might not have liked Mr. Clemens all that much (though we both worked of The Inquirer).
ReplyDeleteFrank,
ReplyDeleteBelow are the comments I made on RT's post on ole Sam Clemens:
I'm a huge Mark Twain/Sam Clemens fan. I love his novels and short stories, especially "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
I also love his non-fiction books, like "Roughing It."
As for being racist, Twain was a man of his times and more enlightened than most, it seems to me. One should not judge Twain or other historical figures by modern standards. This is not fair.
There is a great passage in Twain's autobiography that I recall.
Twain wrote that when he was a child, there was a little slave boy who sang and laughed all day long. Twain complained to his mother about the loud child and said he could not stand him.
His mother told Twain that she was fine with the boy singing, laughing and acting wild. But she could not stand it when the young slave was quiet.
She told Twain that during those rare quiet moments, she believed he was thinking about his mother, who was sold "down the river,' which meant the young boy would never see his mother again.
I'm not doing the passage justice, as I've not read it in some years, but I recall this simple tale being a powerful condemnation of slavery.
Twain, the writer of this passage, was in fact no racist.
The language of "Huckleberry Finn" was how people of his time and place spoke and wrote. We should not judge this by today's standards. We should be thankful that an artful and insightful - and funny - writer captured the times and language for us in a great novel.
And although I don't share Twain's world-view on many issues, I think I would have loved to have shared a good cigar and drink with him, while arguing over the politics, religion and events of the day.
And no doubt Twain would have made me laugh, as he has so many times when I've read his works.
Hi Paul,
ReplyDeleteI've never thought of Twain as a racist and I quite agree that people should be judged in terms of the time they lived in, not the time we are living in, which is hardly perfect, either. I was maybe 11 or 12 when I read Tom Sawyer. I loved it and immediately read Huckleberry Finn, which just didn't have the same magic for me, and never would. Twain the writer I love. What better summary of Wagner's music is there than Twain's "it's better than it sounds"? But I think I would have found Mr. Clemens less charming than Mr. Twain.
Frank and Paul: Regarding Clemens as something of a racist, you should consider the compelling evidence and argument presented in Ron Powers' biography. Yes, Clemens was of his era, but I am not sure that adds up to a defense; again, I refer you to the Powers argument.
ReplyDeleteFrank,
ReplyDeleteTom Sawyer is charming and funny. Huck Finn is dark and funny and not very charming. In Huck Finn Twain tackles subject matters a bit more weighty than he did in Tom Sawyer.
Like Hemingway, I think very highly of Huck Finn.
I wrote in a column years ago after visiting Mark Twain's house in Hartford that one should read Mark Twain twice: once when we are children, and again when we are adults.
RT,
I read Ron Powers book years ago and I didn't care for it. He judged Mark Twain a bit too harshly, not taking into consideration where Twain was born and when, and how he was raised.
I read the book years ago, but if I recall correctly, Powers took Twain to task for noting in "Roughing It" that the Indians he saw were drunks and thieves.
True, he did, but he was making an observation, and an accurate one, according to other books I've read, about the rough Indians he encountered near the silver mines in Nevada and in the mining towns.
This was not an indictment of all American Indians, it was merely the ones he met and had dealings during his time there. As I've noted before, he was a man of his age. This was a common enough view of the Indians who sought out miners and settlers during this time.
Paul
I should add that many of the white men in the mining camps and towns were also drunks and thieves...
ReplyDelete