BOOK REVIEW

Twain, Mark. The Works of Mark Twain. Volume 8. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Edited by Victor Fischer and Lin Salamo with the late Walter Blair. University of California Press, 2003. Pp. 1204. Cloth 6 x 9". $75.00. ISBN 0520237714.



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Reviewed by
Barbara Schmidt

The 2003 University of California Press edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is the eighth volume in The Works of Mark Twain series. It supersedes the 1988 critical edition, which was published prior to the 1991 discovery of the first half of the book's original manuscript. The 2001 Mark Twain Library edition, intended for general readers, was drawn from this more comprehensive edition. The Library edition was reviewed on the Mark Twain Forum in May 2002. That review is available online at <http://www.twainweb.net/reviews/hf2001-2.html>.

The discovery of the first half of the handwritten manuscript of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn provided a wealth of insight into how and when Mark Twain wrote, revised and perfected his literary masterpiece. It is a credit to all involved--the heirs of James Fraser Gluck, the man who had possession of the manuscript at the time of his death in 1897; the Buffalo and Erie County Library, which now owns both halves of the manuscript; and the Mark Twain Project, which had exclusive publication rights to previously unpublished works--that a legal agreement was reached regarding ownership. The agreement prevented the sale of the manuscript to rare book dealers who, according to rumors, were planning to pool $1.5 million for purchase, break the manuscript apart and resell individual pages. If that had happened, the manuscript would have been scattered and significant literary history lost. With the recovery of 664 manuscript pages, the total number increased from 697 to 1,361 pages. In the 1985 Library edition and the 1988 Works edition, the editors at the Mark Twain Papers identified more than 2,600 variants--discrepancies in words, spelling, punctuation, emphasis, and capitalization between the first edition of Huckleberry Finn published in 1885 and Twain's manuscript. The editors attributed approximately 1,500 of these discrepancies to revisions that were made by Twain. Today, approximately 5,800 variants can be found and only about 3,600 are attributed to the author.

The purpose of any authoritative and "critical text" edition of a book is to establish a text that reflects the author's intentions as precisely as possible and "place before the reader not only the text itself but the evidence and reasoning used by the editor to establish it" (p. 775-6). With painstaking analysis and research, the editors have rejected variations and corruptions attributed to typists, proofreaders, and other hands involved in the publication process. They have restored words and passages inadvertently omitted from the first edition. The numbers of primary documents involved in the first publication make the task monumental. Among these are the complete manuscript, three separate typescripts of the manuscript that Twain revised heavily and which have never been found; the first edition of Life on the Mississippi which contains the "raftsmen" passage originally intended for Huckleberry Finn and is now considered an integral part of the book; proof sheets for both books which contained corrections made by Twain; the salesmen's prospectus, which was approved by Twain; and the Century Magazine which printed excerpts of Huckleberry Finn. Weighing and comparing all available evidence, the editors have established the most authoritative text to date.

A reader needs to look no further than Twain's "Notice" at the beginning of the book to find changes. The new version reads, "Persons attempting to find a Motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a Moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a Plot in it will be shot." The words "Motive," "Moral," and "Plot" are all capitalized for the first time. A subtle, yet distinctive, emphasis on the reading of those words--as Twain intended. However, the phrase, "persons attempting to find a Moral in it will be banished" does not appear in the handwritten manuscript. The variation is deemed to be a significant one that would have been made only by Twain and was evidently made on the edited typescript which is now lost.

Careful examination of inks and papers used in the manuscripts reveal that Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn in three distinct time periods in 1876, 1880, and 1883. By establishing a definite time frame for each stage of the writing and specific chapters, scholars and researchers can more accurately determine the influences on Twain's composition during each time period.

Examination of the manuscript shows that perfecting written dialect did not come easily for Twain. He constantly revised and corrected syllables, sounds, and phrasing. He attempted to downgrade his own proper and literary words "as if" to "like"--a word that Twain once chastised his brother Orion for using, calling it a "wretched Missourianism" (Mark Twain's Letters, 1876-1880, An Electronic Edition, Volume 3: 1878). In other instances, he attempted to refine his wording. Phrases like "sugar teat" (p. 863) and "bowel trouble" (p. 894) appear in the handwritten manuscript but are emended in the first edition--another example of changes that were evidently made on the lost typescripts. It is also important to note that although William Dean Howells did read the typescripts and provide comment, such revisions are attributed only to Twain.

Along with the authoritative text, annotations, glossary, samples of revised and deleted passages from the manuscript, and a selection of manuscript facsimiles (items that also appeared in the 2001 Library edition), the 2003 Works edition contains seven appendixes which provide additional items essential to the study of the book's history and composition. Among these are Twain's working notes. These were also featured in the 1988 edition, but the sequence and chronology of the notes, which were originally identified by Bernard DeVoto, have been revised. Another appendix is devoted to all of Mark Twain's marginal working notes--notes appearing on the manuscript pages but not considered passages within the manuscript itself.

In 1884-1885 and 1895-1896, Twain engaged in speaking tours giving readings from Huckleberry Finn. His lecture readings did not always match the printed text of the book. Two appendixes provide photocopy facsimiles of the pages Twain marked and revised for oral presentation. One passage from his book reads, "She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn't do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel all cramped up." His handwritten revision of the passage reads, "She put me in them new clothes again, & they make you feel all cramped up & uncomfortable, like a bee that's busted through a spider's web & wisht he'd gone around" (p. 624). One might think that Twain's lecture notes could be used to establish his original intentions when he was writing the novel. However, the editors reject that theory and feel that such revisions were intended only for oral presentations.

Victor Fischer and Lin Salamo's 130-page "Introduction" is placed after the appendix section. It is much more than an introduction to the editorial methods used to establish an authoritative text. It is a comprehensive discussion of all facets of the writing, editing, production, illustrating, controversies, early dramatizations, and enduring legacy of Huckleberry Finn. This section draws from Twain's letters as well as collateral correspondence among Twain's friends and associates. Some of the correspondence has been previously available only on the microfilm editions of Twain's letters and is now more widely accessible in this Works edition. Twain's original dedication, which was never printed in any edition of the novel until it was inserted in the "Foreword" to the 2001 Library edition, is accompanied by the information that it was tipped into the first bound copy of Huckleberry Finn which is hand dated November 26, 1884 by publisher Charles Webster--a landmark date in the book's production.

Illustrator Edward Kemble drew at least 175 illustrations for the first edition of Huckleberry Finn. The locations of only forty-one of the original illustrations are known at this time. Kemble's illustrations played a prominent role in the novel. The editors make clear that Twain did give Kemble a great deal of free rein in deciding what to illustrate and suggesting captions for illustrations. However, Twain did approve, reject, and criticize the illustrator's work. For example, he refused to allow publication of the drawing of "the lecherous old rascal kissing the girl at the campmeeting"(p. 720). Yet, an illustration depicting Jim telling his ghost story, a passage that was later eliminated from the text, was included. It is worth noting that the editors do not reinstate the passage popularly known as "Jim's Ghost Story" into the text. It is, instead, presented in an appendix as a passage that Twain intentionally deleted from the final text.

Prior to publication of the book, Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine published three excerpts of Huckleberry Finn in the December 1884, January 1885, and February 1885 issues. The editors provide insight into the business decisions and editorial decisions involved in arranging and editing the text for magazine publication. Publication in the Century generated one of the earliest documented protests made against the book. Editor Richard Watson Gilder provided Twain a copy of the letter, but not before removing the writer's signature. The letter, written by a school superintendent from South Pueblo, Colorado, called Huckleberry Finn "atrocious, and destitute of a single redeeming quality" (p. 756). A section of the Introduction titled "Readers, Reviewers, and Controversy: 1884 to the Present" provides a wealth of information on other initial reactions to the book along with some of the earliest contemporary reviews. Letters Twain wrote in response to the novel's controversy are quoted at length.

The final sections of the Works edition contain discussions and facsimiles illustrating how the editors made decisions in establishing certain passages; complete lists of emendations as they are found across different primary versions of the text; and a section on alterations Twain made in his manuscript. These particular sections of the book will be especially helpful if used in conjunction with "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn": The Buffalo and Erie County Public Library CD-ROM Edition (available only in limited distribution at this time) which contains full-color photo reproductions of each of Twain's manuscript pages.

Twain's novel continues to be a landmark in American literature. The reference and bibliography section of the 2003 Works edition has almost doubled in size when compared to the 1988 edition. It is a testament to the unabated research, writing, and interest that Mark Twain and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn continue to generate. It also underscores the need for accuracy the editors at the Mark Twain Papers and the University of California editions continue to provide.

For those readers who are trying to decide which edition is best suited to their needs, a comparison chart of the 2001 Library edition, 2003 Works edition, and the 1988 Works edition is provided below.