As a larger-than-life character Mark Twain – the creation of Samuel Clemens – serves as a perpetual ambassador for Americana both within in the United States and around the world. Because of this elevated position, I chose to explore the cultural, social, and political impact of Twain. Looking through his oft-controversial work Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I focused on how receptions fluctuate through time and circumstance.
Imbedded in this multicultural, multiethnic pursuit is the dual role of language. First, American editions of Huck distinguish themselves by Clemens artful use of dialect to tell the story of two runaways. But, these dialects are divisive, despite the author’s effort to be inclusive and represent voices not heard in literature. It is precisely this attention to detail that makes the work almost untranslatable and unadaptable.
Exploring issues with English language adaptations, I found that versions of Huck struggle to remain true to the author’s original. In film and television renditions directors struggle with what to tell and by who. Furthermore, attempts to simplify the text have been reductive, eliminating the finer points of the text.
Outside of the United States, Mark Twain is both loved and loathed. Ironically, Twain and his work have been the unlikely benefactors of Cold War politics, especially in Japan and German-speaking countries. Twain and Huck were part of the American propaganda machine, and special agencies were created to translate, adapt, and disseminate the pair. Unfortunately, as if opposing the un-democratic nature of cultural imperialism from beyond the grave, Huck and his dialects are almost completely absent from foreign language editions, severely altering the perception of the piece.
I made two discoveries from this search. The first is that language and culture are an entangled hierarchy. It is impossible to separate the two without dramatically altering both. Secondly, scholarship outside the United States is either lacks respect or is arcane. The growing wellspring of scholarship from Japan is mostly forgotten by English speaking scholars, but not because of a language barrier. Many Japanese scholars write in English, and the Japanese have discovered that cultural transfers occur rapidly among Realist authors and post-war readers living with the disillusionment of a failed society. Other than Japan, foreign studies are scarce. Very little is known about German reception because completed works have not been updated in some cases by seventy years or more. French criticism is virtually non-existent, and a search for studies in Spanish resulted in one obscure article.
Readership of Huck and other works by Twain has been in a steady decline since the Civil Rights Movement. Considering the quality and importance of his work, it seems unfair that future generations will regard him as only the writer of benign works like Jumping Frog. The language and use of dialect that distinguished Huck Finn seem to be elements that aid in the novel’s decline – a paradox perhaps only Samuel Clemens would appreciate.
Annotated Bibliography
Camfield, Gregg. The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Camfield edited this large collection of Mark Twain scholarship, trivia, and minutia. Though not an exhaustive compilation, one hesitates when contemplating the enormity of a complete compendium of Twain’s life and work. Camfield’s attempt contains almost anything a researcher or casual reader would want – encyclopedic entries, summaries of major themes, and critical perspectives both old and new. While not an exclusive source for research, Camfield’s volume is proficient at filling in the gaps for the average reader and encouraging further study for the dedicated student.
Carkeet, David. “The Dialects in Huckleberry Finn.” American Literature, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Nov., 1979), pp. 315-332 Published by: Duke University Press.
Taking the author’s Explanatory to heart, Carkeet unearths the seven dialects in Huck Finn. Carkeet accounts for the seven by attributing each to their speakers. He discusses the differences in the Pike County dialects and shows how slight differences in pronunciation accompany each. Carkeet seeks to hold Twain accountable to his dialectical ambition, and Carkeet discovers that Huck is the least reliable speaker, changing his voice about two-thirds of the way into the novel. Carkeet attributes this disparity to the length of time it took Twain to write and re-write the book. He simultaneously praises Twain’s ambitious nature, concluding that Twain, above all others, mastered the art.
Carrington, George C. The Dramatic Unity of “Huckleberry Finn”. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1976.
Foregoing the author’s “Warning” at the beginning of the book, Carrington goes about the business of finding a plot in Huck Finn. By letting the novel “sink in” rather than imposing a structuralist view, Carrington discovers a plot based on sentiments and principles. From the aspect of language, Carrington forwards an interesting opinion about the use of vernacular in the novel. He argues that Huck as the teller of the story is the “maker” of the story, suggesting that the use of dialect is an extension of Huck’s story and not representative of the actual patterns of speech. As an imitator of speech, Huck is the unifying force of the novel, and through his perceptions an organizing structure can be formed.
Cundick, Bryce M. Translating Huck: Difficulties in Adapting The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to Film. <<contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd765.pdf>>.
In this dissertation, Cundick examines four main issues affecting the ability of the filmmaker to adapt Huck Finn. The first is point of view. The novel is told by Huck, so how do filmmakers show the story through Huck’s eyes. The second problem is structure – what are the must-have moments? Each adaptation has its own sense of what is important. There is also the issue of audience, but it is really an issue of perception. The illustrations of the novel are so engrained in the consciousness of how we see Huck, the novel at times seems to get in the way. Finally, the novel’s ending is usually changed in film versions, often with the director creating an entirely original conclusion.
Cundick points out that a book with a reputation of being a “classic” has yet to produce a film version that can demand equal status despite twenty efforts. Cundick concludes that much the fault is due to the lack of actual scholarship by Huck production teams and the liberties afforded the director as an author.
Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. “Mark Twain in Japan.” South Atlantic Review, Vol. 65, No. 4, The Worldwide Face of Southern Literature (Autumn, 2000), pp. 5-12.
Fishkin discusses the state of Twain scholarship in Japan, recalling meetings with Japanese scholars, translators, and her attendance at Twain conferences in Japan. Fishkin acknowledges the admiration of Twain by the East, attributing his success both to a love of Americana and the shear lucidity of his work. Fishkin points out, however, that very few articles by Japanese scholars appear in English-language journals, despite the fact that many Japanese scholars write in English. The suggestion is that some discrimination exists against students of American Literature who are from the Orient and cites a publication by Duke University that included scholarship from 17 countries, but excluded China and Japan. Fishkin’s argument briefly touches on several interesting perspectives by Japanese scholars and concludes with a call to include Japanese works in Twain bibliographies and journals.
Fishkin, Shelley Fisher. Was Huck Black? Mark Twain and African-American Voices. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
Based on an account of Mark Twain, Fishkin posits the theory that the character Huck Finn is based on an actual African-American boy that Samuel Clemens knew. “Sociable Jimmy” was a child Twain met on a lecture tour and wrote about in an article of the same name. Fishkin argues that Twain chose Jimmy to be the child narrarator of his novel, immitating Jimmy’s manner of speaking. Although the argument is shallow, it leads into a more compelling interpretation of the novel – the relating of the reality of the South through the voice of an African-American in an African-American style. Although edgy, Fishkin’s treatment tackles the issue of vernacular with fresh enthusiasm while adding a new layer of meaning to the interpretation of the novel.
Goto, Shoji. “Huck Finn and America in Kenzaburo Ōe.” In Post-modernity and Cross-Culturalism. ed. Yoshinobu Hakutani. Madison, WI: Associated University Press, 2002.
A biographical perspective on Kenazburō Ōe, a Japanese Nobel Laureate, and the influence Twain’s Huckleberry Finn had on his personal and professional life. Ōe lived a quiet, rural life, but following Japanese surrender in World War II he visited the aftermath at Hiroshima and Okinawa and moved to urban areas. In Mark Twain, Ōe found a voice that echoed his own troubled emotions. Like Huck, Ōe was “a lost innocent faced with confusion and disillusionment.” Goto focuses briefly on the “unspoken helplessness” present in Huck’s tale and joins Huck’s existential crisis to similar characters and situations in Ōe’s work. What Goto discovers is a deep connection between the authors and their characters that arises from the failures of imperfect societies.
Haupt, Clyde V. Huckleberry Finn on Film: Film and Television Adaptations of Mark Twain’s Novel, 1920-1993. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1994.
Haupt investigates the interesting duality between the Huck of the page and the Huck of the screen. Through more than seventy years of adaptations, Haupt indentifies the two major influences on the quality of a film or television version. The first is the quality of the actor portraying Huck, and the second is the primacy of Huck’s relationship with Jim. He argues that the closer the retelling is to Twain’s original the more satisfying it is for the viewer. Essentially, Haupt perceives, the novel is about the uncivilized nature of Huck and how that intersects with the discovery of a runaway slave. Too often, however, cinematic adaptations move tangentially away from those two important factors.
Hedderich, Norbert. “Mark Twain and “The Awful German Language”. Die Unterrichtspraxis / Teaching German, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), pp. 28-33.
Hedderich begins with Twain’s introduction to German through immigrants and his early exposure to German through his work as a type-setter for a German-English newspaper in St. Louis. As an adult, Twain learned conversational German (and many other languages) to assist him in his travels abroad. After establishing Twain’s knowledge of the language, Hedderich turns his attention to Twain’s essay “The Awful German Language.” Strongly satirical, Hedderich recognizes it as a fine piece of ethnocentrism and underhanded admiration. The article shows an personal interest of Twain present in the piece – an almost anthropological attention to the details of human speech. It presents Twain, the master linguist, as a lifelong student of the idiosynchrachtic mechanics of language.
Hemminghaus, Edgar H. Mark Twain in Germany. Columbia University Germanic Studies, New Series No. 9. New York: Columbia University Press, 1939.
What was a unique study by Hemminghaus is now nothing more than an anachronism. Published in 1939, and most of the research dated around 1936, the study offered by Hemminghaus serves as only a piece of the puzzle. Like other books in this study, an inspection of Mark Twain’s reception in post-war Germany might reveal two separate appreciations for the author. This study, however, can only reflect a single view. Despite this ocular flaw, Hemminghaus’ research sheds interesting light on the rise and fall of popularity for Twain in Germany. As political regimes changed so did his reception and the reception of anything America, for that matter. One interesting case arises from the suspicion that Twain had Jewish heritage. Although never proven, it negatively affected his sales. It is also interesting to note that Twain’s work encountered little or no opposition from the Nazi party. German publications of Twain continued well into the 1940’s. However, there is a general lack of interest in Twain by German scholars preceding the war. Whether this is an effect of socio-political issues or an absence of respect for American literature, it is impossible to say.
Ishihara, Tsuyoshi. Mark Twain in Japan: The Cultural Reception of an American Icon. Mark Twain and His Circle Series. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2005.
Ishihara makes the case that Mark Twain has been the principle cultural import in Japan, and he has been so despite major social and political upheaval in the country. The book examines how Japanese saw Twain during four distinct periods. In each period he notes how Twain’s work and the idea of Twain are altered to fit the norms. The Japanese love Mark Twain because he is in their opinion the quintessential American. Consequently, he has also been hated, although for only a brief time, for the same reason.
The most intriguing part of the book deals with the universality found in Twain. Ishihara credits Twain’s popularity first with its quintessential American-ness. The language, the humor, the descriptions, and the life depicted in Twain’s novels represent all the things that endear America to citizens across the globe. He points out, however, that the America depicted by Twain is the not the romantic ideal. Twain criticizes conservative classists and ridicules authoritarians who inherit their position through traditionalism, and Twain does not fear away from unpleasantries like rape, murder, and inequality. Ishihara argues Japanese readers find these elements too common within their own society. In a culture that values politeness and respect, Twain provides equal doses of reality, wisdom, and irreverent humor.
Kinch, J. C. B. Mark Twain’s German Critical Reception, 1875-1986: An Annotated Bibliography. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, no. 22. New York: Greenwood Press, 1989.
An annotated bibliography of nearly 400 entries, Kinch’s study shows a consistent reception of Twain’s work in German-speaking countries. Organized chronologically, the book serves as a good resource for a researcher studying trends, both popular and scholarly. More than twenty of the entries occurred in the final five years of the study, however, like the Hemminghaus study of the 1930’s, the collection misses by only a few years a major socio-political event in Germany. Where Hemminghaus fell short of the U.S. involvement in World War II, Kinch concludes just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of German. The professor’s commentaries are succinct and full of quotes from their actual texts, making this edition a helpful tool for the scholar researching hard to find and obscure sources.
Mailloux, Steven. “Reading Huckleberry Finn: The Rhetoric of Performed Ideology.” in The Critical Response to Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. ed. Laurie Champion. Critical Responses in Arts and Letters, No. 1. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.
Mailloux’s essay focuses on the interpolation of the reader in Huck’s narrative. Mailloux suggests that Twain’s humor depends less upon the events of the story and more upon the reader’s interpretation of how characters will act and react to the events. Mailloux calls it “the discrepancy between his tale and the ‘truth’ as the reader understands it.” For example, when Huck is faced with a conscience dilemma, the reader is ready to predict an outcome only to find that Huck’s heart is good despite a conscience that was taught to be racist. This interpretation helps excuse the “evasion” at the novel’s end. Once again the reader is tricked into predicting an outcome, only to be redirected by the author who we must remember is Huck. The unsatisfactory ending, then, is just another humorous turn for Twain.
Mitchell, Lee Clark. “Nobody but Our Gang Warn’t Around’: The Authority of Language in Huckleberry Finn.” in Huck Finn. ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1990.
Mitchell attempts to justify the “Evasion” section that troubles so many readers. Rather than a recession of Huck’s moral growth, Mitchell forwards that the ending is appropriate based on its “formal coherence” and its “moral obscurity”. Mitchell points out that neither Tom nor Huck make decisions based on an overarching moral code. Instead, they made decisions based on how they felt at the moment, regardless of social convention. Mitchell notices the shifting grounds of social convention and language, concluding that Huck’s behavior is dictated more by circumstance than deeply held conviction. From Mitchell’s perspective, Huck is created and re-created entirely by language. Additionally, as both character and narrator, Huck blurs the lines of reality, even causing us at times to forget that Huck is the one telling his story.
Romeu, Fernando. “The Translation of American Varieties in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” <<http://www.tinet.org/~fromeu/>>.
Romeu analyzes the shortcomings of Spanish language translations of Huck Finn, concluding that none have come close to replicating Twain’s use of dialect. Romeu compares three identical passages in translation to the “American” original. He discovers what is missing is an understanding of the culture and the context of Twain’s novel. For example, finding seven distinct dialects within a single culture can be a daunting task. A translator could borrow Spanish pronunciations from other countries, but in doing so she would loose the cultural signifiers that accompany the language. Additionally, things like double-negatives alter the meaning of the text, and misspellings can confuse word identification. Romeu acknowledges that the book is a product of culture, and although language is easy to translate, culture is not.
Schmitz, Neil. “Huckspeech.” in Major Critical Interpretations: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986.
The term coined by Schmitz “Huckspeech” is born from Twain’s use of common speech to present the novel. Huck speaks, Twain records exactly as it is spoken, and what is written is “Huckspeech.” Significant in defining, Schmitz argues that Huckspeech is the defining characteristic of the story. A detached narrator who corrects what is misspoken does not translate the novel. It is told in the voice of Huck, and it is Huck that makes the telling significant. Significant, Schmitz tells us, because it is the voice of the uneducated, the voice of the abused, and the voice of the disenfranchised. Schmitz explains this “lack” on the part of Huck is what connects him to Jim and drives the novel. It is also what elevates Huck above the flawed society he is rebelling against. Essentially, the voice of Huck Finn encompasses all the inequities of an imperfect culture, and Huck walks the line between “sivilized” and “untamed” through his narrative.
Stein, Ruth. “The A B C’s of Counterfeit Classics: Adapted, Bowdlerized, and Condensed.” The English Journal, Vol. 55, No. 9 (Dec., 1966), pp. 1160-1163.
Stein targets the poor quality of paraphrased editions of classic literature, using Huckleberry Finn as the ultimate example of such literary injustices. She identifies five publishers who have “classic” abridgments of Huck and points out how they, by their own admission, have left out objectionable material, dialect, and solecisms in order to make a book adaptable for rapid reading. In all five instances, the publishers have omitted the Notice and the author’s Explanatory. Stein acknowledges some attempt by re-writers to keep Huck’s language informal, but the omission of dialects and the correction of Huck’s grammar delete some of the finer elements of Twain’s craft. The resulting watered-down adaptations rob the novel of its heart and soul and reduce Huck’s moral dilemma to a matter-of-fact decision.
Twain, Mark and William Dean Howells. Selected Mark Twain-Howells Letters, 1872-1910. Eds. Frederick Anderson, William Merriam Gibson, and Henry Nash Smith. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967.
The correspondence between Samuel Clemens and Willliam Dean Howells reveals a personal side of Mark Twain not often seen in public. Clemens is seen as contemplative, concerned, and in need of advice, indicating an intimacy with Howells not shared by many. The letters are equally as delightful to read for their humor. Perhaps, these letters reveal the “real” Samuel Clemens, or perhaps, they are merely an extension of his persona. In either case, Howells plays the role of mentor, encouraging Clemens with as much force as sincerity. The reader gets the impression that Howells may have been the harshest critic of Twain. If so, Howells is precisely the type of critic only the best of friends could be. The collection suggests there is more to Clemens biography than we presently know. A deep, thoughtful artist is at the heart of Clemens’ work that is too often overshadowed by the larger than life character of Mark Twain.
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Eds.Victor Fischer, Lin Salamo, and Walter Blair. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
An unbelievable resource for researchers, this immense volume (nearly 1200 pages) includes the original published text and illustrations combined with a seemingly endless stream of scholarship about the novel. The book includes images of the original manuscript, extensive data from Twain’s countless revision, and a history of the novel that covers essentially every aspect of its production and public reception then and now. From the standpoint of dialect and language, both handwritten revisions and a never-ending, word-by-word list of manuscript changes provides hours of reconstruction and analysis. Additionally, an exhaustive list of scholarly articles is woven together into a single narrative, simplifying the multiple perspectives of scholars then and now. A large portion of this is dedicated to Twain’s reproduction of dialect.
Twain, Mark. Mark Twain’s Letters to His Publishers, 1867-1894. Ed. Hamlin Lewis Hill. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.
A collection of nearly 300 letters from Mark Twain to almost twenty correspondents, most of which concern details of the business of publishing. Almost all the letters are to four recipients – Elisha Bliss, James Osgood, Charles Webster, and Fred J. Hall. The bulk of the letters deal with rather mundane associations necessary to create publications, reissues, issue royalties, and the like. The result of the sum of the collection disabuses the book’s title. They are not the letters of Mark Twain; they are the letters of Samuel Clemens. The letters show the separation of person and persona and would be valuable for that alone. For further study, the compilation could prove insightful for scholars looking to understanding the relationship of the author with the aforementioned men.
Wagnleitner, Reinhold. Coca-Colonization and the Cold War The Cultural Mission of the United States in Austria After the Second World War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994.
As the title suggests, this book is about how the Austrian people were force fed American Culture in the years following World War II. Wagnleitner, who is admittedly a child of the American influence, shows how the United States established the Information Services Bureau (ISB) in 1945, and how the bureau became a disseminator of pro-American propaganda. One of its many functions was to elevate the image of American Literature above the more prestigious heritage of European Literature. This included importing thousands of American books in English as well as working with Austrian publisher to create new translations.
Twain’s Tom Sawyer quickly became a favorite among Austrian teenage boys. However, the ultimate goal of this “cultural offensive” was to supplant German with English as the principle language of scholarship. The literary initiative failed, but as Wagnleitner points out Austria’s love of American popular culture and the effects of an agenda pushing consumerism are still present 50 years after the war.
Wilson, Mark K. “Mr. Clemens and Madame Blanc: Mark Twain’s First French Critic.” American Literature, Vol. 45, No. 4 (Jan., 1974), Duke University Press pp. 537-556.
Acknowleding several reasons for Twain’s negative feelings toward France, Wilson’s article turns the tables and explores the loathing of Twain by the French. The principle character on the French side of the feud is Madame Marie-Therese Blanc, better known as the literary critic Th. Bentzon. Blanc was the first to translate Twain’s work into French and offered criticism on works as well. She created a career as an expert on Americanism, although she did not visit the United States for more than twenty years after her critiques. Blanc was the mirror opposite of Twain, an aristocrat by birth and a person with almost no understanding of humor. As his first critic and translator, her deficiencies angered Twain and evoked a response – the retranslation of Jumping Frog – that further distanced the author from his French audiences. Wilson attributes Twain’s lack of success in finding a French audience to the stormy and turbulent relationship of the author and the critic.
