Latest news with #AdventuresofHuckleberryFinn
Channel 4
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Channel 4
Trump ‘harming' US IQ with attacks on education
Acclaimed American writer Percival Everett is best known for his sharp satirical takes on race and American culture. His latest novel, James, is a reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of the enslaved character Jim. It earned him this year's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Author of the Year award at the British Book Awards. Just last year, his novel Erasure was adapted into the Oscar-winning film American Fiction, a biting satire about a frustrated Black author who pens a wildly stereotypical novel about inner-city life as a joke, only to see it become a runaway success. The film calls out the publishing industry's racial biases and questions the tendency to limit Black storytelling to trauma and poverty narratives. He is also a literature professor at the University of Southern California – one of many academic institutions facing major budget cuts from the Trump administration. We asked him if the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should still be taught and whether 'James' should be taught alongside it.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New executive director of Mark Twain House & Museum is a familiar face
Jeffrey L. Nichols has been named as the new executive director of the Mark Twain House & Museum following a nationwide search that took over a year. Nichols succeeds Pieter Roos, who served as executive director from 2017 to 2023 and announced his retirement at the end of last year. Nichols, a Naugatuck native, has held the position before. He was the executive director of the Twain House from 2008 to 2012. When he recently returned to Connecticut to visit his mother, he said 'I saw the house again and realized how much I loved the place.' Nichols' first day on the job will be June 9, a day before a major event sponsored by the Twain House — an appearance by Ron Chernow, whose new biography of Twain was published earlier this month. Chernow visited the Twain House photo archive while researching the book. Later in June, the Mark Twain House & Museum will host a book signing by novelist Joyce Carol Oates, the famed author's first visit to the Twain House. Mark Twain House Museum executive director Pieter Roos to retire from historic venue Nichols said Twain figures in many aspects of the other jobs he's held. For the past four years, he was at the National Civil War Museum and before that at George Heritage in Washington D.C., institutions which overlap with some Twain's activities and interests in the 19th century. Nichols also worked at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, an historic home in Virginia. He recalls bringing some of his former (and now future) Twain House colleagues to the Civil War Museum for a program about the house. 'Every job I've had, people get tired of me talking about Mark Twain,' NIchols said. He is looking forward to being back so he can share that great impact Mark Twain had and still has. 'We are very fortunate that Jeff Nichols will be leading the Mark Twain House and Museum,' Mark Twain House and Museum board chair Hans Miller said in a statement. 'His extensive experience in historic site and museum management, combined with his deep appreciation for Mark Twain and understanding of this organization, brings us a dynamic leader who can build on our past success.' Last year marked the 150th anniversary of when the house at 351 Farmington Ave. was built for Twain and his family. Twain not only wrote some of his famous works at the house, including 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court,' he was actively involved with local businesses and newspapers. Twain left Hartford following the death of his daughter, toured the world for years as a comic lecturer and eventually returned to Connecticut to build a new home in Redding. Asked if he has favorites among Twain's many works, Nichols praised the author's short stories, mentioning 'To the Person Sitting in Darkness' as one of many examples of where 'Twain is writing about political and social issues of his era that still have great relevance in our world today.' Besides tours of the house, the Mark Twain House & Museum provides an archive of Twain materials, a museum with changing exhibits based on Twain's life and works, frequent lectures and special performances. Nichols noted that one of the enduring events at the institution, its 'Ghost Tours,' began during his previous time as executive director. 'There's a lot that's familiar, but there has also been a great expansion,' he said. 'Rooms have been finished since I was last here. I'm going to go into this now not looking back but seeing how we can move the organization forward. It's going to be great fun. I'm going to slide right back in.'
New York Post
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Inside the mind of Mark Twain: Obsessive author and arrogant genius
In the late 19th century, Mark Twain was arguably the most famous author in the world, with classics like 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' (1876) and 'Life on the Mississippi' (1883) cementing his status as a cultural icon. But despite his accomplishments, Twain seethed at the idea that anyone might criticize him. 9 Mark Twain around the time he wooed and wed Olivia 'Livy' Langdon in 1869. A sprawling new biography details his brilliant, yet often arrogance-filled, career. Courtesy of The Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, Connecticut For future editions of the book that rocketed him to fame, 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' Twain planned a 'classic author's revenge fantasy,' writes Ron Chernow in his new, sprawling biography, 'Mark Twain' (Penguin Press), out now. Twain insisted on including a 'prefatory remark' that identified two newspaper editors that he particularly loathed as inspiration for his young fictional protagonist. 'In character, language, clothing, education, instinct, & origin,' wrote Twain, Huck Finn was meant as a 'counterpart of these two gentlemen as they were in the time of their boyhood, forty years ago.' Twain was eventually talked out of the vindictive plan by his wife. It's a side of the author that rarely gets remembered. During his life, Twain wrote 30 books, several thousand magazine articles and some 12,000 letters, but Twain's foremost creation 'may well have been his own inimitable personality,' writes Chernow. He's become an 'emblem of Americana . . . a humorous man in a white suit, dispensing witticisms with a twinkling eye, an avuncular figure sporting a cigar and a handlebar mustache.' 9 Twain standing before his boyhood home in Hannibal in May 1902. The house, he said, was much smaller than he remembered it. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. But the truth wasn't quite so sanitized. Twain also had a 'large assortment of weird sides to his nature,' writes Chernow. Long before he became Mark Twain, he was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, born in 1835 and raised in Hannibal, Mo., a 'white town drowsing in the sunshine' on the banks of the Mississippi, as Twain would later immortalize. He created the Mark Twain pen name not just as a way to escape his many creditors but as 'the ultimate act of reinvention, the start of an attempt to mythologize his life,' writes Chernow. 9 Twain playing billiards in 1908 with some of the young woman who became his obsession during his later years. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. His books became huge bestsellers, but nothing compared to his live performances. He could command a crowd with a mastery that was unmatched, once claiming that he would play with a dramatic pause during a reading 'as other children play with a toy,' writes Chernow. During a speech in Utica, NY, in 1870, he stood silently on stage for several uncomfortable minutes. 'After a prolonged, anxious interval, the audience erupted in laughter and applause, and Twain felt the full force of his power over them,' writes Chernow. But offstage, he was consumed with petty grudges and paranoia. Twain once told his sister that he was a man of 'a fractious disposition & difficult to get along with.' He would collect insults, waiting for the perfect moment to unleash them on anyone who'd wronged or disappointed him. 'He could never quite let things go or drop a quarrel,' writes Chernow. 'With his volcanic emotions and titanic tirades, he constantly threatened lawsuits and fired off indignant letters, settling scores in a life riddled with self-inflicted wounds.' 9 Mark Twain and fellow novelist George Washington Cable in 1884, when they shared top billing in a lecture series later dubbed the 'Twins of Genius' tour. Courtesy of The Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, Connecticut. Twain also had a bad habit of making terrible investments. 'Again and again, he succumbed to money-mad schemes he might have satirized in one of his novels,' writes Chernow. Most infamously, in 1880, he became convinced that a new typesetting machine, a 'fiendishly complex' device called the Paige Compositor, would become the future of publishing. 'The typesetter does not get drunk,' Twain wrote of the contraption in his personal notebook. 'He does not join the printer's union.' He invested $300,000 (about $10 million in today's money), and believed so strongly that the machine would lead to riches that he toyed with buying all of New York state with his future riches. 9 A photo of Twain when he was still known as Sam Clemens, posing in his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri in 1850, when he turned 15. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley 'He was asking how much it would take to buy all the railroads in New York, and all the newspapers, too—buy everything in New York on account of that typesetting machine,' remembered his housekeeper and maid Katy Leary. 'He thought he'd make millions and own the world, because he had such faith in it.' But the Paige Compositor, with its thousands of moving parts, proved to be a colossal failure. Only two of the machines were built, one of which is currently displayed at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn. Strangest of all, Twain developed a fondness for teenage girls as he grew older. In his 40s, he began giving private lectures at the Saturday Morning Club, an all-girls' private club in which he was an honorary member. But this soon evolved into something decidedly creepier. 9 An embossed book cover for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn showing Huck, friend of Tom Sawyer. One of many iconic Twain tomes. Corbis via Getty Images At 70, he met 15 year-old Gertrude Natkin while attending a Carnegie Hall recital. They became pen-pals, with Twain writing to her six times a month, 'discarding any inhibitions about expressing affection toward a teenage girl who was a complete stranger,' writes Chernow. His only disappointment was that she wouldn't stop aging. On her 16th birthday, he wrote to her that 'you mustn't move along so fast . . . Sixteen! Ah, what has become of my little girl?' He was afraid to send her a kiss now, he declared, because it would come 'within an ace of being improper!' Twain eventually cut off ties with her, but Gertrude was just the beginning of his obsession with adolescent girls. He created a 'club of handpicked platonic sweethearts,' writes Chernow, dubbing them his 'angelfish.' As Twain explained in one of his letters, 'I collect pets: young girls — girls from ten to sixteen years old; girls who are pretty and sweet and naive and innocent.' 9 Jane Lampton Clemens, the eloquent and vivacious mother of Mark Twain in a photo from her later years. Courtesy of Mark Twain Papers and Project, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley Remarkably, the public didn't look upon Twain's angelfish as the 'sinister hobby of a lecherous old pedophile, but as the charming eccentricity of a sentimental old widower,' writes Chernow. While it certainly looks less than innocent, Chernow points out that there were never any accusations of predatory behavior from any of the girls, and mothers or grandmothers were always present as chaperones. 'The girls never reported forbidden sexual overtures from Twain,' writes Chernow. 'They played billiards and hearts and engaged in innocent pastimes. Twain insisted until the end that he'd merely 'reached the grandfather stage of life without grandchildren, so I began to adopt some.' He had a bottomless need for unconditional love, which he never received from his own daughters. Beyond the obvious inappropriateness, his adolescent teenage female fixation was a symptom of Twain's larger obsession with youth. The older he became, the more he believed 'that only the young were capable of true happiness,' writes Chernow. His 'angelfish' allowed him to disappear 'back into his vanished youth, to stop time, to blot out all the disappointments of adult life.' Twain's writing was in many ways an attempt to capture the innocence of youth. As some critics noted, despite the Huck Finn character being fourteen, his mind was 'devoid of sexual thoughts or fantasies,' writes Chernow. 9 Author Ron Chernow. The older and more famous he became, the more Twain pined for 'the vanished paradise of his early years,' writes Chernow. 'His youth would remain the magical touchstone of his life, his memories preserved in amber.' Twain eventually wrote sequels in which both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn reappeared, but he had no interest in exploring them as adults. It was as if 'Twain could not bear to imagine them stripped of their youthful appeal,' writes Chernow. For him, youth was a gift and old age was a sham. 'I should greatly like to relive my youth,' he once wrote. 'And then get drowned.'
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Book Review: Ron Chernow's 'Mark Twain' gives readers an honest assessment of beloved author's life
Pulitzer Prize winning author Ron Chernow is known for writing massive biographies of the country's most enduring figures, including Ulysses S. Grant and Alexander Hamilton. So it comes as no surprise that his biography of author and humorist Mark Twain clocks in at more than 1,000 pages. It's also forgivable, considering that Twain was such a colossal figure in American literature and history that his authorized biography was more than 1,500 pages long. Chernow's 'Mark Twain' is well worth that length to learn more about the author best known for introducing readers to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Chernow's aptly portrays Twain as someone who 'fairly invented our celebrity culture,' the precursor to the influencers that dominate our lives today. Twain had no qualms about cashing in on his fame, with his name being used to promote cigars, pipes and other products. But Twain was known just as much for the attitude linked to the humorist and his works. Twain, as Chernow describes him, was 'someone willing to tangle with anyone, make enemies and say aloud what other people only dared to think.' Chernow's biography avoids the trap of idolizing Twain and gives and honest assessment of the author's life, including his flaws and contradictions. Revered for addressing the evils of slavery in 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' Twain was also someone who avoided lending his voice to condemning the practice of lynching. That silence, Chernow writes, was a major missed opportunity to help foster a national debate. Chernow also delves into the uncomfortable subject of Twain's obsession in his later years with teenage girls, developing close friendships with teens that he dubbed his 'angelfish.' Chernow's willingness to give readers the unvarnished truth about Twain makes the biography stand out, as does his ability to simultaneously explore the historical and literary context of Twain's writing. Even Twain's lesser-known works are addressed. Twain comes alive in the pages of Chernow's biography, which shows much he was influenced by his wife and her 'delicate restraining hand." It also portrays the complex and fraught relationship Twain had with his daughters. The book drags at some points, which is inevitable in a tome of this size, and is strongest when it tells the relationship Twain had with the written word. Chernow writes that 'words were his catharsis, his therapy, his preferred form of revenge.' The recurring theme of Chernow's biography is Twain's love affair with the written word, and it ably demonstrates the impact that relationship had on a nation. ___ AP book reviews: Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press
San Francisco Chronicle
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Book Review: Ron Chernow's 'Mark Twain' gives readers an honest assessment of beloved author's life
Pulitzer Prize winning author Ron Chernow is known for writing massive biographies of the country's most enduring figures, including Ulysses S. Grant and Alexander Hamilton. So it comes as no surprise that his biography of author and humorist Mark Twain clocks in at more than 1,000 pages. It's also forgivable, considering that Twain was such a colossal figure in American literature and history that his authorized biography was more than 1,500 pages long. Chernow's 'Mark Twain' is well worth that length to learn more about the author best known for introducing readers to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Chernow's aptly portrays Twain as someone who 'fairly invented our celebrity culture,' the precursor to the influencers that dominate our lives today. Twain had no qualms about cashing in on his fame, with his name being used to promote cigars, pipes and other products. But Twain was known just as much for the attitude linked to the humorist and his works. Twain, as Chernow describes him, was 'someone willing to tangle with anyone, make enemies and say aloud what other people only dared to think.' Chernow's biography avoids the trap of idolizing Twain and gives and honest assessment of the author's life, including his flaws and contradictions. Revered for addressing the evils of slavery in 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,' Twain was also someone who avoided lending his voice to condemning the practice of lynching. That silence, Chernow writes, was a major missed opportunity to help foster a national debate. Chernow also delves into the uncomfortable subject of Twain's obsession in his later years with teenage girls, developing close friendships with teens that he dubbed his 'angelfish.' Chernow's willingness to give readers the unvarnished truth about Twain makes the biography stand out, as does his ability to simultaneously explore the historical and literary context of Twain's writing. Even Twain's lesser-known works are addressed. Twain comes alive in the pages of Chernow's biography, which shows much he was influenced by his wife and her 'delicate restraining hand." It also portrays the complex and fraught relationship Twain had with his daughters. The book drags at some points, which is inevitable in a tome of this size, and is strongest when it tells the relationship Twain had with the written word. Chernow writes that 'words were his catharsis, his therapy, his preferred form of revenge.' The recurring theme of Chernow's biography is Twain's love affair with the written word, and it ably demonstrates the impact that relationship had on a nation.
