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Great Books is an hour-long documentary and biography program that aired on The Learning Channel. The series was a project co-created by Walter Cronkite and television producer Jonathan Ward under a deal they had with their company Cronkite Ward, The Discovery Channel, and The Learning Channel. Premiering on September 8, 1993, to coincide with International Literacy Day, the series took in-depth looks at some of literature's greatest fiction and nonfiction books, along with the authors who created them. Most of the narration was provided by Donald Sutherland.
Episodes feature insights from historians, scholars, novelists, artists, writers, and filmmakers who were directly influenced by the books showcased and discussed.
Mark Twain's masterpiece grapples with one of the most powerful themes in American history—slavery. This video explores parallels between the events of the book and actual historical events.
Episodes feature insights from historians, scholars, novelists, artists, writers, and filmmakers who were directly influenced by the books showcased and discussed.
Mark Twain's masterpiece grapples with one of the most powerful themes in American history—slavery. This video explores parallels between the events of the book and actual historical events.
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00:13Huckleberry Finn has been starting fights since it was first published more than a hundred years ago.
00:22After having read Huckleberry Finn at least 20 times over the past 12 years,
00:28I must declare it is the most grotesque example of racist trash ever given our children to read.
00:38It shows how this kid, who was brought up in a very bigoted part of the country before slavery ended,
00:47who ingested all of that and yet is able to transcend it through knowing one black guy.
00:57It's a kind of companion to Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn's autobiography and I shall like it whether anybody else does
01:06or not.
01:07It is both satire and adventure story. It is a century-old comic novel about growing up,
01:14about freedom and conscience and a history that still hurts.
01:20Many consider it the greatest book ever made in America.
01:24The End
01:26The End
01:29The End
01:33The End
02:09Mark Twain gave America two of its most famous and enduring children, Tom Sawyer, the smart kid who got his
02:17buddies to whitewash a fence by calling it a privilege, and Tom's sidekick, Huckleberry Finn, a street kid who lived
02:25by his wits and lives still, as a kind of American folk hero.
02:30I think we like him because he is ingenious. He is as ingenious as Ulysses in many ways. He knows
02:38how to lie. He knows how to act. He impersonates other people. He does, I think in many ways, he
02:45acts the way a lot of us would like to be able to act.
02:49He's full of guile, and who would ever want him not to have it? He knows that you can't help
02:56lying. You lie, and it's better to lie. And he is subversive. I do want Huckleberry Finn to be subversive.
03:07He is a bad boy.
03:13Huckleberry Finn has been the subject of countless illustrations in books and magazines.
03:19More than a dozen movies have been made based on the book, most of them bad, and all of them
03:26exploiting the appealing image of a boy on a raft on a great river, heading into the unknown.
03:34Twain called Tom Sawyer simply a hymn to boyhood. Huckleberry Finn was a different kind of song.
03:50Huckleberry Finn, you're it. You're it. You're it, ain't you? The angel of death come to take me away.
03:59Well, we'll see about that, won't we? The angel of death.
04:06No, it's me, Huck. Huck, it's me, it's Huck.
04:10Huck is the son of the town drunkard, long absent, who returns when he hears Huck has found some money.
04:17Jim Finn, pap, is an outcast, full of hate, for blacks, for society, for civilization itself.
04:28I won't rest a minute, then I'll kill you.
04:35It is not a boy's book at all. It will only be read by adults. It is written for adults.
04:42But it was told from the viewpoint of a 12- or 14-year-old boy.
04:50Mark Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Longhand.
04:54The original manuscript is now in New York, at the Buffalo and Erie County Library,
04:59where it is available for scholars to study.
05:03In the first version, Mark Twain originally wrote,
05:07You will not know about me.
05:09Then he crossed out in ink, so that he wrote,
05:14You do not know about me.
05:17Then he changes it once more.
05:19And his final version is,
05:21You don't know about me without you've read a book
05:24by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
05:26That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain,
05:30and he told the truth, mainly.
05:33The novel was published in 1885,
05:36but the setting is 40 years earlier.
05:39Huck is the product of a slave-holding society,
05:42and he speaks the language of that society.
05:45The word nigger is used 200 times in this story,
05:49mostly by Huck.
05:51To get his hands on Huck's money,
05:53Huck takes the boy away from his guardians,
05:56the widow Douglas and Miss Watson.
06:00At first, in spite of beatings and threats,
06:03Huck is glad to be free, as any boy would,
06:06of the nagging ladies who try to civilize him.
06:10He's kind of lazy and jolly,
06:13laying off comfortable all day,
06:15smoking and fishing,
06:16no books to study,
06:17and I didn't see how I'd ever gotten to like it so well.
06:20The widows, we had to wash and eat on a plate
06:23and come up.
06:25But then Pap locks him in their remote cabin.
06:32Huck escapes while his Pap is away
06:34by faking his own murder.
06:37Then he slips across the river
06:39in a canoe he's found
06:41to a place called Jackson Island.
06:46Meanwhile, Jim has overheard Miss Watson's plan
06:48to sell him
06:49to a plantation further south,
06:51away from his family,
06:53and to a much harsher life.
06:55To sell him literally
06:57down the river.
06:58The phrase comes from this practice
07:01in the days of slavery.
07:03Huck finds Jim,
07:05promises not to tell on him,
07:07and the two fugitives decide to join forces.
07:14They find an abandoned old raft,
07:17and the adventure begins,
07:19told in the dialect of the Mississippi Valley
07:21before the Civil War.
07:23It's really a lot more than only language.
07:26Twain managed to understand
07:28the psychology of this child.
07:30It's very important to realize
07:32that Huck Finn is a child of an alcoholic.
07:35So he has many of the traits
07:37that we now associate
07:38with the child of an alcoholic.
07:40He has a great desire to compromise,
07:42a great desire to mediate.
07:44He's very afraid of violence.
07:46He's very afraid of anger,
07:48unpredictable situations.
07:49And he has to take
07:51what we now call
07:53the geographic cure,
07:54which is the cure
07:55that many children of alcoholics take.
07:57They have to get out of there.
07:58And so Huck and Tom escape
08:01down the Mississippi.
08:03The river Mark Twain knew so well.
08:05The river that flows past Hannibal, Missouri,
08:08the model for St. Petersburg,
08:11Huck and Tom's hometown.
08:13Both characters are memorialized there.
08:16The two pals stand together
08:18near the river,
08:19facing south,
08:20the direction of Huck's great adventure.
08:23Both Huck Finn and Mark Twain
08:25are well known in Hannibal today.
08:41Twain is the pen name
08:43of Samuel Langhorne Clemens,
08:45and he was born here
08:47in Florida, Missouri,
08:49in the year 1835.
08:52Missouri was a slave state then.
08:55Both Sam's father and his uncle
08:57owned slaves.
09:00In my schoolboy days,
09:02I had no aversion to slavery.
09:04I was not aware
09:05there was anything wrong about it.
09:07No one arraigned it in my hearing.
09:10The local paper said nothing against it.
09:13The local pope had taught us
09:14that God approved it,
09:15that it was a holy thing,
09:17and that the doubter
09:18need only look in the Bible
09:19if he wished to settle his mind.
09:22And the texts were read aloud to us
09:24to make the matter sure.
09:30One of his uncle's slaves
09:32would, in a sense,
09:34stay with the writer all his life.
09:36Uncle Daniel.
09:38I've not seen him
09:39in more than half a century.
09:40And yet, spiritually,
09:42I've had his welcome company
09:44a good part of that time.
09:46And have staged him in books
09:47under his own name
09:48and his gym
09:49and carted him all around
09:51to Hannibal
09:52down the Mississippi
09:53on a raft
09:54and even across the desert
09:56of Sahara
09:56in a balloon.
09:58Among the memories of boyhood,
10:00other things would stay
10:02with him as well.
10:03The vision of his father
10:04whipping a black girl.
10:06Killing of a black man
10:08for a trifling offense.
10:11I vividly remember
10:12seeing a dozen black men
10:14and women
10:14chained to one another once.
10:16Lying in a group
10:17on the pavement,
10:18awaiting shipment
10:19to the southern slave market.
10:22Those were the saddest faces
10:24I have ever seen.
10:26Whatever the particulars,
10:28Twain's early years
10:29would produce a writer
10:30scarred by feelings of guilt
10:32and given to bouts
10:33of severe depression,
10:34images of death,
10:36and manic periods
10:37he would describe
10:38as cyclones of humor.
10:40Twain wove
10:41brightness and darkness
10:42together in Huckleberry Finn,
10:44reliving, in a way,
10:45his own boyhood.
10:48It was kind of solemn,
10:50drifting down the big,
10:51still river,
10:52laying on our backs,
10:53looking up at the stars.
10:55And we didn't ever feel
10:56like talking aloud,
10:58and it weren't often
10:58that we laughed,
11:00only a little kind
11:01of low chuckle.
11:02We had mighty good weather,
11:04as a general thing,
11:05and nothing ever happened
11:07to us at all,
11:08that night,
11:09nor the next,
11:10nor the next.
11:10But things are about
11:12to happen.
11:13The education
11:14of Huckleberry Finn
11:15is about to start.
11:24They are floating
11:26down the river by night
11:28and hiding
11:29in the willows by day,
11:31bound for Cairo,
11:33whence the Negro
11:34will seek freedom
11:35in the heart
11:36of the free states.
11:38Huckleberry Finn
11:40is a novel
11:41that goes right down
11:41the Mississippi River.
11:43The Mississippi
11:45symbolizes America,
11:46it symbolizes the frontier,
11:47but it also symbolizes
11:48the heartland of America.
11:50It's a journey
11:51about a young man
11:52coming into adult knowledge,
11:56and it's an adventure
11:58that's also about
11:59large moral issues.
12:00It's about the question
12:01of freedom and slavery.
12:03Huck, after all,
12:04is helping a slave
12:05to escape,
12:06which is illegal
12:07in America at that time.
12:12We judged
12:13the three nights more
12:14on Fetch S.T.K. Row
12:15at the bottom of Illinois
12:17where the Ohio River
12:18comes in,
12:19and that was
12:19what we was after.
12:21We would sell the raft
12:22and get on a steamboat
12:23and go way up to Ohio
12:24amongst the free states,
12:26and then be out of trouble.
12:29They are comrades,
12:30bound together
12:31by the current
12:32of the river
12:32and a shared goal.
12:34A friendship
12:34begins to grow,
12:36and so does
12:37Huck's guilty conscience.
12:38He is, after all,
12:40helping to steal
12:41Miss Watson's property.
12:44On a pretext,
12:45Huck sets up
12:46to turn Jim in,
12:47but friendship now
12:49has too strong
12:49a hold on him,
12:50and he discovers
12:51he just can't do it.
12:53Huck returns to the raft
12:54feeling guiltier than ever.
12:56Then I thought a minute
12:58and says to myself,
12:59hold on.
13:00Suppose you'd have done right
13:01and give Jim up.
13:03Would you have felt better
13:04than what you do now?
13:06No, says I.
13:07I'd feel bad.
13:09I'd feel just the same
13:10way I do now.
13:11Well then, says I,
13:13what's the issue
13:14learning to do right
13:14when it's troublesome
13:16to do right
13:17and ain't no trouble
13:18to do wrong
13:18and the wages
13:19are just the same?
13:21I was stuck.
13:22I couldn't answer that.
13:24But we are attributing
13:26to Huck
13:27a conscience
13:27and are making Huck
13:29a good boy
13:30all the time
13:31when he says
13:32he's a bad boy.
13:34He thinks he's bad,
13:35we think he's good,
13:36and we think he's good
13:37when he thinks he's bad.
13:39Now that's the dynamics
13:40of what I call
13:41the inversion of humor
13:42in that book.
13:45It's a book of mine
13:47where a sound heart
13:48and a deformed conscience
13:49come into collision,
13:51and conscience
13:53suffers defeat.
13:56The critical point
13:57of Huck's transformation,
13:58and some think
13:59the heart of the book,
14:01is Huck's apology.
14:04Huck in the canoe,
14:06Jim on the raft,
14:08separated as the fog
14:09rises from the river.
14:12They are separated
14:12all night.
14:17This way, Huck.
14:18Over here.
14:20What?
14:21Huck!
14:22Over here!
14:24In the morning,
14:26Huck finds Jim asleep
14:27and decides to play
14:28a trick on him.
14:30As if I've been gone away?
14:33Huck been.
14:35Look me in my eye, boy.
14:38Ain't you been gone away?
14:41What in dad blame nation
14:42do you mean?
14:43I ain't been gone nowheres.
14:45Where would I go?
14:46Well, wasn't it you
14:47that took the canoe
14:48and tied us to that towhead?
14:50What towhead?
14:52I ain't seen no towhead.
14:54When I got all tired
14:55and wore out last night
14:57from work
14:58and calling for you,
15:00well, I went to sleep.
15:02Because my heart was broke
15:03that you were lost,
15:04and I didn't care no more
15:06about this wrath.
15:09And all you were thinking about
15:11was how you could make a fool
15:14out of old Jim with a lie.
15:16Jim teaches Huck about friendship.
15:19Their relationship
15:22becomes a serious thing
15:24when Huck realizes
15:25that Jim is a person
15:26with feelings
15:27and he can't just play
15:28any trick
15:29that amuses himself
15:31on Jim
15:32and not worry about it.
15:34It's a movement
15:35into maturity
15:36that Jim forces upon Huck
15:39by forcing Huck
15:40to acknowledge
15:41his humanity.
15:43It was 15 minutes
15:45before I could
15:46work myself up
15:47and go and humble myself
15:49to a neighbor.
15:50But I'd done it,
15:51and I weren't ever
15:53sorry for it afterwards
15:54neither.
15:55I didn't do him
15:56no more mean tricks,
15:58and I wouldn't have
15:58done that one
15:59if I'd have known
16:00it would make him
16:01feel that way.
16:05If friendship emerges
16:06from the fog,
16:08so does confirmation
16:09of their fears.
16:10They can read that
16:12in the water.
16:13When it was daylight,
16:15here was the clear
16:16Ohio water in shore,
16:18sure enough.
16:19And outside
16:20was the old
16:21regular muddy.
16:23So it was all up
16:24with Cairo.
16:25The heedless Mississippi
16:27has swept them
16:28past the gate
16:28to freedom.
16:30Freedom will be
16:31a lot harder
16:31to come by,
16:33perhaps even impossible.
16:36You can't have freedom
16:37in a way,
16:38a deep concept
16:39of freedom,
16:39unless you have
16:40an idea of slavery
16:41and helplessness.
16:43That's when you have
16:44a larger vision
16:45of freedom,
16:45when you really feel
16:47the forces of determinism
16:48all around you,
16:49and you can really feel
16:50them on a river,
16:51a current that's
16:52burying you south
16:54into slavery.
16:55That's the irony
16:56of that book.
16:57It's a deep one,
16:58too,
16:59that they're going
16:59deeper and deeper
17:00into slavery.
17:02At that point,
17:03Sam Clemens has a different
17:05novel on his hands.
17:06He's had a white person
17:07apologize to a black person,
17:09doesn't know what to do,
17:10so he brings that steamboat
17:11up the Mississippi River,
17:13runs over the raft.
17:14He's going to hit us,
17:15Huck!
17:15Huck!
17:18Huck dives deep
17:19to escape being hit
17:20by the paddle wheel,
17:22and when he surfaces,
17:24Jim and the raft are gone,
17:27and so is the author.
17:29Huck!
17:30Saying his well
17:31of inspiration
17:32had run dry,
17:33Twain put the manuscript
17:34down and didn't pick it up
17:35again for two years.
17:44When Sam Clemens
17:46was 22,
17:47he realized
17:48his boyhood dream.
17:50He became a steamboat pilot
17:52on the mighty Mississippi.
17:55My comrades and I
17:56in that little village
17:57on the western banks
17:59of the Mississippi
18:00had but one
18:01permanent ambition,
18:04to be a river boatman.
18:07I learned to read
18:08the face of the water
18:10as one would cull the news
18:11from the morning paper.
18:14I was piloting
18:15on the river
18:16when we first learned
18:17that South Carolina
18:18had gone out
18:19of the Union.
18:21And by the summer
18:22of 61,
18:23the first wash
18:24of the wave of war
18:25broke upon
18:26the shores
18:27of Missouri.
18:29Sam Clemens joined up
18:30with a group
18:31of Confederate irregulars,
18:33but he didn't last long.
18:37I resigned
18:37after two weeks
18:38service in the field,
18:39explaining that I was
18:41incapacitated
18:42by fatigue
18:43due to constant
18:44retreating.
18:45Well, actually,
18:47Lieutenant Clemens
18:48deserted
18:49and split
18:50for the Nevada
18:50Territory
18:51with his brother,
18:52tried mining,
18:53took a job
18:54as a reporter,
18:55first for a
18:56Virginia City paper,
18:57later for the
18:58San Francisco
18:58morning call.
19:00He had a sharp eye
19:01for fraud
19:02and pretentiousness,
19:03and he developed
19:05an ironic style
19:06that could be
19:06quite acid.
19:08And I was a reporter
19:09in a legislature,
19:10two sessions,
19:11and the same in Congress,
19:12one session,
19:13and thus learned
19:15to know personally
19:16three sample bodies
19:18of the smallest minds,
19:20the selfishest souls,
19:22and the cowardliest hearts
19:24that God makes.
19:26It is while he is
19:28in Nevada
19:28that Sam Clemens
19:29begins to use
19:30the pseudonym,
19:31something borrowed
19:32from the river.
19:34Mark Twain,
19:35he says,
19:36is a sailor's
19:37depth measurement.
19:38It means two fathoms
19:39or 12 feet of water.
19:41It can mean safe
19:42or shallow,
19:44depending.
19:46And his first use
19:47of Mark Twain
19:49coincides with
19:50his discovery
19:51of his vocation
19:52as a humorist
19:53to excite
19:54the laughter
19:55of God's creatures.
19:57And as I remember,
19:58the first time
19:59he uses Mark Twain
20:00in a published letter,
20:02it comes after
20:03a sentence
20:04in which he suggests
20:05that he has been asleep
20:06and he is now
20:07waking up.
20:08Wide awake
20:09in California,
20:11Mark Twain commits
20:12his first act
20:13of literature,
20:14the celebrated
20:15jumping frog
20:15of Calaveras County,
20:17and his first lecture.
20:19It is the start
20:20of an important sideline,
20:22the stand-up comic.
20:24On one of my
20:25southernmost trips,
20:26I overheard Satan
20:27himself complaining
20:28to a newcomer.
20:29He said,
20:30the trouble with you
20:31Chicago people is,
20:33you think you're
20:33the best people
20:34down here,
20:35whereas you are
20:36merely the most
20:37numerous.
20:40Twain sails
20:42to the Sandwich Islands,
20:43now the Hawaiian Islands.
20:45It's a major scoop
20:46on the burning
20:47of the Hornet
20:47and the rescue
20:48of her crew
20:49after 43 days
20:50at sea.
20:52That scoop
20:52leads the way
20:53to an assignment
20:54to cover a tour group
20:55on its trip
20:56through Europe
20:56and the Middle East.
20:58Out of that
20:59comes a tongue-in-cheek
21:00travel book,
21:02Innocence Abroad.
21:06They pronounce it
21:07Pompeii.
21:08I have seen
21:09with my own eyes
21:10how ruts
21:11five and even
21:12ten inches deep
21:13were worn
21:13into the thick
21:14flagstones
21:15by the chariot wheels
21:16of generations
21:17of swindled
21:18taxpayers.
21:20I speak with feeling
21:21on this subject
21:22because I caught
21:23my foot in one
21:24of these ruts
21:24and the sadness
21:26that came over me
21:27when I saw
21:27the first poor skeleton
21:29with ashes
21:30and lava
21:31sticking to it
21:32was tempered
21:33by the reflection
21:34that maybe
21:35that party
21:35was the street
21:36commissioner.
21:39Innocence Abroad
21:40built this house
21:41in Hartford,
21:42Connecticut
21:42into which
21:42Twain moved
21:43with his new bride,
21:44the beautiful
21:45and rich
21:46Olivia Langdon.
21:50Our show
21:51coming to you
21:51live this evening
21:52from Mark Twain's
21:54house here on
21:54Farmington Avenue
21:55in Hartford,
21:57Connecticut.
21:57More than
21:58a hundred years
21:59later,
22:00a spiritual
22:01descendant
22:01came here
22:02to pay his
22:02respects.
22:03Lake Wobegon's
22:05Garrison Keillor
22:06celebrated Sam
22:07Clemens in a
22:07live radio
22:08broadcast.
22:10He and his
22:10family from
22:111874 to
22:141891
22:15and then
22:15until 1903
22:16when they
22:17finally sold
22:18the house
22:19knew
22:20the best
22:21of times
22:21and the
22:22worst of
22:22times
22:23in this
22:24big
22:2419-room
22:25mansion
22:26here in
22:27Hartford.
22:28He wrote
22:28later,
22:29Our house
22:30had a heart
22:30and a soul.
22:31It was of us
22:32and we were
22:33in its confidence
22:33and lived
22:34in its grace
22:35and in the
22:36peace of
22:36its
22:37benediction.
22:39It's a shrine
22:40to a great
22:40American life,
22:41this house.
22:42a brilliantly
22:44funny
22:46and wild
22:48and kind
22:50and terrible
22:51man
22:51lived here.
22:54He had
22:55his triumphs
22:55here
22:56and he had
22:57his disgraces
22:58here
22:59and his
23:01terrible sorrow.
23:03And in the
23:04end,
23:04what is really
23:05permanent and
23:06interesting
23:07about Mark
23:08Twain
23:09is that
23:10he was
23:10funny.
23:12He said,
23:13Clothes
23:13make the
23:14man.
23:15Naked
23:15people have
23:16little or
23:16no influence
23:17in society.
23:24Mark
23:24Twain
23:25said,
23:25he said,
23:27of somebody
23:27he was a
23:28good man
23:28in the
23:29worst sense
23:29of the
23:30term.
23:31Doesn't
23:32that say
23:32something to
23:33you?
23:34Martyrdom
23:35covers a
23:36multitude
23:36of sins.
23:37he said.
23:39Everything
23:39human is
23:40pathetic.
23:41The secret
23:42source of
23:42humor itself
23:43is not
23:44joy but
23:44sorrow.
23:45Twain
23:46lived his
23:46most productive
23:47years in
23:48this house.
23:48But he
23:49had trouble
23:50writing here.
23:51Too much
23:52going on.
23:53In fact,
23:54most of
23:54Huckleberry Finn
23:55was written
23:55at Quarry
23:56Farm,
23:57his sister-in-law's
23:58summer place
23:58near Elmira,
23:59New York,
24:00where a
24:01private study
24:01had been
24:02built for
24:02him.
24:03After two
24:04years of
24:05traveling,
24:06performing,
24:07working on
24:07other books,
24:09Twain's
24:10well fills
24:10up again.
24:12He returns
24:13to Huckleberry
24:13Finn.
24:15When he
24:15does,
24:16the novel
24:17takes on
24:17a sharper
24:18edge and
24:18a darker
24:19tone.
24:21Push the
24:22door open.
24:25Just
24:26squeeze in.
24:32Buck Grangerford.
24:33Why, he
24:33ain't a
24:34Shepardson.
24:34Ain't no
24:35trace of
24:35Shepardson
24:36about him.
24:37The river
24:38has carried
24:38Huck into
24:39the heart
24:39of the
24:40American
24:40frontier
24:41and the
24:42savage
24:43satire
24:43of the
24:43national
24:44character.
24:45He finds
24:46refuge with
24:47a family
24:47named
24:48Grangerford,
24:49who are
24:49locked in
24:50a blood
24:50feud with
24:50the
24:51Shepardsons.
24:52Later,
24:53Huck watches
24:53in horror
24:54as his
24:55new
24:56friend,
24:56Buck
24:56Grangerford,
24:57is killed.
25:04Some see
25:05this as a
25:06parable on
25:06the youth
25:07who slaughtered
25:07one another
25:08in the Civil
25:08War.
25:09Some see
25:10it as a
25:11satirical
25:11treatment of
25:12the myths
25:12of romantic
25:13fiction,
25:14southern
25:15chivalry,
25:16and witless
25:17honor,
25:18which Twain
25:19despised.
25:20Up to that
25:21point, it's
25:22been kind
25:23of a
25:24frolic,
25:24you know,
25:24just a
25:26joyful trip
25:27down the
25:27river with
25:28some minor
25:29adventures.
25:31And once
25:32it resumes,
25:33it becomes
25:33a journey
25:35into the
25:37dark sides
25:38of American
25:39civilization,
25:39which sometimes
25:40have a very
25:41silly face,
25:43but as we
25:43go beneath
25:45the surface
25:45of them,
25:46we find a
25:46kind of
25:46moral
25:47rottenness
25:47along that
25:49journey.
25:51So Twain
25:52was able to
25:53capture
25:53an awful
25:54lot of
25:54American
25:54culture
25:55by using
25:56the voice
25:56of this
25:57semi-literate
25:59pre-teen
26:00boy.
26:04After the
26:05collision with
26:06the steamboat,
26:07Jim has
26:08gone into
26:08hiding among
26:09some local
26:09slaves,
26:11who tell
26:11him Huck's
26:12whereabouts
26:12and recover
26:13the battered
26:14raft.
26:15Jim and
26:16Huck are
26:16reunited,
26:18just in time
26:19to escape the
26:20feuding and
26:20the killing.
26:22They run
26:23for the
26:23raft,
26:25but absurdity
26:26and lunacy
26:27of another
26:28sort
26:29are right
26:30behind.
26:39Help us,
26:39boy!
26:40There were
26:40dogs behind
26:41us.
26:42We've done
26:42nothing.
26:43Yeah,
26:43now they're
26:43chasing us
26:44for it.
26:45Come on,
26:45kid,
26:46they're in
26:46no chance,
26:46sleep!
26:48The newcomers
26:49are two
26:49thieving
26:50conmen
26:50who make
26:51outlandish
26:51claims to
26:52be an
26:52exiled
26:53duke
26:53and the
26:54French
26:54dauphin.
26:56Son of
26:57Louis XVI
26:58and Mary
26:59Antoinette.
27:02Yes,
27:03gentlemen,
27:04you see
27:05me now
27:05in canvas
27:06pants
27:07and misery,
27:10the wandering,
27:12exiles,
27:13trodden upon,
27:15suffering,
27:17rightful
27:18king of
27:19France.
27:22Did you
27:23hear that,
27:24Jim?
27:24This here's
27:25a king.
27:27Can you
27:28imagine
27:29that?
27:31The king
27:32and the duke
27:32become Huck's
27:33guides to the
27:34underside of
27:34life,
27:35offering him
27:36and us
27:36the conman's
27:38view of people
27:38and society.
27:40It's not a
27:41pretty sight,
27:42but it can
27:43be very funny.
27:45The satire
27:46moves down
27:47the river,
27:48pushed by
27:48its current,
27:50and by
27:50angry villagers
27:51and law
27:52officers,
27:53as the
27:53unlikely
27:54forsome
27:54flee from
27:55one scam
27:56after another.
28:01Religion
28:02takes its
28:03lumps as
28:03the king
28:04preys on
28:04the gullibility
28:05of the
28:05faithful.
28:07people.
28:13Let's take
28:13up a
28:14collection.
28:15He
28:15hustles an
28:15evangelical
28:16camp meeting,
28:17posing as a
28:18pirate who's
28:19seen the
28:19light and
28:19wants to go
28:20back and
28:20convert his
28:21fellows.
28:29Flurience is
28:29another
28:30dependable ally
28:31when they
28:31advertise a
28:32show barring
28:33women and
28:34children.
28:36If that line
28:37don't fetch
28:38him in,
28:39I don't know
28:39Arkansas.
28:40And then they
28:40fleeced the
28:41men.
28:44I'm sure it
28:46will meet
28:46you.
28:47Approval.
28:47Through and
28:48through.
28:48I see the
28:49king and the
28:49duke as
28:50just marvelous
28:50things.
28:51They are
28:52rapscallions
28:53and frauds.
28:55But I think
28:56when the
28:57king flings
28:58himself across
28:58stage without
28:59a stitch on,
29:00what Mark
29:01Twain is
29:01showing is
29:02that man
29:03is a
29:04naked fraud.
29:05But you
29:06can't help
29:07laughing.
29:09And it's
29:10that laughter
29:11that's the
29:12deeper humanity
29:13of the book.
29:14These comic
29:15rascals help
29:16Twain perform
29:17what is for
29:17him the
29:18very serious
29:19business of
29:19the humorist.
29:20The deriding
29:21of shams,
29:22the exposure
29:23of pretentious
29:24falsities,
29:25the laughing
29:26of stupid
29:26superstitions
29:27out of
29:27existence.
29:29And whoso
29:30is by
29:30instinct engaged
29:31in this sort
29:32of warfare
29:33is the natural
29:34enemy of
29:35royalties,
29:36nobilities,
29:36privileges,
29:37and all
29:38kindred's
29:38swindles,
29:39and the natural
29:41friend of
29:41human rights
29:42and human
29:43liberty.
29:47The king
29:47and the duke
29:48reveal a
29:49harsh reality
29:49beneath the
29:50comic surface
29:52as they
29:53show the
29:54evil in
29:54their
29:54natures.
29:57Me and
29:57my partner
29:58found this
29:58darky
29:59hiding out
30:00in some
30:00cottonwoods
30:01about 20
30:01miles north
30:02of here.
30:03We ain't
30:03got the
30:04time to
30:04travel south
30:05of Orleans,
30:06so we're
30:07looking to
30:08sell out
30:08our share
30:09of the
30:09whole reward
30:10for a
30:10portion of
30:11it.
30:11Ready cash
30:12right now.
30:14Most readers
30:15today probably
30:16wash their
30:17hands of the
30:17king and
30:18the duke
30:18after they
30:19have sold
30:19Jim, an
30:21act which
30:21transforms the
30:22pair from
30:23fascinating
30:23characters to
30:24icons of
30:26evil.
30:27But they
30:27are more
30:28than mere
30:28symbols of
30:29slavery.
30:31These are
30:32the problems
30:32of these
30:33great issues.
30:34That's the
30:34greatest issue
30:35in our whole
30:36history, is
30:37the issue of
30:38slavery, because
30:39it took a
30:39huge war to
30:41stop it.
30:42But the
30:43more that
30:43you reduce
30:44everything to
30:45that as an
30:46index, then
30:47you begin to
30:48reduce people's
30:49humanity, too,
30:49whether you
30:50like it or
30:50not.
30:51The royal
30:52pair finally
30:53do get their
30:53comeuppance,
30:54caught by one
30:55group of their
30:56victims.
30:57Their fate
30:58brings out
30:59Huck's
30:59compassion.
31:01I see they
31:02had the
31:02king and the
31:03duke, a
31:03straddle of
31:04a rail.
31:05That is, I
31:06know what it
31:06was, the
31:07king and the
31:07duke, though
31:08there was all
31:09over tar and
31:09feathers, and
31:11didn't look like
31:11nothing in the
31:12world that was
31:13human.
31:14Well, it made me
31:15sick to see it, and
31:17I was sorry for
31:17them poor pitiful
31:18rascals.
31:19It seemed like I
31:20couldn't ever feel
31:21any hardness against
31:22them anymore in the
31:23world.
31:24It was a dreadful
31:26thing to see.
31:27Human beings can
31:28be awful cruel to
31:28one another.
31:32Meanwhile, however,
31:33Huck has his own
31:34problems.
31:36He has learned
31:37mind where Jim is
31:37being kept, and
31:40his deformed
31:40conscience is at
31:42him again, warning
31:43him of hellfire if
31:46he doesn't write
31:47Miss Watson.
31:50Miss Watson, your
31:53runaway nigger
31:54Jim is down here
31:56two miles below
31:57Pikesville, and
32:00Mr. Phelps has
32:01got him, and he
32:03will give him up
32:04for the reward
32:06if you sinned.
32:08Huck Finn.
32:12I was a
32:13trembling, because
32:15I got to decide
32:16forever betwixt two
32:18things, and I
32:19knowed it.
32:20I studied a minute,
32:22sort of hold my
32:23breath.
32:24All right, then.
32:26I'll go to hell.
32:31It was awful
32:33thoughts, awful
32:34words, but they
32:35were said, I
32:37shoved the
32:37whole thing out
32:38of my head, and
32:39said I would take
32:40up wickedness
32:41again, which
32:42was in my
32:42line, being
32:43brung up to
32:44it, and for a
32:46starter, I
32:47would go to
32:47work and steal
32:48Jim out of
32:49slavery again.
32:50Deformed
32:51conscience has
32:51suffered its
32:52ultimate defeat.
32:53It is here that
32:54the story leaves
32:55the grip of the
32:56river, and
32:57continues on
32:58shore.
33:00Sally Phelps, it
33:01turns out, is
33:02expecting Tom
33:03Sawyer, who
33:04happens to be a
33:05nephew she has
33:06not seen for
33:07some time.
33:08Huck takes the
33:09cue, and
33:10impersonates Tom,
33:12inventing a
33:12reason for being
33:13late, a
33:13steamboat
33:14explosion.
33:15And the
33:16irony is
33:17scalpel
33:18sharp.
33:19It was the, uh,
33:20a cylinder head
33:21would blow.
33:21Oh, good
33:22gracious, anybody
33:23hurt?
33:23No, killed a
33:25nigger.
33:25Well, that's
33:26lucky.
33:26You know, sometimes
33:27people get hurt.
33:31I urge all
33:32students confronted
33:33with this material
33:34in the classroom to
33:35inform their parents
33:36and encourage them
33:37to bring legal
33:38action against the
33:39teacher and the
33:40school system for
33:42racial harassment and
33:44child abuse, because
33:45that is exactly what
33:47it amounts to.
33:48John, should the
33:50book be burned?
33:51I've got freedom
33:52of speech.
33:52In one of its
33:53periodic conferences
33:54about the literary
33:55works of Samuel
33:56Langhorne Clemens, the
33:58Mark Twain Memorial
33:59Museum in Hartford
34:00sponsored a
34:01conference on book
34:02banning and
34:03censorship in
34:03America.
34:04There are two
34:05issues in this
34:06debate which
34:07sometimes merge.
34:09Is the book
34:10racist trash, and
34:12should the book
34:13be required reading
34:14in secondary
34:15schools?
34:16First of all,
34:17the requiring the
34:18book, that violates
34:19a lot of the
34:20spirit of that
34:20book.
34:21Huck is against
34:21all the requirements.
34:24I want Huckleberry
34:25Finn to be taught,
34:26but I don't want it
34:27to be required
34:28either.
34:29This kind of
34:30debate has been
34:31going on for
34:32different reasons
34:33ever since Huckleberry
34:34Finn was published,
34:35as Nat Hentoff
34:36recalled.
34:40I'm sure many of
34:41you know this.
34:42A year after the
34:43book was published,
34:45according to the
34:46Boston transcript,
34:47and of course
34:47anything in the
34:48transcript had to
34:49be true, the
34:51Concord, Massachusetts
34:52Public Library
34:53Committee has
34:54decided to exclude
34:56Mark Twain's
34:56latest book from
34:57the library.
34:58One member of the
34:59committee says that
35:00while he does not
35:01wish to call it
35:02immoral, he thinks
35:04it contains but
35:05little humor and
35:06that of a very
35:07coarse type.
35:08He regards it as
35:10the various trash.
35:12That will sell
35:1325,000 copies for
35:15us, sure.
35:17John Wallace has
35:18published a corrected
35:19version of Huckleberry
35:21Finn, with some
35:22objectionable things
35:23taken out.
35:24This is how the
35:25Aunt Sally episode
35:26would have played
35:27to his script.
35:28It was the, uh,
35:30a cylinder head
35:30would blow.
35:31Oh, good gracious,
35:32anybody hurt?
35:33No.
35:34Well, that's lucky.
35:35You know, sometimes
35:35people get hurt.
35:37Movies do that
35:38sometimes, too.
35:40In fact, if a
35:41committee of all
35:42Huck's critics over
35:43the years should
35:43make a film deleting
35:44those parts, each
35:45has found objectionable.
35:47It might look like
35:48the one produced for
35:49CBS television back
35:51in the McCarthy era.
35:53Jim was deleted
35:54altogether.
35:55There were no black
35:56actors and slavery
35:57was never mentioned.
35:58Nor were there any
35:59digs at religion,
36:00or chivalry,
36:02or politics,
36:02or war.
36:03It did not treat
36:05of any moral issues
36:06sardonically or
36:07otherwise.
36:08Nor did it make
36:09any sense.
36:10But it didn't make
36:11anyone mad, either.
36:13Except maybe the
36:14admirers of Mark Twain.
36:15And it did have
36:16a happy ending.
36:18The ending of Twain's
36:19book is more,
36:21well,
36:23problematical.
36:25Tom Sawyer,
36:26the reader of
36:27romance novels,
36:28re-enters the story,
36:29and he makes a
36:30great romantic game
36:31out of helping
36:32to free Jim.
36:33The attempt fails.
36:35Tom gets a bullet
36:36in the leg for his
36:37troubles.
36:38Jim is nearly lynched.
36:40It is then that
36:41Tom reveals his
36:42secret.
36:43Miss Watson,
36:44repenting on her
36:45deathbed,
36:46had set Jim free
36:47in her will.
36:48Jim has been
36:49legally free for
36:50weeks.
36:52The first time I
36:53catched Tom
36:54private,
36:54I asked him
36:55what it was he
36:56planned to do
36:57if he managed to
36:58set a nigga free
36:59that was already
37:00free before.
37:01And he said
37:02what he had planned
37:03in his head from
37:04the start.
37:04if we got Jim
37:06out all safe
37:07was forced to
37:08run him down
37:08the river
37:09on the raft
37:10and have
37:10adventures plumbed
37:11to the mouth
37:12of the river
37:12and then tell him
37:13about his
37:14being free
37:14and take him
37:16back up home
37:16on a steamboat
37:17in style.
37:18and then he
37:19would be a hero
37:20and so would
37:21we.
37:22But I reckoned
37:24it was about as
37:24well the way
37:25it was.
37:26Something strange
37:27has happened.
37:29Jim's quest for
37:30freedom has become
37:31something of a joke,
37:32a plaything of
37:33adolescent boys.
37:35The reader now
37:36sees Tom Sawyer
37:37in a very different
37:38light.
37:39The endearingly
37:40clever young
37:41scamp has been
37:41toying with
37:42another man's
37:43life.
37:43He gets
37:44disapproved
37:45forevermore.
37:46So Tom really
37:48gets beaten out
37:48in that book
37:49and nobody
37:50ever likes Tom
37:51after that.
37:53But Huck too
37:54seems to
37:55backslide a bit
37:56less concerned
37:57with Jim
37:58more interested
37:59in continuing
38:00his own adventure.
38:02The idea
38:03of freeing
38:04a free man
38:04had a special
38:05resonance at the
38:06time Twain was
38:06writing the novel
38:07the early 1880s.
38:09The country
38:10had fought a brutal
38:11civil war to rid
38:12itself of slavery
38:13but it was now
38:14weary of the issue.
38:15and it turned
38:16its attention
38:17to opening
38:18the West
38:18and making
38:19money.
38:21So I think
38:21the conclusion
38:22of this novel
38:23is actually
38:23an honest
38:25and truthful
38:26one and it
38:27represents painful
38:28realities that
38:29a lot of
38:29Americans still
38:29are not willing
38:30to address
38:31honestly.
38:33Racial subordination
38:34is still
38:36a reality
38:37of American
38:38life.
38:39And the 1880s
38:42was a time
38:43when we were
38:45moving backwards
38:46the hopes
38:47for empowering
38:49black people
38:50for integrating
38:51black people
38:51into American
38:53life as
38:53full-fledged
38:54citizens
38:54were overthrown
38:57with the collapse
38:58of Reconstruction.
39:01Such is the
39:01human race.
39:03Often it does
39:04seem such a pity
39:05that Noah and
39:06his party did
39:07not miss the
39:07boat.
39:14Samuel Clemens
39:15has come a long
39:16way from
39:17Hannibal.
39:17A temporary
39:19Confederate soldier
39:20becomes a staunch
39:20Republican
39:21for a while
39:22as well as
39:23the publisher
39:24of General
39:24Ulysses S.
39:25Grant's memoirs
39:26and the former
39:28president's friend
39:28and benefactor.
39:30He's also a
39:31businessman.
39:32He's very much
39:33of a social
39:34creature.
39:35He's an inventor.
39:36He is a plunger
39:37in all sorts
39:38of weird
39:39enterprises.
39:41And one of
39:41those enterprises
39:43eventually
39:44bankrupts him.
39:45That is his
39:45involvement with
39:47a mechanical
39:48typesetter.
39:49As a businessman,
39:50Mark Twain
39:51turned out to be
39:52something of a
39:53disaster.
39:56Bankruptcy
39:56forced him to
39:57close his house
39:58in Hartford
39:58to move his
40:00family to Europe
40:00and to set out
40:02on a global
40:02lecture tour
40:03to recoup his
40:04losses.
40:05Golf is a good
40:06walk.
40:08Spoiled.
40:09It was the
40:10stand-up comic
40:11to the rescue.
40:13Twain, back
40:13on the lecture
40:14circuit taking
40:15his act to
40:15the capitals
40:16of Asia and
40:17Europe, renewed
40:18his reputation
40:19as an enormously
40:20successful performer.
40:22One measure
40:22of his success
40:23is the fact
40:24that his act
40:25still draws
40:26today.
40:27You have a
40:28number of
40:28highly skilled
40:29actors
40:30impersonating
40:31a man who
40:31is basically
40:33impersonating
40:33himself on
40:34the stage
40:35because,
40:36after all,
40:37Mark Twain
40:37is a created
40:38identity or
40:39created persona.
40:41One of those
40:42actors is
40:42McAvoy Lane,
40:43who is so much
40:45into the part
40:45that he seems
40:46to have difficulty
40:47getting out of
40:47character.
40:48Getting out
40:48of the Twain
40:49character is
40:50easy to just
40:50wash 108 years
40:52out of your
40:52hair.
40:54But then
40:55again, I don't
40:55always want
40:56to get out
40:57of the Twain
40:57character.
40:58He's much
40:59more interesting
40:59than I.
41:01I think anyone
41:02who studies
41:02history with
41:03hands-on history
41:04develops a
41:05spiritual respect
41:06for whatever
41:07history it is
41:07they're studying.
41:08And if you
41:09study it long
41:10and hard enough,
41:11that history
41:12gets inside of
41:13you and it
41:13becomes a part
41:14of you.
41:15And I feel,
41:16I don't believe
41:16in the transmigration
41:17of souls,
41:19but I'm starting
41:20to buy a little
41:21stock in it.
41:25Since he's
41:26been doing
41:26this act,
41:27Lane has
41:28also learned
41:28that getting
41:29into another
41:29man's character
41:31can be risky.
41:33But once
41:33while flying
41:34into Las Vegas,
41:35I went into
41:36the washroom
41:37to spray
41:38and set off
41:40the smoke alarm.
41:41Well, the
41:41stewardess had
41:42a special
41:42little key.
41:43She opened
41:43the door
41:44and saw me
41:44in this.
41:45She screamed,
41:45I screamed,
41:46the next lady
41:46over screamed,
41:47and I had
41:48some explaining
41:49to do.
41:50Humor from
41:51terror,
41:52humor out
41:53of sorrow,
41:54mixtures of
41:55light and
41:55darkness.
41:56Those were
41:57elements of
41:58Twain's life
41:59as well as
41:59of his fiction.
42:00Endured a
42:01fair amount
42:01of domestic
42:03tragedy with
42:04the death
42:06of his favorite
42:07daughter and
42:07the progressive
42:09illness of
42:10his wife,
42:10but at the
42:11end of his
42:12life manages
42:13to restore
42:14himself not
42:15only to fame,
42:17which for a
42:18while I think
42:19he was probably
42:19the most famous
42:20man on the
42:21face of the
42:22earth, but
42:23also to restore
42:24himself to
42:24fortune.
42:26Still there was
42:26a growing
42:27depression, a
42:28darkening.
42:29There always
42:30was a hint of
42:31cynicism at the
42:32far end of
42:32Twain's comic
42:33genius, a
42:34misanthropy
42:35beneath his
42:36moralism, and
42:37those dark
42:37extremes seemed
42:38to grow stronger
42:39in his later
42:39years.
42:41Whoever has
42:42lived long
42:43enough to find
42:44out what life
42:45is knows how
42:46deep a debt of
42:47gratitude we
42:48owe to
42:48Adam, the
42:49first great
42:50benefactor of
42:51our race, he
42:53brought death
42:53into the
42:54world.
42:55Mark Twain was
42:56a man who
42:56knew how to
42:57hold a grudge
42:58to the bitter
42:59end, as he
43:00did with his
43:01competitor and
43:02former friend
43:02Bret Hart.
43:04Bret Hart was
43:05one of the
43:05pleasantest men
43:06I've ever known.
43:07He was also
43:08one of the
43:09unpleasantest men
43:10I've ever known.
43:12He hadn't a
43:13sincere fiber in
43:14him.
43:15I think he was
43:16incapable of
43:16emotion, for I
43:18think he had
43:18nothing to feel
43:19with.
43:20I think his
43:21heart was merely
43:21a pump that
43:23had no other
43:23function.
43:25When his debt
43:26to me reached
43:26$3,000, he
43:28offered me a
43:29personal note,
43:31but I was not
43:32keeping a museum
43:33and did not
43:33take it.
43:35The two of
43:36them were for a
43:36while among the
43:37most celebrated
43:39literary figures in
43:40America, and for a
43:42brief period, Mark
43:43Twain thought that
43:43he was going to
43:45be overshadowed
43:45by Bret Hart, he
43:48ended up despising
43:49Bret Hart and
43:51losing no chance
43:52to slander him,
43:56really.
43:56It's a very bitter
43:58story.
43:59In 1908, Twain
44:01suffered a heart
44:01attack.
44:02He saw it as a
44:03reason to cut down
44:04on cigars, from
44:0540 a day to
44:06four.
44:08Some think his
44:09last years were
44:09filled with a little
44:10bit of depression and
44:11decline.
44:11But he had one
44:13last project, his
44:14autobiography, which
44:16seemed to lighten
44:17the gloom.
44:18He always falls
44:19back on this
44:20miraculous, spell
44:22binding autobiography.
44:23I don't happen to
44:24think that Mark
44:25Twain died an
44:26embittered man.
44:27I think the so-called
44:30pessimism and cynicism
44:32of his later years was
44:33in part a public
44:37performance.
44:38Yes, there was a
44:40great deal of
44:42depression and
44:43unhappiness in
44:44Mark Twain, but
44:45there was also a
44:45great deal of saving
44:47humor and savage
44:48irony.
44:49But he did die in
44:52Reading, Connecticut,
44:53on April 21, 1910.
44:55His favorite critic and
44:57closest friend, William
44:58Dean Howells, would
44:59eulogize Samuel Langhorne
45:01Clemens, alias Mark
45:02Twain, as America's
45:04greatest man of letters.
45:07Emerson, Longfellow,
45:08Holmes, I knew them
45:10all, said Howells, and
45:11all the rest of our
45:12sages, poets, seers,
45:14critics, humorists.
45:16They were like one
45:17another and like other
45:18literary men, but
45:19Clemens was so
45:21incomparable, the
45:23Lincoln of our
45:24literature.
45:27Huckleberry Finn, of
45:28course, lives on.
45:29Though Twain would be
45:30highly skeptical, some
45:32think it may be a
45:33mortal.
45:34No question, it is a
45:36classic.
45:38Since its 1885
45:40publication, Huckleberry
45:42Finn has seen 157
45:44American editions, 53
45:46Russian editions, 63
45:47editions in the United
45:49Kingdom, 36 in Swedish,
45:51and 32 in Spanish.
45:53Altogether, the book has
45:54been issued in more
45:55than 850 different
45:56editions in 65
45:58languages.
45:59Ernest Hemingway wrote
46:01that all modern
46:02American literature
46:03comes from one book
46:04by Mark Twain called
46:06Huckleberry Finn.
46:08American writing comes
46:09from that.
46:10There was nothing
46:11before.
46:12There has been nothing
46:13as good since.
46:16The one thing about
46:17reading this book is
46:18there is a white kid,
46:19Huck Finn, and a black
46:20guy named Jim, who are
46:22better and more
46:23inventive and more
46:24resourceful and win out
46:26through more adventures
46:27than all the dumb,
46:29stupid, almost
46:33psychopathic whites
46:33in the book.
46:34And it's a wonderful
46:36novel of what you
46:37could call male bonding.
46:38There's this reciprocal
46:40relationship, a mutual
46:41relationship between the
46:43man of color and the
46:44white person helping
46:45each other.
46:46This is a basic national
46:48need to tell this story,
46:50to tell this myth again
46:51and again.
46:52Whether it's Miami Vice
46:53or Crockett and Tubbs,
46:55any number of times,
46:56we have a mythic need
46:58to resolve the problems
47:00that come from slavery.
47:03Huckleberry Finn is a
47:04profoundly unsettling book
47:06and I think that's the
47:07secret of its endurance
47:09and, let's say,
47:10immortality.
47:12I think anyone who
47:13responds to Huckleberry
47:15Finn's own conflicts
47:17of conscience at heart
47:18will never again be able
47:21to accept as moral
47:23absolutes the conventional
47:25wisdom of a particular
47:27time and place.
47:28It forces us to question
47:30things.
47:30It is the work of an
47:32authentic genius.
47:34Rivers just run downhill.
47:36That's the whole meaning
47:37of having a current.
47:40And Mark Twain knew
47:41that current.
47:42You have to negotiate
47:43all kinds of crossings
47:45in a shifting channel.
47:47And I think that if you
47:49thought of Huckleberry Finn,
47:50that's what that book is
47:51doing.
47:51It's negotiating the most
47:52serious emotional exchanges.
47:55All the way down.
47:56And it will survive.
47:59It is as good as the
48:00Mississippi, that book.
48:02And the current of Mark Twain's
48:03language is equal to the
48:05current of the Mississippi.
48:06It won't ever fail us.
48:09As for young Huck himself,
48:12he's often been mistaken for
48:14Tom, which is what happens
48:16when you impersonate somebody.
48:19Many think of him simply as a
48:21vision of careless boyhood
48:22summers in bare feet.
48:25That may be why a poll of
48:26governors had most of them
48:28claiming Huckleberry Finn as the
48:30most important book of their
48:31youthful reading.
48:33That's one of Huck's cons.
48:35He did learn a thing or two from
48:37the king and the duke, after
48:38all.
48:39And he headed for Indian
48:41territory before anybody could
48:43pin him down.
48:46And so there ain't nothing more
48:48to write about.
48:48And I'm rotten glad of it.
48:51Because if I'd have known what a
48:52trouble it was to make a book,
48:54I wouldn't have tackled it.
48:56And it ain't have gone to no more.
48:58But I reckon I gotta light out for
49:00the territory ahead of the rest.
49:02Because Aunt Sally, she's gonna
49:04adopt me and civilize me, and I
49:06can't stand it.
49:08I've been there before.
49:10The end.
49:11Yours truly, Huck Finn.
49:14Huck Finn.
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