Mark Twain

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Dennis wrote:
>Twain had a remarkable ear for language, and integrated all sorts of
>unofficial dialects into his work way, way before this was acceptable to
>the literary canon; "Huck Finn" has an amazing earthiness
>(we get to see the hideousness of slavery, Southern brawls/feuds, lynch
>mobs, child abuse, drug addiction, the culture-industry of the day,
>as well as stinging displays of the milder evils of the Gilded Age, e.g.
>prejudice, cupidity, greed, moralistic violence, etc.)

Mark Twain may have written many funny pieces, and he had an ear for
language, but is _Huck Finn_ really funny? There are funny parts in it, but
the tone of the novel is generally dark and rather depressing (and probably
some parts are downright scary to very young readers).

Yoshie