The Resource Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices, Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices, Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Resource Information
The item Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices, Shelley Fisher Fishkin represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Waubonsee Community College.This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
Resource Information
The item Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices, Shelley Fisher Fishkin represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Waubonsee Community College.
This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
- Summary
- Published in 1884, Huckberry Finn has become one of the most widely taught novels in American curricula. But where did it come from, and what made it so distinctive? Shelly Fisher Fishkin suggests that in Huckleberry Finn, more than in any other work, Mark Twain let African-American voices, language, and rhetorical traditions play a major role in the creation of his art. In Was Huck Black?, Fishkin combines close readings of published and unpublished writing by Twain with intensive biographical and historical research and insights gleaned from linguistics, literary theory, and folklore to shed new light on the role African-American voices played in the genesis of Huckleberry Finn. Given that book's importance in American culture, her analysis illuminates, as well, how African-American voices have shaped our sense of what is distinctively "American" about American literature. Fishkin shows that Mark Twain was surrounded, throughout his life, by richly talented African-American speakers whose rhetorical gifts Twain admired candidly and profusely. A black child named Jimmy whom Twain called "the most art-less, sociable, and exhaustless talker I ever came across" helped Twain understand the potential of a vernacular narrator in the years before he began writing Huckberry Finn, and served as a model for the voice with which Twain would transform American literature. A slave named Jerry whom Twain referred to as an "impudent and satirical and delightful young black man" taught Twain about "signifying"--Satire in an African-American vein - when Twain was a teenager (later Twain would recall that he thought him "the greatest man in the United States" at the time). Other African-American voices left their mark on Twain's imagination as well - but their role in the creation of his art has never been recognized. Was Huck Black? adds a new dimension to current debates over multiculturalism and the canon. American literary historians have told a largely segregated story: white writers come from white literary ancestors, black writers from black ones. The truth is more complicated and more interesting. While African-American culture shaped Huckleberry Finn, that novel, in turn, helped shape African-American writing in the twentieth century. As Ralph Ellison commented in an interview with Fishkin, Twain "made it possible for many of us to find our own voices." Was Huck Black? dramatizes the crucial role of black voices in Twain's art, and takes the first steps beyond traditional cultural boundaries to unveil an American literary heritage that is infinitely richer and more complex than we had thought
- Language
- eng
- Extent
- xiv, 270 p.
- Contents
-
- Jimmy
- Jerry
- Jim
- Breakdancing in the drawing room
- Isbn
- 9780195089141
- Label
- Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices
- Title
- Was Huck Black?
- Title remainder
- Mark Twain and African-American voices
- Statement of responsibility
- Shelley Fisher Fishkin
- Subject
-
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain, Mark)
- African Americans
- African Americans -- Biography
- African Americans in literature
- African Americans in literature
- Authors, American
- Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography
- Biography
- Engels
- Finn, Huckleberry (Fictitious character)
- Finn, Huckleberry, (Fictitious character)
- Friendship
- Letterkunde
- Negers
- Noirs -- Dans la littérature
- Noirs américains -- Biographies
- Noirs américains -- Dans la littérature
- Noirs américains dans la littérature
- Schwarze
- 1800 - 1899
- Schwarze (Motiv)
- Schwarze (Motiv)
- The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain)
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark (1835-1910)
- Twain, Mark, (1835-1910) -- Amis et relations
- Twain, Mark, (1835-1910) -- Personnages
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Amis et relations
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Characters | African Americans
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Friends and associates
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Personnages | Noirs américains
- Twain, Mark, 30.11.1835-21.04.1910
- Écrivains américains -- 19e siècle -- Biographies
- Schwarze
- Language
- eng
- Summary
- Published in 1884, Huckberry Finn has become one of the most widely taught novels in American curricula. But where did it come from, and what made it so distinctive? Shelly Fisher Fishkin suggests that in Huckleberry Finn, more than in any other work, Mark Twain let African-American voices, language, and rhetorical traditions play a major role in the creation of his art. In Was Huck Black?, Fishkin combines close readings of published and unpublished writing by Twain with intensive biographical and historical research and insights gleaned from linguistics, literary theory, and folklore to shed new light on the role African-American voices played in the genesis of Huckleberry Finn. Given that book's importance in American culture, her analysis illuminates, as well, how African-American voices have shaped our sense of what is distinctively "American" about American literature. Fishkin shows that Mark Twain was surrounded, throughout his life, by richly talented African-American speakers whose rhetorical gifts Twain admired candidly and profusely. A black child named Jimmy whom Twain called "the most art-less, sociable, and exhaustless talker I ever came across" helped Twain understand the potential of a vernacular narrator in the years before he began writing Huckberry Finn, and served as a model for the voice with which Twain would transform American literature. A slave named Jerry whom Twain referred to as an "impudent and satirical and delightful young black man" taught Twain about "signifying"--Satire in an African-American vein - when Twain was a teenager (later Twain would recall that he thought him "the greatest man in the United States" at the time). Other African-American voices left their mark on Twain's imagination as well - but their role in the creation of his art has never been recognized. Was Huck Black? adds a new dimension to current debates over multiculturalism and the canon. American literary historians have told a largely segregated story: white writers come from white literary ancestors, black writers from black ones. The truth is more complicated and more interesting. While African-American culture shaped Huckleberry Finn, that novel, in turn, helped shape African-American writing in the twentieth century. As Ralph Ellison commented in an interview with Fishkin, Twain "made it possible for many of us to find our own voices." Was Huck Black? dramatizes the crucial role of black voices in Twain's art, and takes the first steps beyond traditional cultural boundaries to unveil an American literary heritage that is infinitely richer and more complex than we had thought
- Biography type
- contains biographical information
- Cataloging source
- DLC
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
- Fishkin, Shelley Fisher
- Dewey number
- 813/.4
- Illustrations
- illustrations
- Index
- index present
- LC call number
- PS1305
- LC item number
- .F57 1993
- Literary form
- non fiction
- Nature of contents
- bibliography
- http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
-
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Finn, Huckleberry
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark (1835-1910)
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark
- Authors, American
- African Americans in literature
- African Americans
- Authors, American
- African Americans
- Écrivains américains
- Noirs américains dans la littérature
- Noirs américains
- African Americans
- African Americans in literature
- Authors, American
- Finn, Huckleberry (Fictitious character)
- Friendship
- Negers
- Letterkunde
- Engels
- The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain)
- Noirs américains
- Noirs
- Schwarze
- Schwarze (Motiv)
- Schwarze (Motiv)
- Schwarze
- Label
- Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices, Shelley Fisher Fishkin
- Link
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-247) and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
-
- Jimmy
- Jerry
- Jim
- Breakdancing in the drawing room
- Control code
- ocm26724043
- Dimensions
- 24 cm.
- Extent
- xiv, 270 p.
- Isbn
- 9780195089141
- Lccn
- 92031228
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- ill.
- System control number
-
- (Sirsi) o26724043
- (OCoLC)26724043
- Label
- Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices, Shelley Fisher Fishkin
- Link
- Bibliography note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-247) and index
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Contents
-
- Jimmy
- Jerry
- Jim
- Breakdancing in the drawing room
- Control code
- ocm26724043
- Dimensions
- 24 cm.
- Extent
- xiv, 270 p.
- Isbn
- 9780195089141
- Lccn
- 92031228
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- Other physical details
- ill.
- System control number
-
- (Sirsi) o26724043
- (OCoLC)26724043
Subject
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain, Mark)
- African Americans
- African Americans -- Biography
- African Americans in literature
- African Americans in literature
- Authors, American
- Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography
- Biography
- Engels
- Finn, Huckleberry (Fictitious character)
- Finn, Huckleberry, (Fictitious character)
- Friendship
- Letterkunde
- Negers
- Noirs -- Dans la littérature
- Noirs américains -- Biographies
- Noirs américains -- Dans la littérature
- Noirs américains dans la littérature
- Schwarze
- 1800 - 1899
- Schwarze (Motiv)
- Schwarze (Motiv)
- The adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain)
- Twain, Mark
- Twain, Mark (1835-1910)
- Twain, Mark, (1835-1910) -- Amis et relations
- Twain, Mark, (1835-1910) -- Personnages
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Amis et relations
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Characters | African Americans
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Friends and associates
- Twain, Mark, 1835-1910 -- Personnages | Noirs américains
- Twain, Mark, 30.11.1835-21.04.1910
- Écrivains américains -- 19e siècle -- Biographies
- Schwarze
Genre
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<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.library.waubonsee.edu/portal/Was-Huck-Black--Mark-Twain-and-African-American/TltCNTDH4Wg/" typeof="Book http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Item"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.library.waubonsee.edu/portal/Was-Huck-Black--Mark-Twain-and-African-American/TltCNTDH4Wg/">Was Huck Black? : Mark Twain and African-American voices, Shelley Fisher Fishkin</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.library.waubonsee.edu/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="http://link.library.waubonsee.edu/">Waubonsee Community College</a></span></span></span></span></div>