Shelley Fisher Fishkin

From Library Journal
In these three essays and long epilog, Fishkin (Was Huck Black?, LJ 4/​1/​93), whose recent discovery that Twain modeled Huckleberry Finn's voice after a black boy's made news beyond the academic world, discusses how Americans have, for nearly a century, appropriated Twain for a multitude of their own purposes. In doing so, she argues, they distort the work of the author and his often troublesome beliefs. Twain is everywhere in American culture, from "Tom Sawyer's Island" in Disneyland, to the name of Missouri banks, to Hal Holbrook's meticulous impersonation, "Mark Twain Tonight." Often, however, we are guilty of seeing only the Twain with whom we feel comfortable. His hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, for instance, which derives millions from tourists, glosses over the antislavery core of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to construct an appealing (and lucrative) but historically fraudulent picture of a haven for white childhood innocence. Jargon-free and reader-friendly, Fishkin's personal narrative is recommended for all libraries.

From Publishers Weekly
Certain literary scholars reach a point in their careers when they earn enough distinction in their field to write something other than literary criticism. Fishkin, lifelong Twain scholar, is just such a scholar. In her previous volume, Was Huck Black?, Fishkin boldly argued for the influence of African American voices on Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Here, she has produced a collection of essays that is one part American history, one part literary criticism and two parts travelogue. Drawing on America's geography and popular culture for background, Fishkin revisits her earlier work from the perspective of a stranger in a strange land-the "world of Twain" as it exists in America today. In her first essay, Fishkin describes with biting irony her visit to Hannibal, Mo., Twain's birthplace, which is now a tourist trap, and the obliviousness of Hannibal's citizens to Twain's darker views on Southern racism. In her second, she visits the abolitionist town of Elmira, N.Y. in an attempt to understand why Twain's residence there changed his views on race. In the third, she takes up Twain's popular presence in film, modern novels and on stage. Fishkin is fascinating and cogent throughout: tough on censorship, soft on Twain, Fishkin's book is a call to arms that we not forget America's history of racism by banning from our classrooms one of the few authors who wrote about it with honesty and clarity.