"All
modern American literature begins with one book," claimed Ernest Hemingway,
"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." That accolade by one of
America's most respected twentieth-century novelists reflects, however,
one pole in the continuing controversy that the work has elicited since
its publication in late 1884. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
still weathers contentious attacks, usually labeling the work as racist
and bigoted. Defenders, however, characterize the novel as a book
about racism, addressing the social blight that so divided communities
in Mark Twain's late 19th century. The astute businessman, Mark Twain
understood the meaning of public criticism. When the Board of Directors
of the Concord Public Library condemned the novel, Mark Twain wrote to
his nephew and publisher, "Dear Charlie, Boston just banned my book.
That ought to be good for another 25,000 sales!"
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