Frontispiece Photo of Mark Twain in his book "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson." (1894). First edition
“The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson” is one of Twain’s lesser known novels, but it may be one of his best. Set in the early years of the 19th century, this pre-Civil War satire tackles social issues still being debated today. Here is what the Goodreads website has to say about the novel (at www.goodreads.com/book/show/682793.Pudd_nhead_Wilson):
“At the beginning of Pudd'nhead Wilson a young slave woman, fearing for her infant's son's life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master's. From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels. On its surface, Pudd'nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century mystery: reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution. Yet it is not a mystery novel. Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes. Written in 1894, Pudd'nhead Wilson glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed irony: a gem among the author's later works.”
The book contains over a thousand illustrations, which are distributed in the margins throughout the text, a technique that had never before been used for a Mark Twain text. Two artists, F. M. Senior and C. H. Warren, supplied the copious, cartoon-sized pictures required for this mode of illustration.
The first edition of the book also has a bonus story called “Those Extraordinary Twins.” "‘Those Extraordinary Twins’ was published as a short story, separate and distinct from its origins inside Twain's ‘The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson.’ As Twain explains, he extricated ‘Twins’ from ‘Pudd'nhead’ when he found, as he was writing, that he'd created a farce inside a tragedy. This is the excised farce, a story about Italian Siamese twins who completely take over a small Missouri town, splitting it down the middle with half supporting one head and the other, the other.” [From the Introduction by John Greenman for the LibriVox audio edition of the “Twins” story at librivox.org/those-extraordinary-twins-by-mark-twain/]
Frontispiece Photo of Mark Twain in his book "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson." (1894). First edition
“The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson” is one of Twain’s lesser known novels, but it may be one of his best. Set in the early years of the 19th century, this pre-Civil War satire tackles social issues still being debated today. Here is what the Goodreads website has to say about the novel (at www.goodreads.com/book/show/682793.Pudd_nhead_Wilson):
“At the beginning of Pudd'nhead Wilson a young slave woman, fearing for her infant's son's life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master's. From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels. On its surface, Pudd'nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century mystery: reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution. Yet it is not a mystery novel. Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes. Written in 1894, Pudd'nhead Wilson glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed irony: a gem among the author's later works.”
The book contains over a thousand illustrations, which are distributed in the margins throughout the text, a technique that had never before been used for a Mark Twain text. Two artists, F. M. Senior and C. H. Warren, supplied the copious, cartoon-sized pictures required for this mode of illustration.
The first edition of the book also has a bonus story called “Those Extraordinary Twins.” "‘Those Extraordinary Twins’ was published as a short story, separate and distinct from its origins inside Twain's ‘The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson.’ As Twain explains, he extricated ‘Twins’ from ‘Pudd'nhead’ when he found, as he was writing, that he'd created a farce inside a tragedy. This is the excised farce, a story about Italian Siamese twins who completely take over a small Missouri town, splitting it down the middle with half supporting one head and the other, the other.” [From the Introduction by John Greenman for the LibriVox audio edition of the “Twins” story at librivox.org/those-extraordinary-twins-by-mark-twain/]