哈克不同於湯姆精靈古怪,也不那麼輕浮,但他的堅強性格、不畏難、灑脫不在乎世俗,繼承繼母的遺產後,為生父綁架然後逃脫,他於是沿著密西西比河南 奔,中途經歷許多有驚無險有險化為夷的故事,透過跟逃亡黑奴吉姆結伴流浪的經歷,譴責了蓄奴制的罪惡,批判封建家庭結仇械鬥的野蠻,辛辣地諷刺宗教的虛偽 愚昧,宣傳不分種族地位人人享有自由權利的進步主張。
清新有力的文字,自然而獨特的審視角度,使這部作品獨成風標,成為美國文學史上 具劃時代意義的現實主義著作。這部傑作,也因其功在“將口語形式變成為令人尊敬的文學形式”,奠定了他在美國文學史上的地位,獲得了眾多權威人士的高度評 價,海明威就說過:自馬克‧吐溫的這部作品開始,全美現代文學到來了……
本書中譯本<<頑童流浪記>>由商周出版
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn began life as a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer but is now seen in its own right as one of the most important of all American novels. Rather than be ’sivilized’ by the Widow Douglas, Huckleberry Finn and Jim, an escaped slave, set off to find freedom on the Mississippi. Their adventures teach them much about the society in which they live, and the book combines an exuberant sense of nostalgia with subtle undertones of adult melancholy.
With an afterword by Peter Harness.