Writing Huck Finn: Twain's Creative Process

Thèmes abordés

Mark Twain, Huck Finn, genetic criticism, Doyno

Résumé du document

The book Writing Huck Finn: Mark Twain's Creative Process, published in 1992, was written by Victor A. Doyno, an academic specialist of the prominent American writer and past-president of the Mark Twain's Circle of America, whose members are Twain enthusiasts. Through genetic criticism, it means the study of the comparison between the earliest available drafts of a text and its printed version, the author aims to give the reader a "new" different explanatory approach of the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. In this case, Doyno relies not only on the manuscript but also on Twain's correspondence, his journal and then-lacking laws concerning
copyrights.

Victor A. Doyno - Writing Huck Finn: Mark Twain's Creative Process - University of Pennsylvania
Press; 1993

Extraits

[...] To Doyno, Huck sounds more polite and respectful toward his helper in the printed version. That kind of dropping builds characters and allows the author to shape his chosen themes according to the time and the place in the novel. Moreover, the characterization of Victor A. Doyno Writing Huck Finn: Mark Twain's Creative Process - University of Pennsylvania Press; 1993 themes aims to call the reader's interest as Huck's case illustrates it, still according to Doyno: “Twain complicated Huck's personality by attention to his ethical attitude and moral sense” (p.57) and the result is: “part of the fascination Huck has exercised over generations of Twain's novel mainly deal with duplicity: Huck's lies or religious hypocrisy among other things. [...]

[...] Doyno Writing Huck Finn: Mark Twain's Creative Process - University of Pennsylvania Press; 1993 cannot be separated. To him, the cycles of transvestism and escaping can be defined quoting Blair: “motif with variation” (p.240). As for the structure, he shows that it can be studied as a dichotomy the letter versus the novel- like the previous items: “utilizing the combination, [ ] calls into question the book's identity as either a novel or perhaps the longest American letter”(p.251). Yet, Doyno implies in the same sentence that the structure is also a “motif with variation” used purposely by Twain. [...]

[...] Mark Twain's creative process is revealed in Doyno's book through genetic criticism, a form of criticism which emerged in the second part of the 20 th century and tends to highlight the role of revision in the writing: “knowledge of the creative process can increase the sheer pleasure of reading [ ] (p.xii preface). Three interrelated aspects of Twain's writing are displayed in Doyno's analysis. They form a “kaleidoscope”, a simile used by Twain and quoted by Doyno to define the American writer's creative process. Thus shift in one of the fragments may dynamically alter the appearance of the whole” (p.16) is a statement that conducts Doyno's study. Firstly, Doyno presents Twain's stylistic focuses which the major one is the choice of almost illiterate”(p.39) child to tell the story. [...]

[...] As a result, they are interrelated with three main themes which are also connected to each other. Doyno evokes Twain's personal documents to interpret thematic and stylistic revision to strengthen their meaning: also created greater depth and resonance by the changes that incrementally affected themes and built meanings” (p.111). Nobility, religion and literacy are revealed to be satirical topics to Twain but personal and general ones to Doyno: of them are powerful issues affecting the liberation of both Jim and Huck, as well as the nation.”(p.174). [...]

[...] Doyno Writing Huck Finn: Mark Twain's Creative Process - University of Pennsylvania Press; 1993 That's why the comparison between his opinion and other critics such as Eliot cannot be the same, as they are not built on the same basis. The former only focuses on Huck Finn in other words Twain, to make the outcome happen, while the latter evokes Tom Sawyer to resolve the situation; Tom has a major role in Twain's work, as a result he can be important to Eliot and his presence in the novel could be advisedly used: “such readers protest that the escapades invented by Tom [ . [...]