February 18, 1885, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in the United States of America
The perennial popularity of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a novel by Mark Twain, is indisputable. Widely known as one of the Greatest American Novels, the picaresque novel was first published in United Kingdom in December, 1984. It was later in February 18, 1885 that the book was officially published in the United States of America for the first time.
This caustic racial satire is one of Mark Twain’s greatest works and is a direct sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Often critiqued for the racial terminology, the book perceptively explores the controversial themes of race and identity. E. W. Kemble was the principal illustrator of the book.
The protagonist character Huckleberry Finn, who is also the narrator, gained wide popularity across all ages soon after the book released. The book has always been appreciated for flamboyant depiction of native people and places. Anticipating a controversial outset for the book, a popular New York Times review concluded that the novel was not initially “too unpleasantly regarded.” However, Ernest Hemingway famously declared that the book marked the beginning of American literature and said “There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since”.
Since it was first published, the plot has undergone several direct, as well as, indirect adaptations into theater and movies.
Mark Twain was the pen name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, who was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Raised in Hannibal, Missouri, Clemens utilized his own roots for creating the settings of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885). William Faulkner, another renowned American writer, notably called him “the father of American literature.”