by Mark Twain (Author), Lee Clark Mitchell (Editor)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) is Mark Twain's most popular book, and its hero is a national icon, celebrated as a distinctively American figure both at home and abroad. Tom Sawyer's bold spirit, winsome smile, and inventive solutions to the problems of everyday life in fictional St Petersburg - whether getting his friends to whitewash a fence for him, or escaping the demands of his vigilant Aunt Polly - have won him the hearts of generations. The very success of the novel has obscured its contradictions and the extent to which the author's response to contemporary cultural developments was a mixed one. Tom Sawyer is not only a deft comedy and a powerful celebration of childhood. It also reflects how Mark Twain was in the process of finding his distinctive voice, a voice with which he could express the conflicts he felt about coming of age in America.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 296
Edition: New edition
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Published: 05 Mar 1998
ISBN 10: 0192833898
ISBN 13: 9780192833891
This is much-needed publication: as clear, readable text of Tom Sawyer which is affordable also. The textual notes are very good, and Lee Mitchell's introduction is simply splendid. --Randal Allred, Brigham Young University--Hawaii
A very readable text. --E.N. Feltskog, University of Wisconsin
Important and useful to have a new scholarly edition of what is more than a preface to Huckleberry Finn. --Benjamin S. Lawson, Albany State College
A welcome addition to an impressive, attractive series. --Kenneth Lee Taylor, University of Maine at Presque Isle
A very well-edited text. --Robert Barton, Rutgers University
Excellent and handsome. --Benjamin Franklin, University of South Carolina
Lee Mitchell's introduction is a valuable contribution to criticism. --Robert Reyan, University of Pennsylvania