I mentioned that I recently read Melville’s Moby-Dick. I didn’t mention how I was put off by the overwrought writing, characters, and speeches. Listening to a program on Mark Twain I heard the reason for this completely and abruptly stated: “Huckleberry is not Ahab.” For sure. The use of accessible common speech that we enjoy in literature today was apparently a gift from Twain, one that was not understood or accepted immediately. Below is an excerpt from a newspaper article regarding the publication of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn:
“The Concord (Mass.) Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain's latest book from the library. One member of the committee says that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he thinks it contains but little humor, and that of a very coarse type. He regards it as the veriest trash. The library and the other members of the committee entertain similar views, characterizing it as rough, coarse, and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating, the whole book being more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people.” Wikipedia
