Huck and James (Zoom)
Winter (9 - 13.5 hours) | FULL (Membership Required)
Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885) is considered by many to be the Great American Novel. Adults who have not read the book since their school days are astounded by the relevance of Huck Finn to modern America. Now, almost 140 years later, comes the bold and audacious James: A Novel by Percival Everett (2024), retelling Twain’s story from the point of view of Jim, Huck’s enslaved companion in their mutual flight for freedom. The two books deal with race, identity, language, culture, violence – in other words, America. Is James a reproach to Huck Finn, or an homage to the novel and to Mark Twain? Or perhaps both? We will spend three weeks on each book and decide.
This section of this course will meet on Wednesdays via Zoom and will consist of discussions between the Study Leader and participants.
Required Books:
- Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (ISBN-13: 978-0143107323)
- James: A Novel - Percival Everett (ISBN-13: 978-0385550369)
David Grant
David Grant is a former teacher and foundation president who currently lives in Strafford. His thesis, “Mark Twain, Tom & Huck,” won the Willard Thorpe Thesis Prize at Princeton University in 1972. David developed his teaching interest in Mark Twain into a one-man show which he took around the world in 1982. As a life-long student of Mark Twain, he was bowled over when James was published earlier this year, and he is eager to discuss it, along with the novel that inspired it, with fellow readers at Osher.