Title
Twain’s Modernism: The Death of Speech in Huckleberry Finn as the Birth of a New Aesthetic
Document Type
Article
Annotation
Unpacks the implications of Hemingway’s declaration about Twain’s novel as the well-spring of modern American literature with emphasis on oral versus written speech, dialect, dialogue, morality, and nationalism. Contrasts Hemingway’s use of “unnatural” language, especially in For Whom the Bell Tolls, in his version of modern literary narrative and questions his centrality, and Twain’s, in discussions of what comprises a single American literature.
Published in
Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists
Volume
8
Issue
1
Date
Spring 2020
Pages
123-145
COinS
Citation
Turim-Nygren, Mika. “Twain’s Modernism: The Death of Speech in Huckleberry Finn as the Birth of a New Aesthetic.” Journal of Nineteenth-Century Americanists 8, no. 1 (Spring 2020): 123-45.