This book is at once entertaining and at the same time a perceptive description of how small minded small, insular communities can be. There are many tragedies in this book, but Pudden’head’s is not the first one. Percy Driscoll is a prominent and wealthy slave owner in Dawson’s Landing, a small community on the Mississippi river. When Driscoll’s wife dies in childbirth house slave Roxy is deputed to care for the dead woman’s son Tom. Having just given birth to a boy herself, Valet de Chambers, (a possibly apt description of his likely future occupation) Roxy now has the care of both boys, both light skinned and bearing a strong similarity to each other as babies. Resenting the difference in the prospects of the two boys she eventually switches the babies to give her son the benefits of being a Driscoll, benefits that eventually corrupt him.
Soon afterwards, David Wilson, a newly minted lawyer ready to start his own practice, arrives in Dawson’s Landing. Before he can get established his wry humor and satirical thinking bemuse the populace who promptly decide that he is an idiot, a `Puddn’head’. So-labelled, his practice never gets off the ground and he is forced to scrape a living as a bookkeeper and on the side pursues his hobby of collecting and storing the fingerprints of everyone he comes into contact with including, before their switch, the two babies under Roxy’s care.
Roxy’s true son gets the expensive education Driscoll’s son was supposed to get but grows into an arrogant and corrupt young man who gambles unsuccessfully and turns to robbing his neighbors’ homes to pay his debts. Roxy tries to help him at great cost to herself, but he is so debased that he eventually `sells her down the river’ to raise money for his debts.
Excitement boils over in Dawson’s Landing when the Italian conjoined Capello twins arrive, take a liking to the community and decide to settle there. The town is captivated by them and welcomes them into the community with parties and celebrations of various sorts. Then Tom’s guardian, Judge Driscoll, is murdered with the ornate knife that had been stolen from the twins and the town immediately turns against them, completely forgetting their previous admiration for them. The twins are arrested and put on trial for murder.
It all comes to a dramatic and amazing climax as Puddin’head’s hobby unveils the true villain and more besides.
There’s a lot more to think about in this novel than I expected. Twain certainly attacks bias and prejudice and the horrors that slavery visited on the enslaved. He also explores the questions of nature versus nurture.

I’ve revisited a few of my favorite Mark Twain reads over the past year, something that a newborn son--who has become the namesake of my childhood, literary hero, Mr. Twain himself--has helped to accelerate. But it has been a while since I have read a new piece from the great legend. I believe Roughing It was the last one I perused, and that one underwhelmed me. Well, it was high time that I turned my attention to a novel of his that I had long intended to read but hadn’t yet gotten around to: The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson. (The story of this being on my list to read for an AP English class and how I wrote my essay without reading it is both shameful and impressive, and not to be told in a public forum like this. So mind your own business!)

From the very first chapter, I immediately became immersed in the parade of characters and their complicated situations. Each character is stark, interesting, and has the appropriate Twain-ish quirks. The situations are surprisingly intermeshed and varied. The message is an important one, and the insights are intriguing. All of this is done in Twain’s easy style, with a sharp jab at a character or societal vice in an otherwise harmless and humorous sentence.

I found that the plot was devilishly convoluted for a Twain story (or any story, for that matter), but especially for the guy whose pattern before seemed to be to introduce interesting characters and situations that allow the master composer to explore amusing and applicable ideas. In Pudd’nhead Wilson, however, you’ve got the titular character’s story, then a baby swap with fascinating life repercussions, then exotic, foreigner twins descending on a this backwoods rural community and the sensation that follows. All this is mixed in with dabbling ideas of slavery, inheritance, honor, reputation, sin, and plenty of other half-stories, characters, and broad themes. It seems like a lot to throw into a single novel, but it is always interesting and never overbearing.

If there is a problem, it is that a good chunk of the middle of the novel is spent following the villainous character(s? ...maybe?) and their plottings, actions, and consequences. I’m not uninterested, I simply wanted more of the other, more interesting characters and situations--particularly the actions of the admirable and lovable (albeit conspicuously scarce) protagonist, Pudd’nhead Wilson.

In the end, the whole story, including the antagonist chunk in the middle, is worth the read. And if the scattered structure of the multiple characters and storylines is a bit jarring, the author’s note at the end mends everything with his affable, light-hearted explanation, which had me holding back laughter so hard that I had tears squeezing out of my eyes. Why didn’t I just let go and laugh out loud, you ask? I was rocking the author’s namesake in the middle of the night hoping to get him back to sleep. It appears the Marks are in cahoots!

I’m glad both stories are contained in one novel, but it’s mostly the Pudd’nhead Wilson story with an afternote that should read, “This is my cut material. I cut it because it’s bad. Read it if you want more of my writing, even though it isn’t up to my usual standards.”

Blasphemous though it may be to say so, I haven’t enjoyed much Twain outside of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. This was enjoyable, though Roxy’s dialect was a little too thick and so tough to follow. It was vintage late-career Twain, biting but leavened with his humor.

This is the first Mark Twain book I have read, save for being told to read Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer when I was much younger which I remember none of. I have avoided him so long because I hate reading about true suffering and to me I classify him as writing about slavery as well as writing in a difficult to read dialect. Not to my surprise this book contained both of those features as I assumed it would but it was much more pleasant of a read that I thought it would be despite that. I am actually eager to read more Twain after finishing these two stories. I loved Twain's letter to the reader in the beginning of both stories, it made me feel connected which I liked. I find this story and his connection with the author similar to that of Henry Fielding in "Tom Jones", I plan on investigating if there was an influence on Twain from Fielding at all or if it's just by fluke that I am seeing a connection. They both seem to write satirical stories and I found the comedy in each story enjoyable. I especially loved the little quotes placed at the beginning of each chapter from Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar, they were so clever I really enjoyed them! I would definitely recommend this book and am happy to find myself looking forward to reading more Twain.

Twain commented in the novel's historical note that he didn't plan out this novel. Thus, as he was writing it, he ended up with two stories, and the novel wasn't big enough for the both of them. So he removed one of the stories. Good call, but the resulting novel isn't as tight and clean as one would like.

I wish Twain would have stuck with the farcical, ironical story instead of the tragedy. Twain's a master of satire and irony, and I would have like to have had more of the story revolve around Pudd'nhead Wilson and his adventures, instead of Tom Driscoll and Roxy.

It's hard to consider this a tragedy for Tom, if you look at it from the classical perspective. In that way of thinking, you have to be a great person (heroic, virtuous, valorous, etc.), before you can fall. No one in his right mind would consider Tom Driscoll great, so where's the tragedy? Overall, I see the story as a satirical farce and critique of the times and their prejudices.

Pudd’nhead Wilson was written by Mark Twain and published in 1893. The story takes place in a small, southern town called Dawson’s Landing on the banks of the Mississippi. It revolves around two boys, a slave called Valet de Chambre (who is 1/32th black, so not really) and the white Thomas à Becket Driscoll (“Tom”). Due to certain circumstances, they get mixed up at a young age. The story then takes a leap in time to when both are young adults and have grown up into their respective social roles.
During the time, when the boys were born, a young lawyer named David Wilson, arrived in town. Shortly after his arrival he earns himself the nickname “Pudd’nhead”, due to a comic misunderstanding. Wilson is unsuccessful at his profession, yet he is interested in the then new method of taking fingerprints. Said interest proves to be quite useful, around 20 years later, when Tom’s uncle is found murdered. In the later part of the book then evolves into a detective story, which is honestly a bit predictable, but nevertheless enjoyable.

Pudd’nhead Wilson was an interesting read. What stood out especially and surprised me in a way was how, over time I myself imagined Roxy (the slave mother of Chambre) as being black despite her being basically white. The main point here was, I think, to show the bigotry and absurdity of taking the colour of one’s skin as a determining factor for rigid social roles. Whilst we know this to be the case, I can imagine that this was not that common of a view at the time this was published.
Okay, so the last paragraph was written before I have read some essays on Pudd’nhead Wilson. Whilst I have enjoyed most of them, they showed how much room for interpretation there is in this work. My first reaction to that was being intimidated, but over the last few days I have grown to like the fact that there are so many different, valid viewpoints on and interpretations of this work. It did however make me a bit cautious of sharing some more interpretations of my own.
Going back to the book itself, I liked the (often grim) Calendar quotations at the beginning of each chapter a lot, for example: “Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world.” Leslie Fiedler in her essay (“As free as any creatur..”) on Pudd’nhead Wilson argues, that grotesque passages like these show that “Twain had decided that the only unthreatened utopia is death itself” because even the free man is not really free. I found her argument convincing, as also exemplified by the ending of the book: Neither Tom nor Chambre is free after all.

This review(?) was all over the place, but I am going to end it here. Whilst I have enjoyed reading Pudd’nhead Wilson and recommend you do as well, I enjoyed reading some of the essays on it just as much. Therefore I want to end with a more general recommendation to try out some essays about books you have read, maybe you will enjoy them as much as I did.

Edit: If you have read Pudd’nhead Wilson, make sure to read Those Extraordinary Twins as well. It is a less serious, funny short story, set in an alternal Dawson’s landing, with a twist: The twins being siamese twins.

This book would be considered racist today. However, I believe the language and racial attitudes are accurate for time time frame of the book.

The twists of fate and role reversals are very entertaining and a statement about how life can change. It's also a statement on how our environment shapes our character.

Would not recommend. I understand that Mark Twain is a classic writer and this piece has a lot of commentary about race and expectations and treatment of people who are different, which could prompt a lot of interesting essays about this country's experience with racism then and today, but the content is just too disturbing for modern audiences, in my opinion.

An unsteady attempt by Clemens to explore race in the old South. Well written, witty and smart, The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson is an enjoyable read in many ways, however despite the best efforts of the great writer, in the end, the story, to be blunt about it, fails.

Clemons is trying to be sympathetic toward African-Americans, however because of how his story is structured, Tom Driscoll, the 1/32 negro slave child, switched as an infant by his mother with a rich white child, is a complete bastard.

This guy is so awful that at one point he knowingly sells his own mother down the river. Driscoll is a lair, a coward a thief, a murderer and a cad. Just basically awful. The whole time though the white child who grows up as a slave, is strong, brave, gentle and kind. Clemons is making the case of nurture over nature, with the idea, that if these two men had never been switched, they would have grown up to be completely different men. Which is fine, but it still leaves a bad taste, especially the ending where Driscoll meets his fate which deserved or not, is pretty horrifying.

On a positive note, it's use of fingerprints to solve a murder case is one of the first times the technique appeared in fiction.

Having written all of this, I still highly recommend the book. First off, because as with all books by Clemons it is exceptionally well written, but also because it does paint a striking picture of the pre-war South, the kind of picture that actually reveals a bit of the reality of life in the era as opposed to how we have it presented in our modern entertainment. And also, because the story itself gives an excellent view of the mindset of a solid liberal of the age who deeply cared about the rights of all humanity, but who was also, and even against his will, much like the main character of this book, a product of his world.

This is definitely a well-kept secret. There are a lot of unknown Twain novels that are quite good, but this is sometimes referred to by critics as the third of his truly American novels. I like this book, and considering I had to write a whole research paper on it that's saying something. As a story its good, with a murder mystery, daggers, children switched at birth, etc... But on a deeper level it deals with slavery and miscegenation, humanity and the nature v. nurture concept. Very interesting. There is also a lot of humor, particularly if you have a cynical and sarcastic side. The aphorisms at the beginning of ever chapter from Wilson's Almanac are priceless.

I read this at the recommendation of one of our youth librarians. I wouldn't have selected a "critical edition," but it was the only copy our library has, so that's the one I read. Apparently, the story of Pudd'nhead Wilson is difficult enough to find in print, and even more so with the added edition of Those Extraordinary Twins.

Both tales were originally meant to be one, and it was originally mostly about the Siamese (I believe we call them "conjoined" now?) twins, Luigi and Angelo Cappello. But the bit about David "Pudd'nhead" Wilson grew to the point that Twain extracted it and made it it's own story. And, in the extraction, seems to have made the twins separate people.

In this volume, Pudd'nhead is first, followed by Those Extraordinary Twins.

Pudd'nhead Wilson is an entertaining story. It seems to be considered a "tragedy" by most folks, and I might agree with that, although it has its hilarious moments. It is a little odd, in that Wilson seems to be far from the major character in the story. And, judging from the critical essays following the two stories, there is no great agreement on who is the main character. In my opinion, it seems to be Roxy, the slave of one Percy Driscoll. In the spirit of the local culture (the story is set in Dawson's Landing, "on the Missouri side of the Mississippi"), Roxy appears to be white, but is one-sixteenth Negro, which is enough to make her not white. "To all intents and purposes Roxy was as white as anybody, but the one-sixteenth of her which was black out-voted the other fifteen parts and made her a negro."

Roxy's role in the household is, essentially, as nanny to the child of Percy Driscoll, one Thomas a Becket Driscoll. She also had her one child, named Valet de Chambre, who had "no surname - slaves hadn't the privilege." The main plot of this story (again, my opinion, as there are several plots) involves Roxy's switching of the two babies, in fear of her own child being "sold down the river." The thought occurred to her after Mr. Wilson opined that, without clothing on, the two babies could not be told apart.

At some point, the twins (again, seemingly not conjoined in this version) come on the scene and have their own piece of the plot.

It is, indeed, a tragic tale, but told with a serious amount of comedy, as well. Part of the comedic element involves chapter headings, allegedly taken from Wilson's calendar, which was a project he was working on. For example, the heading of chapter 2 reads, "Adam was but human - this explains it all. He did not want the apple for the apple's sake, he only wanted it because it was forbidden. The mistake was in not forbidding the serpent; then, he would have eaten the serpent." Chapter 16 sports one that says, "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." And, at the head of chapter 21, "April 1. This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four."

The stories are entertaining, Pudd'nhead probably more so than the Extraordinary Twins, as Twins has a rather odd ending. However, the telling of the duel between Judge Driscoll and one of the twins (and, since they remain conjoined in the second story, both twins were involved in the duel, albeit one unwillingly) is most hilarious.

I basically skimmed through all of the reviews and critical essays. Some of them captured my interest more than others. Several opined that Pudd'nhead Wilson was, in fact, Mark Twain, himself. I found it amusing that almost every critical essay quoted one or more of the other reviews or critical essays. At least one of the essays seemed to be more about the other essays than the subject story. There did seem to be a general agreement that Dawson's Landing was none other than Hannibal, Missouri, Twain's childhood home.

As previously stated, there are differing opinions on who is or are the main character(s), and, more pointedly, who the villain is in the story. It is my opinion that the villain is none other than Roxy the slave, who deceptively and greedily (not without good reason, nonetheless) switches the identities of her baby and the Driscoll baby. "Tom" (actually her baby) grows up with white privilege, but becomes a very nasty person and has great disdain for Roxy (of course, he does not know that Roxy is his real mother until later in the story), as well as a nasty gambling problem which winds up getting him disinherited more than once.

It is easy to see Tom as villain, but he is truly the victim of circumstances. At the end of the story, after all is said and done, it is Tom/Chambers who gets punished, but I still feel that Roxy is the villain. Some of the critical essays agree with my opinion.