Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson is another excellent work and captures the spirit of the little town of Dawson's Landing. It's full of interesting characters, excellent dialog, and various surprises. While it was an entertaining read, I felt that it fell short of Twain's other works. The ending felt very rushed, as if Twain suddenly realized that he only had one chapter left in which to finish.

What I found particularly interesting, however, was the inclusion of the original story -Those Extraordinary Twins- that provided the impetus for this novel. I enjoyed that the twins had originally been conceived as one torso and set of legs with four arms and two heads. The ensuing scenarios that developed from this conjoined nature was quite entertaining and often very humorous. It was also interesting to see how this original story was based upon characters that would play only minor roles in the completed novel of Pudd'nhead Wilson.

What a remarkable, gripping book -- prescient and ahead of its time, and also of its time. Written with incisive insight and an ability to step outside his own world and look at cultural values objectively. The story of the black slave raised white is astonishing, albeit melodramatic, but the story of the white child raised as a black slave and then thrust back into the white race is even more biting: "We cannot follow his fate further -- that would be a long story."

Skip the tacked on pastiche, Those Extraordinary Twins.

A little too muddled for me.

It was interesting to read Twain's comments about how the novel shifted over time. I had no idea that the twins had the main role initially to then be replaced by the side characters that steadily grew in magnitude. I must admit that I preferred the dram of Pudd'nhead Wilson over the farcical account of the twins. Stil, an unusual origin. Twain has a very bitting account of a doctor's remedy in the twin section that made me crack up. I have not been reading too much Twain, but this turns out to be volume three in a huge set of Twain's complete works that I inherited from my mother. It has been told that they had to choose between a set of Dickens's complete works or a set of Twain's. I wish she got both!!! lol. Regardless, plenty of Twain to admire. I came across some interesting books of Twain's latter works (initially unpublished) and volumes with letters in my used bookstore the other day. It seems as UC press published a great deal of his letters etc in the 60s.
Alright, to cap it off - "Pudd'nhead" was delightful as an atmospheric combination of satire and drama from the 19th century south. It was vivid and colorful although I did not sense any personal connection with the work. It was simply enjoyable and made me appreciate Twain a bit more. Another piece of the Twain puzzle so to say.....

And why is this awful difference made between white and black? - Tom Driscoll

Sewaktu ditugaskan untuk membaca Huckleberry Finn, saya tidak sanggup untuk menyelesaikannya. Bukan karena masalah dialek, tapi lebih karena penuturannya yang menurut saya agak sedikit bertele-tele. Meskipun begitu, saya tetap menyukai karya-karya Twain yang lain, yaitu The Diary of Adam and Eve dan yang baru saja saya baca, Pudd’nhead Wilson. Novel versi Barnes and Noble Classics ini merupakan gabungan dari dua cerita, yaitu The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson dan Those Extraordinary Twins. Those Extraordinary Twins sebenarnya merupakan draft awal dari Pudd’nhead Wilson. Namun, seperti diungkapkan oleh Twain, seiring dengan berkembangnya alur, entah kenapa tokoh-tokoh minor pada akhirnya mempunyai cerita sendiri. Sang kembar pun sedikit terabaikan. Twain kemudian meminta pembacanya untuk menganggap dua cerita ini sebagai dua cerita yang tidak berhubungan sama sekali.

Baiklah, mari kita membicarakan cerita pertama, yaitu cerita mengenai seorang pengacara eksentrik bernama David ‘Pudd’nhead’ Wilson yang hobi mengoleksi sidik jari. Karakter Pudd’nhead mengingatkan saya akan Father Brown ciptaan G.K. Chesterton. Keduanya menyelidiki kasus dengan cara yang tidak biasa, walau bisa dikatakan Father Brown sedikit lebih ‘edan’. Masalah rasisme adalah inti utama dari The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson. Rasisme yang menjadi bagian dari kehidupan sebuah kota kecil di Missouri membuat Roxy, seorang budak perempuan, menukar anak laki-lakinya dengan anak laki-laki seorang pejabat dengan harapan anaknya mendapatkan kehidupan yang lebih baik. Lho kok bisa? Sebenarnya Roxy tidak seutuhnya berkulit hitam, tapi karena di dalam darahnya mengalir sedikit darah Afrika, ia dikategorikan sebagai ‘Negro’ oleh hukum. Anak Roxy pun tumbuh dilimpahi oleh kekayaan, sedangkan anak kandung sang pejabat harus menanggung beban sebagai budak. Cerita ini memang memuat humor-humor ala Twain, tapi intinya cerita ini bernada tragis. Bukan tragedi Pudd’nhead Wilson menurut saya, tapi tragedi bagi kedua anak yang ditukar tersebut. Membaca cerita ini mengingatkan kita akan pengalaman pedih orang-orang yang terkena dampak dari rasisme dan perbudakan.

Beralih ke cerita selanjutnya, Those Extraordinary Twins. Seperti diakui oleh Twain, cerita ini ditulis tanpa pretensi apa pun. Ia hanya ingin mengisahkan pengalaman sepasang kembar siam dalam menjalani hidup. Di dalam cerita pertama, kembar Capello bukanlah kembar siam; sedangkan di dalam draft awal ini mereka adalah kembar siam dengan dua kepala, empat tangan, satu badan, dan sepasang kaki. Kerumitan bertambah karena Luigi dan Angelo mempunya sifat dan minat yang berbeda. Contohnya, Angelo sangat religius, sedangkan Luigi tidak. Agak susah memang membayangkan bagaimana mereka hidup dengan visi dan misi berbeda dalam satu tubuh. Namun, kembar Capello mempunyai caranya tersendiri dalam membagi tubuh mereka. Bagian ini yang wajib untuk dibaca. Sangat menarik.

Sekali lagi, Mark Twain membuktikan kepada saya bahwa beliau adalah salah satu penulis Amerika terbaik sampai saat ini.

3 3/4 stars

Probably a 3.5 rounded down. The character Tom is the most low down dirty dog of a character I have ever encountered. I also don't know why this is considered a tragedy nor why Pudd'nhead Wilson is the titular character. Also, a LOT of hard Rs.

One of Twain's later works published in 1894 and dealing directly with the issue of slavery and being black in America.
Twain provides us with one of his best female characters in Roxy who is a light skinned slave who is 1/16 black. That 1/16 makes all the difference.
Fearing that at some point her son may be sold down the river she decides to take action and switches the identity of her son with that of her master's child. She succeeds as no one suspects anything.

But as the course of events take shape it is Twain telling us that the fate of black slaves is one that really does not have a good ending in the America of that time.
Twain introduces a very interesting detective story as well as Pudd'nhead Wilson is a lawyer infatuated with the science of fingerprints and palmistry. It was this hobby that ends up uncovering the switched identities of the two boys Chamber (Slave) and Tom (white) during a highly emotional murder trial.

The irony is that the story is set in the very picturesque and perfect American town of Dawson's Landing complete with idyllic homes and gardens and with a most peaceful cat laying in front of every home. But make no mistake about it Dawson's Landing of 1830 was a slave town! That is how Twain starts the story.

This is an unusual novel with several stories interpolated within the overall account of the fall and rise of David "Pudd'nhead" Wilson. His story is one of a would be lawyer who has a clever remark of his misunderstood, which causes locals to brand him a "pudd'nhead" (nitwit). His hobby of collecting fingerprints does not raise his standing in the eyes of the townsfolk, who consider him to be eccentric and do not frequent his law practice in Dawson's Landing. How he overcomes this distinction holds the novel together.
There are at least two other stories that are interposed with his. In the first, A slave named Roxy who is one-sixteenth black and majority white, and her son Valet de Chambre (referred to as Chambers) is 1/32 black. Roxy is principally charged with caring for her inattentive master's infant son Tom Driscoll, who is the same age as her own son. After fellow slaves are caught stealing and are nearly sold "down the river" to a master in the Deep South, Roxy fears for her son and herself. She considers killing her boy and herself, but decides to switch Chambers and Tom in their cribs to give her son a life of freedom and privilege.
In the other thread, twin Italian noblemen visit Dawson's Landing. Tom quarrels with one. Tom robs and murders his wealthy uncle, and the blame falls wrongly on one of the Italians. From that point, the novel proceeds as a crime novel.
Character and perception are important themes in Pudd'nhead Wilson. This is emphasized as Twain's narrative builds on the importance of character. In the maxim from Pudd'nhead Wilson's calendar about character, Twain underscores how the good and sensible character of a person may be completely destroyed or misconstrued by ridicule or false assumptions. Twain also elaborates on this with the arrival of David Wilson in the town of Dawson's Landing. Because of Wilson's clever remark about owning half a dog, the simple townspeople completely misjudged him as being an idiot, or "pudd'nhead". Through his character of Pudd'nhead Wilson, Twain explores how people's motives, character, and personality can be misjudged and misunderstood.
While this is not the best of Twain's works, it has redeeming features and is notably one of the first novels to use the evidence of fingerprints in solving a judicial case.

This one was okay to me, very average in my opinion. The twist is interesting but it is nothing special to me.

Pudd’nhead Wilson is Twain’s indictment against racism. While it retains the bouncy charm of many Twain stories, it imparts a sense of heaviness and dread. The idea that two children, one white and one 31/32 white (the other 1/32 black), could be switched at birth and not be discovered, highlights the hypocrisy of racism as it existed in the United States in the 1830’s.

One thing that struck me is the use of the phrase, “sold down the river.” Turns out this phrase, meaning to be betrayed or cheated, originated in this same era, the earliest known use being in 1837, in The Ohio Repository:

“One man, in Franklin County, has lately realized thirty thousand dollars, in a speculation on slaves, which he bought in Virginia and sold down the river.”

The idea is that being sold down the Mississippi river was worse than being sold up river because one had more chance of working a cotton plantation down river in the southern states. The modern use of the phrase didn’t come into practice until the early 20th century.

It’s interesting to read Those Extraordinary Twins, included in this volume, after reading Pudd’nhead Wilson, because this story lead to the development of the later novel. Twain makes a show of how he arrived at the one from the other and it’s another good Twain joke covering, perhaps, his insecurity in his writing. That’s just my speculation.

Pudd’nhead Wilson is extremely successful as a cry against the evil of racism and is, in my opinion, one of Twain’s best novels.

Mark Twain wrote this book as a response to those books written at the end of the 1800s where the noble-born young man living in poverty rises up because of his nobility. Twain believed more in nurture than nature here, so his young man turned a slave is spoiled by his family and becomes a lazy lout. The noble-born young man reared as a slave simply cannot take his place in society because he has not been educated. There is still much to see here. While Twain was on to a bigger idea, his extraordinary twins is just a silly farce adding nothing to the point He was close to his point, but the situation is so silly that one doesn't care.