Huckleberry Finn as a crossroads of myths

The aim of the paper is to discuss once more the controversial ending of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective afforded by comparative literature and myth criticism. Huck Finn has been related to the myth of the American Adam, but also to the picaresque hero and to the quixotic figure. The paper cla...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Pardo García, Pedro Javier
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2001
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositório:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:2293
Acesso em linha:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/2293
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Mark Twain
Picaresque
Quixotic
Descrição
Resumo:The aim of the paper is to discuss once more the controversial ending of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective afforded by comparative literature and myth criticism. Huck Finn has been related to the myth of the American Adam, but also to the picaresque hero and to the quixotic figure. The paper claims that the myth of the American Adam as formulated in Huckleberry Finn results from a creative and ironic crossing of the picaresque and quixotic myths. Huck's Adamic nature is defined by a blending of both picaresque and quixotic qualities and in relation to pícaros and Quixotes presented by Twain in the novel. The ending plays a very important part in establishing Huck's compound mythic identity.