Huckleberry Finn Research Paper Spring 2012

Objectives Students will be able to: Locate Media Center Online Resources & web page for this assignment. Browse materials for likely sources. Locate and replace all book sources on cart. Locate full-texts of articles via the Student Resources in Context and ProQuest Learning: Literature, JSTOR and SIRS.

Resources for this Assignment Books – will be on reserve cart. Virtual Reserve Cart (sort of) will be on LibraryThing. These books cannot be checked out. Databases – linked to handout and on webpage Online Research Tools –Bibliography –Sample Works Cited List –LibraryThingLibraryThing Media Center Handouts

Books Background or Supplementary Reading Combination Reference Sources Critical Sources Single-Volume critical sources

Background Reading Why use background reading? It is often easier to read even though chapters may be long. It might present an overall sense of different critical opinions. To get historical or psychological insight on an author or times.

Background Sources - Authors Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB) Concise Dictionary of American Literary Biography (CDALB) American Writers

Background Sources- Books Literature and Its Times Contains background, characters, chapter overview historical overview, critical overview. Beacham’s Brief overview and analysis / criticism “lite”

Combination Sources Why use combination sources? Present an overview of the author’s works and link the novel’s events to events in history. Present plot overviews, character sketches, and important themes in the work. Each chapter presents a critical overview and particularly accessible critical essays. Each critical essay is a different source.

Combination Sources Novels for Students, volume 1 Contains background, characters, chapter overviews, historical overview, critical overview, and selections of critical essays. Literary Themes for Students: Race and Prejudice, volume 1

Critical Sources from Gale Provide excerpts and full texts of literary criticism. Represent a variety of opinions over time. Consult multiple volumes. Chapters contain many entries; each is considered a source. Entries are dense and may require background reading for fuller comprehension. Some entries are duplicated in online sources, but most will require note-taking and photocopying. Bring a roll of quarters. If you don’t use it, you can save for laundry in college.

Critical Sources from Gale Twentieth Century Literary Criticism (TCLC) THE BOSTON TRANSCRIPT (essay date 1885) The Concord (Mass.) Public Library committee has decided to exclude Mark Twain’s latest book from the library. One member of the committee says that, while he does not wish to call it immoral, he thinks [The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn] contains but little humor, and that of a very coarse type. He regards it as the veriest trash. The librarian and the other members of the committee entertain similar views, characterizing it as rough, coarse and inelegant, dealing with a series of experiences not elevating, the whole book being more suited to the slums than to intelligent, respectable people. “’The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’,” in The Boston Transcript, March 17, 1885 (and reprinted as part of “The Clash of Issues,” in Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, edited by Barry A. Marks, D. C. Heath and Company, 1959). WILLIAM FAULKNER (essay date 1956) In my opinion, Mark Twain was the first truly American writer, and all of us since are his heirs, we descended from him. Before him the writers who were considered American were not, really; their tradition, their culture was European culture. It was only with Twain, Walt Whitman, there became a true indigenous American culture….Of course, Whitman was in chronology the first, but Whitman was an experimenter with the notion there might be an American literature. Twain was the first that grew up in the belief that there is an American literature and he found himself producing it. So I call him the father of American literature though he is not the first one. (p. 88) William Faulkner, “Colloquies at Nagano Seminar,” in Faulkner at Nagano, edited by Robert A. Jeliffe (© 1956 by Kenkyusha Ltd.). Kenkyusha, 1956, pp * Examples of criticism from Twentieth Century Literary Criticism, vol. 6, p. 454 & 471 (on your handout)

Single-Volume Works Most are anthologies of critical essays. Each chapter or entry by a different author constitutes a different source. May be entirely on Huck Finn, the body of Twain’s work, or a topic that frequently arises in his work.

Online Sources Student Resources in Context – will provide full texts of background and critical essays.Student Resources in Context ProQuest Learning Literature – will provide full texts of background and critical essays.ProQuest Learning Literature JSTOR – will provide full texts of scholarly articles (primarily criticism).JSTOR SIRS – will provide full texts of a variety of sources. Nicely indexed. Good stuffSIRS

What’s Next… Update Noodlebib account. Browse for either print or online sources Use LibraryThing to tag or review a source. Replace all materials on Reserve Cart. Study Hard for AP Exams!