《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》描写小顽童哈克遇到逃离主人的小黑奴吉姆，两人为了躲避一场杀人误会，乘坐一条小木筏沿著密西西比河顺流而下，碰到了各种有趣的遭遇。其中最紧张刺激的一段 ，是哈克拆穿骗子“国王”欺骗三姐妹家产的骗局，结果被坏蛋穷追不舍。而哈克为了应否协助黑奴逃亡也时常内心交战，终於在辗转发展下有了一个完满的收场。

《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》可以说是一幅杰出的美国社会生活风物图。马克·吐温以幽默的文笔，再现出自己早年在南方的所见所闻，把自己生活经历的浑金璞玉雕琢成精美的文学珍品。马克·吐温卓尔不群之处在于他通过描写具体的、局部的人与事，反映出人类普遍的思想状况。

This perennially popular Norton Critical Edition reprints for the first time the definitive IowaCalifornia text of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, complete with all the original illustrations by Edward Windsor Kemble and John Harley. The text is accompanied by explanatory annotations.

"Contexts and Sources" provides readers with a rich selection of documents related to the historical background, language, composition, sale, reception, and newly discovered first half of the manuscript of Mark Twain's greatest work. Included are letters on the writing of the novel, excerpts from the author's autobiography, samples of bad poetry that inspired his satire (including an effort by young Sam Clemens himself), a section on the censorship of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by schools and libraries over a hundredyear period, and commentary by David Carkeet on dialects in the book and by Earl F. Briden on its "racist" illustrations. In addition, this section reprints the full texts of both "Sociable Jimmy," upon which is based the controversial theory that Huck speaks in a "black voice," and "A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It," the first significant attempt by Mark Twain to capture the speech of an African American in print.

"Criticism" of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is divided into "Early Responses" (including the first negative review) and "Modern Views," by Victor A. Doyno, T. S. Eliot, Jane Smiley, David L. Smith, Shelley Fisher Fishkin (the "black voice" thesis), James R. Kincaid (a rebuttal of Fishkin), and David R. Sewell. Also included is Toni Morrison's moving personal "Introduction" to the troubling experience of reading and rereading Mark Twain's masterpiece.

A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included.

Preface to the Third Edition

A Note on the Text and Illustrations

The Text of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Contexts and Sources

 Mark Twain · [Letters about Huckleberry Finn] · From the Autobiography

 THE "POET LARIAT," THE "SWEET SINGER OF MICHIGAN," AND YOUNG SAM CLEMENS

 Bloodgood H. Cutter · On the Death of His Beloved Wife

 Julia A. Moore · Little Andrew

 Sam Clemens · To Jennie and To Mollie

 Publishing Circular · Confidential Terms to Agents

 A BANNED BOOK: ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF "TROUBLE" FOR HUCK'S BOOK

 Boston Transcript, March 1885

 Springfield Republican, March 1885

 Mark Twain · Replies to the Newspapers

 John H. Wallace · The Case against Huck Finn

 Earl F. Briden · Kemble's "Specialty" and the Pictorial Countertext of Huckleberry Finn

 David Carkeet · The Dialects in Huckleberry Finn

 Mark Twain · A True Story, Repeated Word for Word as I Heard It · Sociable Jimmy

Criticism

EARLY RESPONSES

 [William Ernest Henley] · [Review] The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

 Brander Matthews · [Review: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]

 [Robert Bridges] · Mark Twain's Blood-Curdling Humor

 Thomas Sergeant Perry · [The First Major American Review]

 MODERN VIEWS

 Victor A. Doyno · From Writing Huck Finn: Mark Twain's Creative Process

 T. S. Eliot · [Introduction to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]

 Jane Smiley · Say It Ain't So, Huck: Second Thoughts on Mark Twain's "Masterpiece"

 David L. Smith · Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse

 Shelley Fisher Fishkin · Jimmy [from Was Huck Black?]

 James R. Kincaid · Voices on the Mississippi [Review of Was Huck Black?]

 Toni Morrison · [This Amazing, Troubling Book]

Mark Twain: A Chronology

Selected Bibliography