''Tom Sawyer, Detective'' is an
1896
Events
January–March
* January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers.
* January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state.
* January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that ...
novel by
Mark Twain. It is a sequel to ''
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the no ...
'' (1876), ''
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United S ...
'' (1884), and ''
Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894).
Tom Sawyer
Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawyer, ...
attempts to solve a mysterious murder in this
burlesque of the immensely popular detective novels of the time. Like ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', the story is told using the first-person narrative voice of
Huck Finn.
Film adaptations
*In 1938, the novel was made into
a film directed by
Louis King
Louis King (June 28, 1898 – September 7, 1962) was an American actor and film director of westerns and adventure movies in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. , starring
Billy Cook as Tom and
Donald O'Connor
Donald David Dixon Ronald O'Connor (August 28, 1925 – September 27, 2003) was an American dancer, singer and actor. He came to fame in a series of films in which he co-starred with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talking Mule.
His b ...
as
Huckleberry Finn
Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...
.
*A similar incarnation of Tom Sawyer appeared in the film version of ''
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (''LoEG'') is a comic book series (inspired by the 1960 British film ''The League of Gentlemen'') co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The series spans four vol ...
'', set three years after the publication of this novel. In this film, Tom works for the
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...
, and in the
novelization of the film, Sawyer mentions that he once worked as a detective.
Controversy
In 1909, Danish schoolmaster Valdemar Thoresen claimed, in an article in the magazine ''Maaneds'', that the plot of the book had been plagiarized from
Steen Blicher's story ''
The Vicar of Weilby''. Blicher's work had been translated into German, but not into English, and Twain's secretary wrote Mr. Thoresen a letter, stating, "Mr. Clemens is not familiar with Danish and does not read German fluently, and has not read the book you mention, nor any translation or adaptation of it that he is aware of. The matter constituting 'Tom Sawyer, Detective,' is original with Mr. Clemens, who has never been consciously a plagiarist."
However, in an opening note in the book preceding the first chapter (as republished by Gutenberg Press), the author states:
::Note: Strange as the incidents of this story are, they
::are not inventions, but facts—even to the public confession
::of the accused. I take them from an old-time Swedish
::criminal trial, change the actors, and transfer the scenes
::to America. I have added some details, but only a couple of
::them are important ones. — M. T.]"
'Tom Sawyer, Detective'
Chapter 1
As the story material (the 1626 trial of Pastor Søren Jensen Quist of Vejlby) predated Blicher, Twain/Clemens had as much right to use it as Blicher.
See also
* Mark Twain bibliography
References
External links
*
''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' / ''Tom Sawyer, Detective''
University of California Press, 2004.
Full Text of ''Tom Sawyer, Detective''
online a
Mark Twain Classics
*
American mystery novels
American novels adapted into films
Novels by Mark Twain
1896 American novels
Novels involved in plagiarism controversies
First-person narrative novels
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