''Tom Sawyer, Detective'' is an
1896
Events
January
* 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 Wilhelm Röntgen's dis ...
novel by
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
. It is a sequel to ''
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (also simply known as ''Tom Sawyer'') is a novel by Mark Twain published on June 9, 1876, about a boy, Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1830s-1840s in the town of St. Petersbu ...
'' (1876), ''
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' is a picaresque novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885.
Commonly named among the Great American Novels, th ...
'' (1885), and ''
Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894).
Tom Sawyer attempts to solve a mysterious murder in this
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. 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.
Early years
King was born in 1898 in Christiansburg, Virginia. His name was also written ...
, 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, in succession, with Gloria Jean, Peggy Ryan, and Francis the Talki ...
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 multi-genre, cross-over comic book series co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The comic book spans four volumes, an original graphic novel, and ...
'', 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 tasked with conducting criminal investigations and providing protection to American political leaders, thei ...
, and in the
novelization of the film, Sawyer mentions that he once worked as a detective.
Plagiarism accusation
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."
"Was 'Tom Sawyer' Danish Or American?; Why Mark Twain Is Charged with 'Borrowing' from Steen Blicher's Story of 'The Vicar of Weilby.'"
by Henry S. Leach, ''New York Times'' Sunday Magazine, February 6, 1910, p7
However, in an opening note in the book preceding the first chapter (as republished by Gutenberg Press), the author states:
As the story material (the 1626 trial of Pastor Søren Jensen Quist of Vejlby) predated Blicher, Twain 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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