About book The Tragedy Of Pudd'nhead Wilson/Those Extraordinary Twins (1997)
And why is this awful difference made between white and black? - Tom Driscoll Sewaktu ditugaskan untuk membaca Huckleberry Finn, saya tidak sanggup untuk menyelesaikannya. Bukan karena masalah dialek, tapi lebih karena penuturannya yang menurut saya agak sedikit bertele-tele. Meskipun begitu, saya tetap menyukai karya-karya Twain yang lain, yaitu The Diary of Adam and Eve dan yang baru saja saya baca, Pudd’nhead Wilson. Novel versi Barnes and Noble Classics ini merupakan gabungan dari dua cerita, yaitu The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson dan Those Extraordinary Twins. Those Extraordinary Twins sebenarnya merupakan draft awal dari Pudd’nhead Wilson. Namun, seperti diungkapkan oleh Twain, seiring dengan berkembangnya alur, entah kenapa tokoh-tokoh minor pada akhirnya mempunyai cerita sendiri. Sang kembar pun sedikit terabaikan. Twain kemudian meminta pembacanya untuk menganggap dua cerita ini sebagai dua cerita yang tidak berhubungan sama sekali. Baiklah, mari kita membicarakan cerita pertama, yaitu cerita mengenai seorang pengacara eksentrik bernama David ‘Pudd’nhead’ Wilson yang hobi mengoleksi sidik jari. Karakter Pudd’nhead mengingatkan saya akan Father Brown ciptaan G.K. Chesterton. Keduanya menyelidiki kasus dengan cara yang tidak biasa, walau bisa dikatakan Father Brown sedikit lebih ‘edan’. Masalah rasisme adalah inti utama dari The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson. Rasisme yang menjadi bagian dari kehidupan sebuah kota kecil di Missouri membuat Roxy, seorang budak perempuan, menukar anak laki-lakinya dengan anak laki-laki seorang pejabat dengan harapan anaknya mendapatkan kehidupan yang lebih baik. Lho kok bisa? Sebenarnya Roxy tidak seutuhnya berkulit hitam, tapi karena di dalam darahnya mengalir sedikit darah Afrika, ia dikategorikan sebagai ‘Negro’ oleh hukum. Anak Roxy pun tumbuh dilimpahi oleh kekayaan, sedangkan anak kandung sang pejabat harus menanggung beban sebagai budak. Cerita ini memang memuat humor-humor ala Twain, tapi intinya cerita ini bernada tragis. Bukan tragedi Pudd’nhead Wilson menurut saya, tapi tragedi bagi kedua anak yang ditukar tersebut. Membaca cerita ini mengingatkan kita akan pengalaman pedih orang-orang yang terkena dampak dari rasisme dan perbudakan. Beralih ke cerita selanjutnya, Those Extraordinary Twins. Seperti diakui oleh Twain, cerita ini ditulis tanpa pretensi apa pun. Ia hanya ingin mengisahkan pengalaman sepasang kembar siam dalam menjalani hidup. Di dalam cerita pertama, kembar Capello bukanlah kembar siam; sedangkan di dalam draft awal ini mereka adalah kembar siam dengan dua kepala, empat tangan, satu badan, dan sepasang kaki. Kerumitan bertambah karena Luigi dan Angelo mempunya sifat dan minat yang berbeda. Contohnya, Angelo sangat religius, sedangkan Luigi tidak. Agak susah memang membayangkan bagaimana mereka hidup dengan visi dan misi berbeda dalam satu tubuh. Namun, kembar Capello mempunyai caranya tersendiri dalam membagi tubuh mereka. Bagian ini yang wajib untuk dibaca. Sangat menarik. Sekali lagi, Mark Twain membuktikan kepada saya bahwa beliau adalah salah satu penulis Amerika terbaik sampai saat ini.
An unsteady attempt by Clemens to explore race in the old South. Well written, witty and smart, The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson is an enjoyable read in many ways, however despite the best efforts of the great writer, in the end, the story, to be blunt about it, fails. Clemons is trying to be sympathetic toward African-Americans, however because of how his story is structured, Tom Driscoll, the 1/32 negro slave child, switched as an infant by his mother with a rich white child, is a complete bastard. This guy is so awful that at one point he knowingly sells his own mother down the river. Driscoll is a lair, a coward a thief, a murderer and a cad. Just basically awful. The whole time though the white child who grows up as a slave, is strong, brave, gentle and kind. Clemons is making the case of nurture over nature, with the idea, that if these two men had never been switched, they would have grown up to be completely different men. Which is fine, but it still leaves a bad taste, especially the ending where Driscoll meets his fate which deserved or not, is pretty horrifying.On a positive note, it's use of fingerprints to solve a murder case is one of the first times the technique appeared in fiction.Having written all of this, I still highly recommend the book. First off, because as with all books by Clemons it is exceptionally well written, but also because it does paint a striking picture of the pre-war South, the kind of picture that actually reveals a bit of the reality of life in the era as opposed to how we have it presented in our modern entertainment. And also, because the story itself gives an excellent view of the mindset of a solid liberal of the age who deeply cared about the rights of all humanity, but who was also, and even against his will, much like the main character of this book, a product of his world.
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It was interesting to read Twain's comments about how the novel shifted over time. I had no idea that the twins had the main role initially to then be replaced by the side characters that steadily grew in magnitude. I must admit that I preferred the dram of Pudd'nhead Wilson over the farcical account of the twins. Stil, an unusual origin. Twain has a very bitting account of a doctor's remedy in the twin section that made me crack up. I have not been reading too much Twain, but this turns out to be volume three in a huge set of Twain's complete works that I inherited from my mother. It has been told that they had to choose between a set of Dickens's complete works or a set of Twain's. I wish she got both!!! lol. Regardless, plenty of Twain to admire. I came across some interesting books of Twain's latter works (initially unpublished) and volumes with letters in my used bookstore the other day. It seems as UC press published a great deal of his letters etc in the 60s. Alright, to cap it off - "Pudd'nhead" was delightful as an atmospheric combination of satire and drama from the 19th century south. It was vivid and colorful although I did not sense any personal connection with the work. It was simply enjoyable and made me appreciate Twain a bit more. Another piece of the Twain puzzle so to say.....
—Haaze
A couple years ago I found this nice illustrated and boxed collector’s copy of Pudd’nhead Wilson at the excellent book store in Virginia City, NV. It’s a classy-looking illustrated volume with some color prints, a foreword from Mark Twain, and the Pudd’nhead Wilson’s “calendar” of sayings as an appendix. Finally got around to reading it, and I’ve got to say, I’m disappointed.First of all, the binding was so dried out that it cracked when I opened it. Oh, well. Books are for reading, not for looking pretty on the shelf. No, the real disappointment is with the author I so respect and admire. I couldn’t have guessed Mark Twain could produce such a volume of racist clichés with the cleverness and subtlety of a minstrel show. I ordinarily don’t respond to political correctness and modern revisionism, but this book seems to have been written to the lowest social and intellectual level of its own time.The story features two boys switched in the cradle by their caricature of a black slave nanny. One is the son of a prominent Missouri man and the other son of an unknown shiftless black man, but both are light-skinned and remarkably alike. The fateful switcheroo results in the “white” child being consigned to the life of a household slave, and the “black” one endowed with all the benefits his well-to-do family can give. Throughout his life, the undiscovered black (himself unaware of his parentage) is a nasty, thankless, morally bankrupt, miserable human being. It is the eccentric lawyer Pudd’nhead Wilson who discovers the truth as the ridiculous tale moves from farce to tragedy. Well, even Shakespeare indulged in dumb plots of mistaken identity and such, too, providing low-brow laughs for the groundlings. Still, I can’t believe Mark Twain wrote this mess, and then went so far as to publish it.
—Ray Ziemer
As a standalone text Puddin'head Wilson is fantastic, containing elements of social stigma, identity, "passing," and hypocrisies. The addition of Those Extraordinary Twins then adds the concepts of authorship, intertextuality, and twinhood to the discussion, albeit twinhood does appear in the first book as well. In essence the books are twins to each other, slightly different versions of the same narrative that share the same foundation, but ultimately split into different directions. On its own, Those Extraordinary Twins is inconsequential, but Puddin'head Wilson triumphs on its own two legs.
—Matt Sautman
