description: At the beginning of Pudd'nhead Wilson a young slave woman, fearing for her infant's son's life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master's.  From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels.  On its surface, Pudd'nhead Wilson possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century   reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution.  Yet it is not a mystery novel.  Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes.  Written in 1894, Pudd'nhead Wilson glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed   a gem among the author's later works.
language: English
title: The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
titlecomplete: The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson
characters: Roxana Langley, Roxanne, David Pudd'nhead Wilson
genres: Literature, School, Humor, 19th Century, Classics, Classic Literature, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Mystery, American
ratings_count: 18050
places: The United States of America, Missouri
publisher: Indypublish.Com