The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Description

This edition features a new introduction by noted Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen that situates the novel for a contemporary audience. The classic boyhood adventure tale, updated with a new introduction by noted Mark Twain scholar R. Kent Rasmussen.Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read A consummate prankster with a quick wit, Tom Sawyer dreams of a bigger fate than simply being a "rich boy." Yet through the novel's humorous escapades-from the famous episode of the whitewashed fence to the trial of Injun Joe-Mark Twain explores the deeper themes of the adult world, one of dishonesty and superstition, murder and revenge, starvation and slavery. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, Mark Twain spent his youth in Hannibal, Missouri. Trying his hand at printing, typesetting and gold-mining, he eventually found his calling in journalism and travel writing. Twain died in 1910 after a colourful life of travelling, bankruptcy and great literary success. R. Kent Rasmussen has written nine books on Twain and more than a dozen other books.

"Twain had a greater effect than any other writer on the evolution of American prose."