Blues for Huckleberry

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In his Introduction to the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, O'Meally explores whether the book might be a "blues novel," and whether this quality might be the root of its continuing resonance for us. O'Meally remarks that "rather than softening or turning from life's pains, blues music probes the ‘jagged grain' of a troublesome existence" while still conveying a "desire for connectedness and completion." To O'Meally, blues motifs resonate in the risks the white Huck and the escaped slave Jim take in their journey down the Mississippi and the quest for universal freedom they embody.

This resource includes O'Meally's Introduction. Commentaries by Jonathan Arac, Susan K. Harris, and David L. Smith on the novel and O'Meally's interpretation of it can be found at Three Viewpoints on Blues for Huckleberry.

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