The Trouble Begins with “Critical Insights: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”

The Mark Twain House & Museum welcomes scholars R. Kent Rasmussen, Kevin Mac Donnell, Barbara Schmidt, & Patrick Ober to the Trouble Begins lecture series to discuss the recently published book “Critical Insights: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” The book was edited by Rasmussen & all were among the contributing scholars. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer holds a special place in American literature. Never out of print since its original publication in 1876 & equally beloved by both children & adults, it is one of the most widely read American novels ever published. Despite the book’s enduring popularity & its author’s fame as one of the greatest American writers, it has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. It is a difficult-to-believe but remarkable fact that Critical Insights: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is the first entirely original collection of critical analyses of the novel ever published! The Trouble Begins lecture series is made possible by support from The Center for Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, Elmira, New York & from Webster Bank.