Part of our Trouble Begins Series – “What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” -Mark Twain

Join eminent Twain scholar Shelley Fisher Fishkin as she delves into the origins and lasting influence of Jim, the beloved yet polarizing character from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Fishkin explores Jim’s complex portrayal as a shrewd, self-aware father —one of the first fully realized Black fathers in American fiction—while examining the controversies surrounding his depiction. From critiques of racism to his challenge of minstrel stereotypes, Jim’s legacy has sparked debates for over a century. Fishkin also traces Jim’s impact across film, translations, and classrooms, offering a fresh and nuanced portrait of this iconic and enduring character.

REGISTER HERE. Books are available for purchase in-store and online.

The Trouble Begins Series is features distinguished scholars who discuss elements of the life, work, and era of Mark Twain and use them to explore wider themes in the humanities and both historical and current issues.

_____________________________________________________________

About the Author:

Shelley Fisher Fishkin is the Joseph S. Atha Professor of the Humanities, professor of English, and professor (by courtesy) of African and African American Studies at Stanford University. She is the author, editor, or co-editor of fifty books, including Writing America: Literary Landmarks from Walden Pond to Wounded Knee, Was Huck Black? Mark Twain and African American Voices, and the multivolume Oxford Mark Twain, as well as many articles and essays. Her principal concern throughout her career has been literature and social justice. Much of her work has focused on issues of race and racism in America, and on recovering and interpreting voices that were silenced, marginalized, or ignored in America’s past. She received the Olivia Langdon Clemens Award for Scholarly Innovation and Creativity from the Mark Twain Circle of America in 2022 and was Awarded Carl Bode-Norman Holmes Pearson Prize for Lifetime Achievement and Outstanding Contribution to American Studies from the American Studies Association in 2023.

About the Moderator:

Mark Dawidziak is the author or editor of twenty-five books, including A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe, three studies of landmark television series: The Columbo Phile: A Casebook, and The Night Stalker Companion and Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the The Twilight Zone. He also is an internationally recognized Mark Twain scholar, and five of his books are about the iconic American writer. He has been portraying Twain on stage for more than forty years. No less an authority than Ken Burns has said, “Nobody gets Mark Twain the way Mark Dawidziak does.”

_____________________________________________________________

Virtual author programs are supported by Suzanne Hopgood in the memory of former MTH&M Trustee Frank Lord.