The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

To call someone a puddinghead is to call them an idiot. A newcomer to Dawson’s Landing, Twain’s title character gains his unfair, inaccurate nickname when he makes a regrettable  joke that is unintelligible to the townspeople. Eventually, Puddin’head Wilson demonstrates his ample intelligence when he uses forensic science to clear up the mystery at the core of the book, and in the process, catches a killer and rectifies an old injustice. Here we see Twain at the height of his creative power as he explores issues of miscegenation and slavery.

A version of this text has been digitized and is available through the Internet Archive.

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/Record/256534