Puddn'head Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins (Norton Critical Editions)

The conventional explanation for Twain’s extraordinary interest in twins is given in Sidney E. Berger’s preface to the Norton edition and highlighted by the title of Justin Kaplan’s biography, Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: Twain was himself two different people, whether you divide them into gentle humorist versus savage satirist, crude jokester versus self-censoring storyteller, teller of comic tall tales versus serious reporter, or some other pair. But this explanation seems feeble. In any case, Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins represent a kind of extreme thematization of the twins who cannot be permanently severed, whether they are Siamese or two separate twins like the Luigi and Angelo of the first book, show more supposedly identical but with different hair color.
The theme is set up in the narration of how David Wilson got the name Pudd’nhead; the locals, with their literal-mindedness, know that if Wilson killed his half of the offending dog, the “general dog” would die. The Cappello twins, though Twain separated them when he separated the two stories, are linked in just the same way as the two halves of the dog: Luigi says of the man he killed, “If I had let the man kill him [Angelo], wouldn’t he have killed me, too? I saved my own life.” With the stories, it is the mere act of separation that kills Those Extraordinary Twins, though Pudd’nhead Wilson survives. Twain calls the dividing of the stories “a kind of literary Caesarean operation,” but it’s really more like separating Siamese twins, with the not uncommon result that one dies.
Tom Driscoll and Vallet de Chambers are not literally twins, though the major plot device of the exchange of one child for another as in The Prince and the Pauper, depends on their likeness. The exchange allows Roxy’s son to be a bigger villain than he could have been as a slave. We wince when Roxy says that her son’s meanness, dishonesty, and ingratitude are the nigger in him coming out. When Roxy, who’s been freed when her master Percy Driscoll (the real Tom’s father) died, offers to settle her son’s debts by having him sell her, and when he sells her down the river, we wish for something very bad to happen to him.
Tom eventually murders his benefactor, the real Tom’s uncle Judge Driscoll, while he—Tom—is in blackface. But Twain has so arranged the plot that Tom doesn’t go to jail for life but is sold down the river, presumably a worse punishment. And as for the real Tom, he becomes an illustration of how emancipation will never mean equality, since he has no manners or language or education to be at home with white folks,while he can no longer associate with blacks.
This book is subtitled “a tragedy,” while Those Extraordinery Twins is called a farce, and is one, with the teetotal twin getting drunk when the other one topes, the “twin defense” in the trial, and the town deciding to hang Luigi; did the pudd’nheads think the general Italian wouldn’t die? show less

Of this edition, I only read "Pudd'nhead Wilson", but I absolutely loved it : ) I'm not sure if I want to read "Those Extraordinary Twins" because I'm not sure if the writing style would be different. This is my first Mark Twain story read -- I loved it. I want a Pudd'nhead Wilson Calendar! I loved the little "calendar" notes at the beginning of each chapter. When I went to class after reading only half of the novel/story, we couldn't stop talking about the little sayings and the story, sharing our favorite quotes and anecdotes of the story. It was so much fun!

Adrianne

A lesser known but still incredible Twain novel, Pudd'nhead tells the story of a misunderstood man struggling to overcome the stereotypes put upon him. Twains style and humor make this a truly enjoyable read.