Huck Finn’s Anniversary

Ciao, amici! As I was clearing out email this morning, I came across this bit of information: today is Huck Finn’s anniversary.

More accurately, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was first published on February 18, 1885. (This link is to a Kindle version that costs 49¢ and has 13 stories in it—a steal, in my humble opinion.)

I’m not going to tell you about Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain, nor am I going to discuss his writing style or the contents of this book.

But I am marking the occasion for a few reasons:

1. It’s Mark Twain.
2. This book is still around the top of its respective lists on Amazon (and for good reason).
3. I think if he was alive today, he would be an avid supporter of the indie writing movement. He understood a writer’s passion for the craft and understood the compulsion to share our words with the world. After all, it was Twain who said: The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. I’ve always said my reason for being was to bring two amazing human beings into the world. And I still believe that. But I found professional purpose when I started writing fiction.

Whether I’m right or wrong about my third point is immaterial. I am now and always have been a fan of his work, and I’m happy to mark the anniversary of the publication of such an important piece of American literature.

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What about you? When did you find purpose? Let’s talk about it.

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• Image of book cover courtesy of E. W. Kemble (1861–1933) – illustrator [Public domain]
• Image of Mark Twain courtesy of wikicommons [Public domain]