Pudd'nhead Wilson

　　This intriguing work tackles the seminal American issue ofslavery in an antebellum tragicomedy of switched identities, as afreeborn child and a slave child change places. The result is abiting social commentary-plus a good old-fashioned murdermystery...

　　Featuring the brilliantly drawn Roxanna, a mulatto slave whosuffers dire consequences after switching her infant son with hermaster's baby, and the clever Pudd'nhead Wilson, an ostracizedsmall-town lawyer, Twain's darkly comic masterpiece is aprovocative exploration of slavery and miscegenation. Leslie A.Fiedler described the novel as "half melodramatic detective story,half bleak tragedy," noting that "morally, it is one of the mosthonest books in our literature." "Those Extraordinary Twins, theslapstick story that evolved into Pudd'nhead Wilson, provides afascinating view of the author's process. The text for this ModernLibrary Paperback Classic was set from the 1894 first Americanedition.