"Huck” first, then “James”: I

Percival Everett, author of recently released book title “James” (2024), recounted in a late March NPR interview on WESA radio that he read and reread Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” “some fifteen times in a row” as preparation for writing his novel. James is Jim from the point of view of the enslaved black man. “My writing ‘James’ is not in any way an indictment of Twain at all," he says. "I'm writing the novel that Twain was – not ill equipped – but unequipped to create. That being Jim’s story.” He goes on to say, “So I consider this more as being in discourse with Twain." In preparation for reading “James,” I reread “Huckleberry Finn,” once. For the present article, I am revisiting “Huck,” and then next time I’ll comment on “James.” The character of Huck Finn…