If Mark Twain were told that he would write imperishable creations not only for children, but also for adults and would become the favorite author of many, many subsequent classics of American literature, he would probably be very surprised and say: “But this doesn’t may be". “We ask you to excuse us, but this is exactly so,” grateful readers would answer him.
Everyone loves Mark Twain: women and men, old people and adolescents, rich and poor. His prose is extremely democratic because it is beautiful. What genre can include "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", the most famous work of M. Twain? A very difficult question. To answer it, you need to look at what genres are generally present in this composition.
Genres
The genre of the work “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is difficult to determine, because in this epic narrative several literary movements are mixed at once:
- adventure (the first thing that catches your eye);
- comedy (also clearly visible);
- tragedy (already less obvious);
- biography (unbelievable).
And now, first things first.
Adventure
It is well known to both specialists and ordinary bibliophiles that each work can be read many times and find more and more new meanings - this is a sign of good literature.
As for the adventures of Tom Sawyer, they immediately appear before the reader in all magnificence: Tom and his friend Huck managed to visit an uninhabited island, find a treasure, see how mercilessly but not calmly kill a person, help expose a murderer, relive fear death, lost in a cave, and even find love in the face of Becky Thatcher. It’s extremely exciting to read about all this. Such is the superficial cut of Mark Twain's text - this semantic layer of the work is easily recognized by both adolescents and adults.
So, the first answer to the question of what is the genre of the work “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” is ready.
Comedy
With this, too, everything seems to be clear. Yes, someone may not like the tricks of Tom and Huck, but no one will deny that they are funny. Especially hilarious is how Tom easily painted the fence, attaching a little ingenuity to the solution of the problem and not even getting his hands dirty. Everyone who reads their favorite places in this ageless book. It makes no sense to list everything here. And those who have not read, put off everything: work, study, children, wife, husbands, lovers - and run to read with all possible agility. The whole prose of Mark Twain (not only “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”) is imbued with a unique authorial humor, which Ernest Hemingway and Kurt Vonnegut and many other writers admired.
This is the second answer to the question, what is the genre of the work “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.
Tragedy. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn as two childhood images
And now about the sad. The tragedy "lurked" in the image of Huck Finn. It would seem, well, what is so unusual in a stroller boy whose father drinks? The hopelessness of Huck Finn's position is underscored by the well-being of Tom Sawyer.
The loneliness of Huck and the "nepotism" of Tom. Please note that although Tom always tries to somehow fake his aunt, he still loves her dearly, and she loves him. Near Huck there are no such dear and close people.
Tom lives only in the world of his (children's) fantasies, while Huck, on the contrary, is present both in the world of children and in the world of adults. When he wants fun, he goes and plays with Tom, but he has to solve exclusively adult problems: what to do with his drunkard father and how should he be in a world where he does not have a single soulmate?
This bi-peace allows Huck sometimes to look at Tom's pranks with poorly concealed skepticism, in other words, the eyes of an adult. Tom still does not know life, and Huck, unfortunately, knows. And she does not remind him of the taste of watermelon sugar.
There is a third answer to the question, what is the genre of the work “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.
"Biography" of childhood
In the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain managed not only to tell the story of an ordinary boy, but also to capture a special “biography” of his childhood, his archetype. Indeed, no one came so close to the secret of tender youth as Mark Twain.
Of course, lovers of Ray Bradbury’s compositions will exclaim: “What about Dandelion Wine?” The work of Bradbury, unlike The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, is not only about childhood. It is about everything. It can be interpreted as an existential parable. In "Wine ..." there are motives of life, death, human loneliness, aging. There is also childhood there, but it is not in the first roles. At Bradbury childhood participates in the carnival of life along with all the states of human being.
And this is the fourth and final, philosophical answer to the question, what is the genre of the work of Tom Sawyer.
Why are the writings about Tom Sawyer still so popular?
Partially the answer is that the "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by genre is extremely diverse, as shown above. But one cannot fail to note the skill of the translator Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky, who brilliantly conveyed not only the style of Mark Twain, but also the unique author's imagery.
Mark Twain's language is fascinating: it is simple and deep at the same time. Under the mask of a cynic, a great humanist is hiding. After all, a person can be loved in different ways: blindly, when no flaws are visible and he is subjectively woven from one solid virtues - this is immature love. But some are lucky, and they love a person even despite the fact that he has flaws, and they are quite obvious - this is mature love. Just like Mark Twain loved a man, but with all the distinctness he saw every flaw of his nature.
In parting, there is only one remark: do not deny yourself the pleasure and read together with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Of the biographies of two teenagers-tomboys is the book "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn."