READING SAM CLEMENS

by Steven Steinbock

At the beginning of summer Sam, my youngest son, was very happy to put all his schoolwork aside. He also declared, after finishing Lawrence Block’s The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, that he was finished reading until school started up again in the fall.

“What’s the matter? You didn’t like the book?”

“No, Dad. It was great. But it’s summer, get it? No books. Freedom.”

“No way,” I told him.

(This opposition to summer reading is restricted to my younger son. Nate, ready to enter his senior year of high school, is a pretty voracious reader. This summer it’s been Neal Stephenson, John Irving, and Yukio Mishima).

“Sam, you ever read Tom Sawyer?” I asked, abbreviating the title which I rarely do.

“No.”

“Son,” I said, handing him my old illustrated copy. “This is the greatest American novel of all time. Some people prefer Huck Finn, but for style, adventure, and the pure joy of reading, this is my favorite.”

“Okay.”

Flash forward. Late July. I ask Sam what he thinks of The Adventures of Tom Sawyeer, and he shrugs his shoulders. “I’ve only read three chapters. I just don’t understand the language.”

I set my hand on his shoulder, and put on my best Mississippi riverboat voice, and say, “Son, I’d be obliged if you’d allow me the privilege of reading to you tonight.”

He protested that he was thirteen, not seven. But I could see he kind of liked the idea.

Now, I’m no Hal Holbrook. Nor am I John Floyd. But I did my best getting inside the voice of Samuel Clemens, and I think I did an admirable job. From the questions, smiles, and frequent bursts of laughter, I can tell that the Twenty-First Century Sam Steinbock is fully engaged with the Nineteenth Century Sam Clemens. We’ve paused a number of times to discuss the authors use of irony and satire, as well as his keen portrayal of the innocence of youth. The mildly literate dialogue between Tom and his friends, juxtaposed with Twain’s erudite narrative, has brought up many a cackle. We’ve also had the chance to talk about how – even though many a modern reader misread his portrayal of blacks and his use of the N-word – Mark Twain had a deep understanding of race and racism and may indeed have been a more progressive thinker than the average Twenty-first Century politician or schoolteacher, whatever the color of their skin.

I’m having a fun time revisiting the fictional St. Petersburg. I hope Sam continues to let me tag along.