Taylor, I'd be interested if nobody beat me to it. For the CD and/or the
video.

Glen Johnson
Catholic Univ.
-----Original Message-----
From: Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, April 10, 1999 5:43 PM
Subject: Reviewer needed for _Huck Finn_ CD-ROM and video


>The Mark Twain Forum needs a reviewer for the following items:
>
>    _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Understanding a Classic_.
>    Princeton, N.J.: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1998.  34
>    mins., color.  FFH 7968.  VHS Format.  Purchase: $149.00.  Rental:
>    $75.00.  Prices include public performance rights.
>
>    Few works in American literature address issues as timeless as those
>    explored in Mark Twain's controversial novel, Huckleberry Finn. In
>    this program, three scholars, including noted Twain biographer Justin
>    Kaplan, examine the work and its various themes--race, cruelty,
>    consequences of greed, meaning of civilization, and the nature of
>    freedom. The author's life is traced from his days as a printer's
>    apprentice, riverboat pilot, and journalist, to renowned author. Twain
>    scholars Shelley Fishkin and David Lionel Smith discuss
>    African-American influences from Twain's childhood that are reflected
>    in the work, and suggest that these references, misinterpreted by
>    readers, form the basis for charges that Twain was a racist. Incidents
>    from his life, including his vehement anti-slavery and anti-racist
>    articles couched in irony, provide convincing counterpoint to the
>    charges.
>
>    _Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn and Other Works_.  Princeton, N.J.:
>    Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 1998.  FFH 7960.  CD-ROM.
>    $149.00.  Price include public performance rights.
>
>    This valuable scholarly companion provides in-depth information that
>    allows students to gain a true appreciation of six major works:
>    _Huckleberry Finn_, "The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," "The Man
>    That Corrupted Hadleyburg," "The $30,000 Bequest," "A True Story," and
>    "Sociable Jimmy".
>
>    Featuring:
>
>    - The full text of all six works, fully searchable by word or phrase
>
>    - A screening room containing interviews with Twain scholars Justin
>      Kaplan, author of the definitive Twain biography, _Mr. Clemens and
>      Mark Twain_; David Lionel Smith, Professor of English at Williams
>      College; and Shelley Fishkin, Professor of American Studies and
>      General Editor of _The Oxford Mark Twain_
>
>    - A network of hyper-links which illuminate themes in Huckleberry
>      Finn
>
>    - 10 essays including whether Twain should be considered a racist; his
>      forays into publishing; his stance as an anti-imperialist; his early
life
>      and travels; his problems with international copyright infringements;
>      the influences of his wife and of the Reconstruction backlash on his
>      writing
>
>    Special functions: All text is easily accessible with the "turn" of a
>    page. Editions pop-up by moving the cursor over the text. Pages or
>    portions of the text can be printed and added to portfolios.  The
>    CD-ROM can be used with either Windows or Macintosh.
>
>As usual, the review must be of publishable quality, and it would be due
>within two months of your receipt of the book (i.e., due late-June
>1999).  The deadline is particularly important, as we are making every
>effort for Forum reviews to appear before print reviews.  If you are
>inclined to procrastinate, please don't offer to review the book.
>
>An ideal reviewer would be teaching HF this semester, and still have
>time remaining to incorporate this material into a class or two, and
>thus gather some student feedback.
>
>If you would like to see the general content and style of Forum book
>reviews, feel free to browse the archive of reviews, which are available
>at TwainWeb:
>
>     http://web.mit.edu/linguistics/www/forum/
>
>If you're interested in writing a review, please send me both your home
>and institutional mailing addresses and phone numbers.  If I don't know
>you already, it would be helpful for you to explain in what respect
>you're qualified to write the review.  (If we haven't exchanged e-mail
>recently, it might be a good idea for you to remind me of this info.)
>
>I look forward to hearing from you.
>
>Taylor Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
>Book review editor, Mark Twain Forum