Peter Messent--Ernest Hemingway made a large claim for the influence of
ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN on himself and all modern American writing.
In
GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA, in a conversation with a man named Stavisky,
Hemingway
says:  "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain
called
HUCKLEBERRY FINN.  If you read it you must stop where the Nigger Jim is
stolen
from the boys.  That is the real end.  The rest is just cheating.  But it's
the
best book we've had.  All American writing comes from that.  There was
nothing
before.  There has been nothing as good since" (p. 22: 1935).  An
interesting
observation made long before Leo Marx came into the picture, and in light of
the long and ongoing discussion on how the novel ends.

Frank Scafella