I wonder if anyone can offer help on this. A journalist asked me
yesterday (while talking about the 'new' Random House Huckleberry
Finn) if I knew of any contemporary American writers whose work was
directly influenced by Twain's novel. He was particularly interested
in the use of the first person voice by members of minority groups
and women writers, but also in the influence the novel had in other
ways on the recent American novel. I was able to say a little about
Toni Morrison's allusion to, and play on, the Huck-Jim relationship in
the Sethe-Amy section of Beloved -- courtesy of Rick Moreland's fine
article on the latter text (the MFS special edition on Morrison), but
then I dried up. I would welcome any help here. Cheers
Pete Messent