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