Pudd'nhead Wilson

At the beginning of <i>Pudd'nhead Wilson</i> a young slave woman, fearing for her infant's son's life, exchanges her light-skinned child with her master's.  From this rather simple premise Mark Twain fashioned one of his most entertaining, funny, yet biting novels.  On its surface, <i>Pudd'nhead Wilson</i> possesses all the elements of an engrossing nineteenth-century mystery:  reversed identities, a horrible crime, an eccentric detective, a suspenseful courtroom drama, and a surprising, unusual solution.  Yet it is not a mystery novel.  Seething with the undercurrents of antebellum southern culture, the book is a savage indictment in which the real criminal is society, and racial prejudice and slavery are the crimes.  Written in 1894, <i>Pudd'nhead Wilson</i> glistens with characteristic Twain humor, with suspense, and with pointed irony:  a gem among the author's later works.