Edition removes N-word from Mark Twain classics

[bsb]

Here we go again. What's all the commotion about the word nigger when used in a classic like Twain's "Huck Finn", or "Tom Sawyer"?

bsb

>>Edition removes N-word from Mark Twain classics

Mark Twain wrote that "the difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." A new edition of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" will try to find out if that holds true by replacing the N-word with "slave" in an effort not to offend readers.

Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a combined volume of the books, said the N-word appears 219 times in "Huck Finn" and four times in "Tom Sawyer." He said the word puts the books in danger of joining the list of literary classics that Twain once humorously defined as those "which people praise and don't read."

"It's such a shame that one word should be a barrier between a marvelous reading experience and a lot of readers," Gribben said.

Yet Twain was particular about his words. His letter in 1888 about the right word and the almost right one was "the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning."

The book isn't scheduled to be published until February, at a mere 7,500 copies, but Gribben has already received a flood of hateful e-mail accusing him of desecrating the novels. He said the e-mails prove the word makes people uncomfortable.

"Not one of them mentions the word. They dance around it," he said.

Not the first alteration

Another Twain scholar, professor Stephen Railton at the University of Virginia, said Gribben was well respected, but called the new version "a terrible idea."<<

http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?afid=1&aid=40917583

[bsb]

>>In addition to replacing the N-word, Gribben changes the villain in "Tom Sawyer" from "Injun Joe" to "Indian Joe" and "half-breed" becomes "half-blood."<<

Very few things in life piss me off more then this kind of thing. You don't go around altering someone else work because it isn't to your liking. Not to mention it's censorship. 

bsb

[Plane]

Bowdlerised?

Who is goig to read this?

[Xavier_Onassis]

The intent is to make these classics usable in the classroom.

Otherwise the teacher is going to have to deal with kids calling each other 'nigger' and 'half-breed' and claiming that if a great American like Mark Twain did it, so can they.

The problem is that the words have become taboo. They were generally inoffensive in the 1870's and in use by everyone, and this continued up to the 1950's.


I call this a truly valid dilemma. It is wrong to alter a classic book, it is wrong to exclude these books from the curriculum, and it is wrong to saddle teachers with the constant explanation that Americans are irrational and have created taboos that are illogical.
There is no real solution to this. I think that teaching these books in high school makes more sense anyway, as Twain's talent is far too subtle to be fully comprehended by a middle school or elementary school student.

Show the kids the Disney films of these to the younger kids.

[bsb]

I read Huck Finn in/for 7th or 8th grade english class. That would have been '56 or '57. I don't remember any increase in the use of the word nigger as a result. In fact I remember feeling a strong connection to Jim through Huck.

bsb

>>Mark Twain in his lecture notes proposes that "a sound heart is a surer guide than an ill-trained conscience," and goes on to describe the novel as "...a book of mine where a sound heart and a deformed conscience come into collision and conscience suffers defeat."<<

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn

[Xavier_Onassis]

I don't think that the word was a taboo then. This seems to have happened around the time of the Vietnam War, when Stokeley Carmichael said, "No Vietnamese ever called me nigger". That would have been 1966-68, I think.

Like you, I read the book when I was 12 or 13, but it wasn't read in my school, I don't think. I recall my mother saying "it was fine to use that word in Mark Twain's time, but now people might get offended, so we don't use it."

[Kramer]

The intent is to make these classics usable in the classroom.

Otherwise the teacher is going to have to deal with kids calling each other 'nigger' and 'half-breed' and claiming that if a great American like Mark Twain did it, so can they.

The problem is that the words have become taboo. They were generally inoffensive in the 1870's and in use by everyone, and this continued up to the 1950's.


I call this a truly valid dilemma. It is wrong to alter a classic book, it is wrong to exclude these books from the curriculum, and it is wrong to saddle teachers with the constant explanation that Americans are irrational and have created taboos that are illogical.
There is no real solution to this. I think that teaching these books in high school makes more sense anyway, as Twain's talent is far too subtle to be fully comprehended by a middle school or elementary school student.

Show the kids the Disney films of these to the younger kids.

Mr rocket scientist just listen to the latest rap artist and you will hear far worse than nigger. Libs like censorship, just Google Obamacare and see what ya get.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I do not believe that Obamacare is a usual topic for rap music.

I do not listen to rap music, and avoid it whenever possible, which is surprisingly effective.

The general purpose of rap music is to offend parents and others, and it is quite effective at doing this.

I do not favor censorship.

[Kramer]

I do not believe that Obamacare is a usual topic for rap music.

I do not listen to rap music, and avoid it whenever possible, which is surprisingly effective.

The general purpose of rap music is to offend parents and others, and it is quite effective at doing this.

I do not favor censorship.

If you are too stupid to understand an analogy then I won't waste my time going into an explanation. Suffice it to say that Libs enjoy censorship, whether it's censoring the real truth about ObamaCare, or the works of people that are dead and can't defend against such censorship.

[Xavier_Onassis]

You do not even know what the Hell an analogy IS, turkey.
 The "Libs" you oppose all dwell between your ears, and have little company.

[Kramer]

You do not even know what the Hell an analogy IS, turkey.
 The "Libs" you oppose all dwell between your ears, and have little company.

whether you agree with it or not, it was still an analogy, you TURKEY!

[Kramer]

The "Libs" you oppose all dwell between your ears, and have little company.

XO it's a breath of fresh air when you are right about something, but 99% of the time you are wrong, and this time is no exception!!

See if you can read and comprehend this new story, and then tell me once again "the "Libs" you oppose all dwell between your ears, and have little company."

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/in-2012-obama-may-need-a-new-coalition-20110105?page=1


By any standard, white voters’ rejection of Democrats in November’s elections was daunting and even historic.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Imagine that! The National Review likes Republicans.

Explain how rap music being worse than Mark Twain is an "analogy". Look up ANALOGY.

No one sane would use rap music in a classroom as an example of a literary classic, by the way.

[Kramer]

Imagine that! The National Review likes Republicans.

Explain how rap music being worse than Mark Twain is an "analogy". Look up ANALOGY.

No one sane would use rap music in a classroom as an example of a literary classic, by the way.

it isn't my job to explain anything to you!

[Xavier_Onassis]

Nor, apparently to make one damn bit of sense. It's NOT an analogy. If you think it is is it because you do not know what an analogy is. It is not my fault that you are an ignoramus.