Edition removes N-word from Mark Twain classics

[dejr_8]

What do you think about this. I think it wrong to edit the text. Using the N-word shows the hatred that existed toward blacks. How can you use the book as a teaching tool on hatred and racism if the text is softened.


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40917583/ns/today-books/

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — 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.

more at the link

 

[tlbwriter]

I should have a problem with this, but I don't. If it makes the book more accessible to people who wouldn't otherwise read it, it's fine with me. You don't need that one particular word to show that racism existed - the rest of the book shows it quite well.

 

[eliza61]

What do you think about this. I think it wrong to edit the text. Using the N-word shows the hatred that existed toward blacks. How can you use the book as a teaching tool on hatred and racism if the text is softened.


[k

That's the problem. We don't use the book as a teaching tool. As a African American the one thing I hate is how we "gloss" over slavery and Jim Crow. How the "gone with the winds" type movies and books portray slaves as "happy darkies just loving Mr. slave master".
we gloss over the fact the George Washington owned over 300 slaves and how historians now believe he was particular cruel. We excuse it with the saying "well, we can't judge them using todays morality standards".

That being said.... I don't want them changing it simply because I don't like edits to classics simply for political correctness.

 

[BKMETV]

I'll probably get a lot of flack for this but I'm an English major and totally disagree with it...I also don't agree with it being banned from schools. Part of teaching Twain should be explaining when the book was written and what America was like then...changing the book isn't going to change history...that was the reality of the time.

 

[JCJRSmith]

I am against censorship and that is what this is - censorship, and one does not censor classics of literature, even when those classics contain words that are offensive to the majority of the people who read the book.

Mark Twain wrote his dialouge using the dialect of the people about whom he was writing - something that is incredibly difficult to do. It provides an important historical aspect to the story and gives a better understanding to the reader of what the tenor of the times were during the story.

As a society, we cannot shy away from our history. If we do that, we will never learn from it.

 

[phorsenuf]

What do you think about this. I think it wrong to edit the text. Using the N-word shows the hatred that existed toward blacks. How can you use the book as a teaching tool on hatred and racism if the text is softened.


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40917583/ns/today-books/

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — 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.

more at the link

I don't agree. Nope, not one bit.

 

[Agri]

Reading an edited version of a book and reading the actual book can also be the difference between a good book and an 'almost good book'. I think editing it is a cop-out because the use of the 'n-word' was very prevalent at one time in history - it is the way things were. If we edit that out its easy to forget. Even though they are fictional novels, I think removing the word is an attempt to whitewash history. Again.

If we remove everything that offends or could possibly offend, how are we going to learn from our mistakes?

I would love to know the actual percentage of people who have decided not to read either book *just* because of the use of the 'n-word'. Most of those classic, but unread books are that way because people just don't read like they used to, not because of the 'n-word' or other objectionable material. Or they simply do not like the author's other works - I'm not a fan of Dickens and I haven't read a lot of his work, but that doesn't mean I fail to understand why his work is 'classic' and to be appreciated.

 

[OceanAnnie]

That's the problem. We don't use the book as a teaching tool. As a African American the one thing I hate is how we "gloss" over slavery and Jim Crow. How the "gone with the winds" type movies and books portray slaves as "happy darkies just loving Mr. slave master".
we gloss over the fact the George Washington owned over 300 slaves and how historians now believe he was particular cruel. We excuse it with the saying "well, we can't judge them using todays morality standards".

That being said.... I don't want them changing it simply because I don't like edits to classics simply for political correctness.

I agree.

I don't think it should be sanitized.

 

[golfgal]

By forgetting our history is a sure way of things happening again. There is no reason what so ever to edit this book. It is an American classic. This is just Political correctness taken WAY too far.

 

[tlbwriter]

I would love to know the actual percentage of people who have decided not to read either book *just* because of the use of the 'n-word'. Most of those classic, but unread books are that way because people just don't read like they used to, not because of the 'n-word' or other objectionable material.

My concern is that the book is not being assigned in schools just because of the n word. Yes, I agree that it's better to read it as the author wrote it, but when that means students won't read it at all, the next best thing is a slightly bowdlerized version.

 

[Jennasis]

I suppose next they will revise Romeo and Juliet so that they aren't really cousins and nobody dies too?

This is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. As a writer, I am offended to the core by the very idea of it.

 

[suzannen]

What do you think about this. I think it wrong to edit the text. Using the N-word shows the hatred that existed toward blacks. How can you use the book as a teaching tool on hatred and racism if the text is softened.


http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40917583/ns/today-books/

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — 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.

more at the link

Totally disagree - I think readers NEED to be offended when reading Huckleberry Finn, that's exactly one of the reasons it is a classic. And, as others have mentioned, it's important to understand what the culture and society were like when a particular book was written.

 

[Wall-E1]

I don't agree with it either for the same reasons others have posted. It also sets a dangerous precedent for other classics of literature. Once you open that door, they'll be find other offensive words, phrases, and passages in other novels that "need" to be removed.

 

[Tinkermommy]

I am against censorship and that is what this is - censorship, and one does not censor classics of literature, even when those classics contain words that are offensive to the majority of the people who read the book.

Mark Twain wrote his dialouge using the dialect of the people about whom he was writing - something that is incredibly difficult to do. It provides an important historical aspect to the story and gives a better understanding to the reader of what the tenor of the times were during the story.

As a society, we cannot shy away from our history. If we do that, we will never learn from it.

ITA

It's like putting pants on Michelangelo's David statue so people wouldn't have to see him naked because it might be offensive by today's standards.

This is pure PC censorship!

 

[suzannen]

My concern is that the book is not being assigned in schools just because of the n word. Yes, I agree that it's better to read it as the author wrote it, but when that means students won't read it at all, the next best thing is a slightly bowdlerized version.

All of the schools in NY that I'm aware of are all still teaching this book. My DD read it in 8th grade. If a particular school isn't teaching it, I'm sure that one word is not the reason.

 

[Donaldswife]

By forgetting our history is a sure way of things happening again. There is no reason what so ever to edit this book. It is an American classic. This is just Political correctness taken WAY too far.

I agree completely! If we ignore our mistake we are doomed to repeat them.

 

[Geoff_M]

My thought is: It's just a word. It's not a polite word, and I don't use it in either public or private speech... and that's true with a number of words. However, it doesn't have special powers. It shouldn't be treated like "Voldemort" in the world of Harry Potter in that it must not be even uttered. Hearing or seeing the word doesn't cause irreparable harm to anyone. It won't curve your spine, cause fits of the vapors, or anything else.

As for the novel in question, I understand the historical context of the usage. I don't think that it's hard to teach children that context. I also wonder if one of the pivotal mini-series of my youth, Alex Haley's Roots, were to be remade today, what treatment "the N-word" would received in the updated version?

So, if they want to "white-wash" Tom Sawyer, then I guess so be it. I guess it doesn't change the story line, but it certainly limits a bit a middle-schooler's understanding of the culture of pre-Civil War Missouri.

So the "N-word" is out, but the "I-word" still OK in that Twain work?

 

[Kathi OD]

Utterly ridiculous, over-reaction.

 

[Bilberry]

I was surprised to read this "whitewashing" of Twain's books wasn't new. Some have been fighting against Mark Twain's classics for years.

Whitewashing Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, Part 99,999

http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/04/whitewashing-huck-finn-and-tom-sawyer-part-99999/

 

[SaraJayne]

I'll probably get a lot of flack for this but I'm an English major and totally disagree with it...I also don't agree with it being banned from schools. Part of teaching Twain should be explaining when the book was written and what America was like then...changing the book isn't going to change history...that was the reality of the time.

I have an english degree and I completely agree with you.

However, I'm very glad the ORIGINAL edition will still be available for my kids to read.