'N'-Word Edited Out Of Latest Huck Finn Edition

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An introduction by Twain scholar and Auburn University professor Alan Gribben, advances the argument that the words have been scrubbed from his edition because some schools refuse to teach the unexpurgated text.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to send my kids to a school that endorsed the censorship of classic literature. This is yet another slippery slope in the world of the politically correct. It won't be long before you won't be able to read anything that hasn't been sanitized. I guess I should go buy a real copy of Huck Finn as a collector's item.

"A book like Professor Gribben has imagined," UCLA Professor Thomas Wortham told Publisher's Weekly, "doesn't challenge children [and their teachers] to ask, 'Why would a child like Huck use such reprehensible language?'"

Exactly. Why would the school system want to encourage critical thinking? We can't have any of that.

Political correctness at the extreme. Where was the outcry when that pedophile published his child molestation book?

reply to post by NthOther


This is the correct decision! It is either edited or completely banned! I don't think it should be banned because it is a great literary work & removing that unnecessary does not detract from the story at all! It is a word that does not need to be used in modern society. It's not about censorship it is about respect!

reply to post by DevilJin


What does political correctness have to do with that? Can't we at least all agree that molesting children is wrong?

reply to post by NthOther


Devils Advocate Enters the Room...

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to send my kids to a school that endorsed the censorship of classic literature.

You want a piece of classic literature teaching your kids about that word in a classroom environment, or would you prefer to do it yourself in a controlled environment..?


Huck or no Huck, kids will come to learn of that word and others soon enough...so you might as well get first dibs at it. Either the book remains uncensored and out of the classroom, or the word is taken out/replaced and allowed in the classroom.


DA leaves the room...

Any comment by any " Professor " should be deemed irrelevant, and acknowledged as pure idiocy.
And to those who wanna deem it a topic of " respect ", deem the middle finger upon you!
Art is art...nothing more nothing less. Writings of the times are just a little different than writings of today. Writings of today are weak and laughable at best~

The language referred to only became reprehensible in the last 40 years.
By use and interpretation (and some Media influence) it became negative.
At one time it was an acceptable descriptive word.

Don't you wonder how much other old literature has been edited to be "politically correct"?

Phatpackage says: "This is the correct decision! It is either edited or completely banned! I don't think it should be banned because it is a great literary work & removing that unnecessary does not detract from the story at all! It is a word that does not need to be used in modern society. It's not about censorship it is about respect! "

****How about respect for the Author? How about the fact that this is the manner of speech of the characters in the book? How about that this is part of the whole scene of that era of History? Do we learn history as it really was, or do we change it to fit the present?

Originally posted by facelift
reply to post by NthOther

 

You want a piece of classic literature teaching your kids about that word in a classroom environment, or would you prefer to do it yourself in a controlled environment..?

Depends on who's controlling the environment, as with any aspect of education. A reactionary, politically-correct government school? No thanks. A private institution that I picked and had some level of trust in? Probably. In either instance, and it goes without saying with homeschooling, parents need to be more involved and have dialogues about these issues, because you're right--it's going to come up one way or another.

reply to post by NthOther


Depends on who's controlling the environment, as with any aspect of education.





The controlled environment I was speaking of is Home...for those of us lucky enough to have one.

Originally posted by pikappa
reply to post by DevilJin

 

What does political correctness have to do with that? Can't we at least all agree that molesting children is wrong?

I meant there was little to no uproar about the book as opposed to the repeated debate about Huckleberry Finn.

We read Huck Finn in 7th or 8th grade.....Most everyone already knows the "N" word by then. Heck I learned the word from a 78 year old black lady when I was five, she called all her grandkids "little n***ers".

reply to post by phatpackage

This is the correct decision! It is either edited or completely banned! I don't think it should be banned because it is a great literary work & removing that unnecessary does not detract from the story at all! It is a word that does not need to be used in modern society. It's not about censorship it is about respect!

It is about mind control.

If the words are removed then the book is NOT by Mark Twain!

I hope you enjoy your up coming serfdom. It is obvious you have been well prepared for it.

It is becoming more and more obvious that the only thing that will wake up the sheeple in the USA is a few hundred years of slavery. But that is OK The Dark Ages are just about here.

Originally posted by Whereweheaded
Any comment by any " Professor " should be deemed irrelevant, and acknowledged as pure idiocy.

You wanna narrow that statement down a little, or you just have problems with those danged eggheads in general?

I think it's nonsense to censor Twain...I guess To Kill a Mockingbird is next. Lord knows we can't use it on ATS!

While using such language these days is at best extremely bad manners, it is nonetheless imperative to preserve the integrity of such classic works, for these books, though fictional, are in a way, a time-capsule of American history. Granted, I don't believe that such language is at all appropriate in a classroom, yet I firmly oppose this type of literary censorship. Consider if some jerk-off nanny-editor decided that Lenny's killing of Curly's wife in Steinbeck's, 'Of Mice and Men,' was 'just far too graphic' for the gentle reader- it would destroy such a poignant aspect of a masterpiece of literature. Perhaps a better example would be the censoring of the phrase, 'getting some tail,' found throughout 'Catcher in the Rye;' is it really so detrimental? Absolutely not- it is a fundamental part of the narrative which would be ruined if molested by this type of censorship.
The reasoning used by Alan Gribben could be used to rewrite history books (and indeed has), as history isn't always grand and uplifting, and certainly many moments and blunders of the human condition are often very graphic. However, one must ask what the point would be to shelter citizens from reality, when reality is not always fair, pleasant, nor politically correct.
In short, anyone who has the least bit of respect for Twain's works would never attempt to censor his literary style, no matter how reprehensible the language is to us in these modern times. If this is allowed, it is guaranteed that the dominoes will begin to fall and we will begin to witness less benign attempts at censorship, if there is such a thing.

I remember renting this book from the school library. The librarian went through and marked out that word in each copy of the book with a sharpie. But it was obvious what it said.

Look, yes it is a horrible word. But it is a book. Written long ago. The setting of the book was a time when people used that word...

What's next? Are we going to censor that word from Roots as well? Never mind that fact that it is history.... We better get PC real quick huh?

What a load of complete excrement.

"Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
~Winston Churchill

How are we to learn from history when the textbooks, literature and references have been sanitized of the historical truth? It's just a word, and as with all non-PC approved words, it's power only grows from the mindless fear that people have of it.

When a book is written by a Author ,does he not, send it off to the editor to have it proof read and some changes made to make it flow and easier to read, to enjoy...Well this is the same case...The story has not changed...

Leave the N-word in and let people get their little feelings hurt.

No book should ever be changed due to someone elses "sensitivities".

Are you kidding me???
How many current "rap" hits have the ever hated "N" word in them????

Have we scrubbed those CD's from the shelves?

This is classic literature for crying out loud!!!!!!

I guess it is OK to say the "N" word, as long as one is black and saying in a derogatory way to a group of other blacks in a rap song, set to throbbing bass music.

Just not in a Classic work of American Literature.

Art should be allowed to offend but not attack or hurt, it is a fine line and society as a whole should decide where that line is drawn. Considering the culture of the day, why not leave it, it exposes the prejudices of the day and creates opportunity for discussion about how those same prejudices exist today and ultimately what can be done to eliminate them.