No, knights of ni! please stop!
Posted on 01/04/2011 5:24:19 PM PST by Borges
Saying they want to publish a version that won't be banned from some schools because of its language, two scholars are editing Mark Twain's classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to eliminate uses of the "N" word and replace it with "slave," Publishers Weekly writes.
The edition, from NewSouth Books, will also shorten an offensive reference to Native Americans.
As PW says, "for decades, [Huckleberry Finn] has been disappearing from grade school curricula across the country, relegated to optional reading lists, or banned outright, appearing again and again on lists of the nation's most challenged books, and all for its repeated use of a single, singularly offensive word."
One of the scholars, Alan Gribben of Auburn University, tells PW that "this is not an effort to render Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn colorblind. ... Race matters in these books. It's a matter of how you express that in the 21st century." (The edited Huck Finn will be included in a volume with Tom Sawyer.)
News of the new edition of Huck Finn has sparked quite a bit of comment on Twitter, where "Huckleberry Finn" is a trending topic as this moment. So far, the consensus of the crowd seems to be that it's not a good idea. One interesting comment from that thread:
"Learning the 'N' word from Huckleberry Finn taught me not to use it bc it was improper, so.. why the change?" The new edition, PW says, is due to be published by February. Huckleberry Finn was first published in 1884.
“Big Brother” will now be called “Friendly Brother.”
You were already way over the line by that time. Welcome to “the heart of darkness”!
Maybe the Liberty Bell should be melted down and recast to get rid of that darned crack! /s
Where does it say that we have any right to never be exposed to any words or language that we might take offense at? By eliminating these words, we give them power. We create monsters out of mole hills. The real danger to our culture will come in the future as it will be a much simpler matter to change e-history than it is to change published books. Just remove a few words and hit enter. All offensive language is gone forever (until something else becomes offensive).
How 'bout
"New Edition Of Huckleberry Finn Will Eliminate 'Offensive Words'".
Morons.
Yes I realize a proper title should be in quotes, but 'Offensive Words' is their term/opinion and deserves quotes of its own.
Also, we have to include "diversity" in the story to include faggots/dykes.
It doesn't matter what the Author wrote; we have to indoctrinate youth in the Publik Skoolz to get with the Agenda.....
Why, we might actually gain an understanding of how we got to where we are now, instead of listening to the libs scream and rail at some kind of "patriarchal society" holding us all back for "its" own gain.
I wonder if anyone is going to try to clean up Alex Haley’s book “Roots” in the same way? Can you imagine the uproar if someone suggested that?
“He said, ‘The Sheriff is near’”
One of my students in the online English course I teach reacted vehemently to the “racism” in Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily.” She derided Faulkner as a racist because the “n” word appears in that story. Despite my best efforts, I was never able to convince her to evaluate fictional characters apart from the author. She indicated that the appearance of that one word in the story resurrected the pain she felt growing up in the South in the Civil Rights Movement. I even altered the paper assignment by suggesting that she write about racism in the story if it bothered her so much. Her unwillingness to read this “disturbing” author was a convenient excuse to not have to look beyond one offensive word in the story. She had been programmed to have sensitive antennae and to vocally, dramatically object. Finally, some of the other students basically told her to shut up!
Wow! We were just talking about this. I equate this to book burning.
By the way, when is the last time you listened to a Stephen Foster rendition? I can not remember either! Our history has been taken away from our children and grandchildren , layer by layer, from sanctimonious "we know better than you" types.
LLS
Don't worry, after they are done with "fixing" Jim and Joe they will switch to improving Huck's speech, so that his illiterate English doesn't hurt soft, mushy brains of the readers.
They don't need to bother, of course. Those with mushy brains don't read, so they are safe in front of their 120" TVs. The modern version of 451 °F is much simpler than Bradbury imagined; there is no need to burn books if most people don't want to read.
They could always rewrite it in Ebonics to make it truly inclusive.
OTOH, if Slim Pickens had said it, there would be people who died from laughing too hard.
The (ahem) Slave of the Narcissus, coming to your local bookmonger any day now.
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