New Huckleberry Finn edition censors 'n-word'

[The Northerner]

Alabama publisher says expurgation of more than 200 'hurtful epithets' will counter 'pre-emptive censorship' that has seen Mark Twain's classic dropped from curricula

A new US edition of Mark Twain's classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is to be published with a notable language alteration: all instances of the offensive racial term "nigger" are to be expunged.

The word occurs more than 200 times in Huckleberry Finn, first published in 1884, and its 1876 precursor, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which tell the story of the boys' adventures along the Mississippi river in the mid-19th century. In the new edition, the word will be replaced in each instance by "slave". The word "injun" will also be replaced in the text.

The new edition's Alabama-based publisher, NewSouth books, says the development is a "bold move compassionately advocated" by the book's editor, Twain scholar Dr Alan Gribben of Auburn University, Montgomery. It will have the effect, the publisher claims, of replacing "two hurtful epithets" in order to "counter the 'pre-emptive censorship' that Dr Gribben observes has caused these important works of literature to fall off curriculum lists worldwide."

Gribben said he had decided on the move because over decades of teaching Twain, and reading sections of the text aloud, he had found himself recoiling from uttering the racial slurs in the words of the young protagonists. "The n-word possessed, then as now, demeaning implications more vile than almost any insult that can be applied to other racial groups," he said. "As a result, with every passing decade this affront appears to gain rather than lose its impact."

"We may applaud Twain's ability as a prominent American literary realist to record the speech of a particular region during a specific historical era," Gribben added, "but abusive racial insults that bear distinct connotations of permanent inferiority nonetheless repulse modern-day readers."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/05/huckleberry-finn-edition-censors-n-word

[davidinalameda]

1. if the elimination of the N word leads more people to read this

then I'm for it

otherwise, it's just another case of needless PCist

[jtown1123]

3. I disagree. Removing the N word merely shuts down discussion.

Should we pretend the dirty word didn't exist and wasn't used widely at the time of the writing? Let's fight ignorance with more ignorance.

[Boojatta]

4. Perhaps Dr. Laura Schlessinger could visit schools that will be facing an N-word deficiency.

[elocs]

2. The Straight Story posted this here yesterday morning:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x113379

[jmowreader]

5. This is a good move...

I would imagine it's hell to teach that book, due to all the currently-unacceptable words in it.

The real book with all the words in it should still be available, but in scholastic settings not having to tell the kids Twain wasn't really a racist would be a good idea.

OTOH, you seem to be able to use that word in rap music with impunity...

[Posteritatis]

6. Countering preemptive censorship with ... preemptive censorship? Brilliant! (nt)