Upcoming NewSouth 'Huck Finn' Eliminates the 'N' Word
When you start rewriting a classic, your arrogance knows no bounds. This novel was written at a time was the 'N' word was a part of the common vernacular. "Allegiance to the author's intent is sacrosanct". You didn't write the book - it came from the mind of the author. Who are you to tell him/her that there vision is wrong?
The 'N' word is so powerful a word that the casual use of it in 'Tom Sawyer' teaches a real lesson today to modern students of the work.
First of all they instantly 'get' what the relationship between the races was like back in the 1800s. They 'get' the mentality of people who owned slaves and supported the institution of slavery.
Finally they see another example of why Tom was such a progressive character (as was his author). Nigger Jim was his friend, despite what he was always told to believe about black people.
But you are right publisher - using the term SLAVE to refer to an oppressed minority isn't a bad thing at all. However, in fact, it's worse. When all the uses of that word are removed from rap songs, movies, TV and most other forms of popular culture then you can talk to me about cleaning up 'Tom Sawyer'.
I will concede this point. If a 'N' free version gets the books back into the schools where it can be read and appreciated as it should be then that is a good thing. But only if teachers fully explain why the word is missing in the version their students are reading. I want them to make understood why the word was there in the first place and why it's placement infuriates so many people today.
Follow the link to read the whole article if you are interested.
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/45645-upcoming-newsouth-huck-finn-eliminates-the-n-word.html
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10 comments:
The antics of the thought police in regards to Huckleberry Finn is symptomatic of the power of political correctness these days. The minions of PC scramble around trying to erase the visible signs of rascism, thinking *that* will make racism go away - or maybe never even to have occured in the first place.
Reminds me of the Egyptian kings who would scratch out the names of their predecessors on obelisks and chisel their faces off of statues.
They totally miss what a book like Huckleberry Finn can teach us, and how complicated Huck and Jim's relationship was in the context of their time.
The courthouse in the town where I grew up had a sign over one of the water fountains that read "Whites Only". It was left over from more painful days of the past. There was a big push several years ago to plaster over the sign, destroying it. I oppossed that idea. I thought it was important to leave the sign up as a reminder of how far we've come as a people. It was a touch stone to remind people not to go down that road again. What better message to send than a "whites only" fountain that all races can drink from freely everyday? What better place to take your kids to teach them that people can be evil and hateful to each other - but that they don't have to be?
They plastered over the sign anyway. Guess its just better to pretend that it never happened.
What if someone were to suggest that Germany remove all signs that the holocaust ever happened? You'd see those PC martinet's eyes go real big then. Foam might even start coming from their mouths. (Which is really ironic because there is more than a casual relationship between the PC urge to "clean up" history and what happened over there in Germany all those years ago.)
Grrrr, we really are a panzy ass society!!! Our sissiness knows no bounds... its like McDonalds serving Oatmeal & fruit. Grrrrr!!!
It just makes me sick.
completely agree, Cal. What next, taking the adultery out of the Scarlet Letter or the Orange Catholic Bible out of Dune.
Will the Catcher in the Rye be next? Will Holden's dirty mouth be cleaned up so that Salinger's book can be read once again in middle and high schools across the nations?
Does this mean that Shakespeare's plays will be re-written in modern vocabulary and phrasing as well?
Iiieeee! I just finished watching "1984" so Paladin's mention of the thought police seems horrifyingly apt.
It's a slippery slope and I'm afraid we're well down it already...
Gah. That's so frustrating!! The world is going to hell in a hand basket.
It's just the end of the american empire. The spice flows in the rest of the world.
I wonder what Mark Twain would say about this?
@Sam, on this particular issue he might curse all the nigger lovers.
It's sad how americans deal with racism towards black people, in other countries it's O.K. and not an insult to call things by their proper color.
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