Does One Word Change 'Huckleberry Finn'?

[tooblue]

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate...eberry-finn?hp

“even at the level of college and graduate school, students are capable of resenting textual encounters with this racial appellative.”

[wuapinmon]

Fundamentally wrong. You cannot change a text to suit current standards. This is absurd, but not unexpected.

I'd rather it not be taught than to change it so that students don't get offended.

[Mrs. Funk]

Are we now completely incapable of teaching literary context? Sheesh.

[Commando]

No, that's cool. I heard they were going to also incorporate some contemporary terms and expressions like "LOL" and stuff... you know-- just to unnecessarily take the reader out of the story and finish the job of pissing on the ashes of American Literature.


* I just read that they'll also replace instances of "injun" with the more correct "Indian"

YOU DUMB MOTHERF**KERS!! EAT SHIT AND DIE! ARRRGGHH!

That upsets me.

[TripletDaddy]

This is the same population of students that listens to hip hop music?

A little too Orwellian for my tastes.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Fundamentally wrong. You cannot change a text to suit current standards. This is absurd, but not unexpected.

I'd rather it not be taught than to change it so that students don't get offended.

I agree totally.

However, (and a position on an issue like this is rarely without a conjunction) the book is already NOT being taught and is verboten in many places precisely because of the word which is being changed ('N'-word to 'slave').

One of the lasting themes of the book is the juxtaposition of society's caste position for 'N-word Jim' against Huck's realization that Jim is not only his best friend, but also the most honest and 'human' person around him. The very way that Twain threw that dehumanizing word around in the book IMHO was meant to indicate this dichotomy.

[wuapinmon]

I agree totally.

However, (and a position on an issue like this is rarely without a conjunction) the book is already NOT being taught and is verboten in many places precisely because of the word which is being changed ('N'-word to 'slave').

One of the lasting themes of the book is the juxtaposition of society's caste position for 'N-word Jim' against Huck's realization that Jim is not only his best friend, but also the most honest and 'human' person around him. The very way that Twain threw that dehumanizing word around in the book IMHO was meant to indicate this dichotomy.

Absolutely, the famous, "I can't pray a lie" line is evidence enough to me that the use was calculated, though I reject authorial intention.

[SoCalCoug]

Do not change a single word of an author's work. Nobody has that right, once it's been published.

[TripletDaddy]

Do not change a single word of an author's work. Nobody has that right, once it's been published.

Nobody?

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifesty...nites.html.csp

[creekster]

Nobody?

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifesty...nites.html.csp

you are confusaing author with translator?

[NorthwestUteFan]

Do not change a single word of an author's work. Nobody has that right, once it's been published.

It is now public domain, and the one company who is publishing it is not the ONLY company publishing it.

I assume the book will have an 'Edited by:' caveat somewhere.

(Great, now I am just inviting the poo-flingers to this thread...)

[SoCalCoug]

It is now public domain, and the one company who is publishing it is not the ONLY company publishing it.

I assume the book will have an 'Edited by:' caveat somewhere.

(Great, now I am just inviting the poo-flingers to this thread...)

It's still wrong, in my opinion.

[wuapinmon]

Roger Ebert's taking some heat over this for tweeting that he'd rather be called "a nigger than a slave."

Not sure that white guys can make that claim.

[creekster]

It is now public domain, and the one company who is publishing it is not the ONLY company publishing it.

I assume the book will have an 'Edited by:' caveat somewhere.

(Great, now I am just inviting the poo-flingers to this thread...)

Hi! Did someone call?

[TripletDaddy]

you are confusaing author with translator?

Didnt Joseph, the translator, change "white" to "pure?" Apparently, the original author used "white." Or, in the alternative, Joseph was wrong in his translation. I suppose either is possible