Huckleberry Finn Revised Edition - Say It Ain't So (1 Viewer)

jazzeum

jazzeum

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I heard about this new revised edition while driving to work this morning. Apparently the new edition removes the "n" word and the use of "injun" because it might offend and not cause people to read the book. What this does is just try to cleanse what happened to African Americans in the 19th century. There is no way you can sugar coat that. While I don't often agree with charges of "pc run amuck," this appears to be a sad case of doing so.

Here's an article regarding the matter and an interview with a Princeton professor by Keith Olbermann regarding the matter.
 
jazzeum said:
I heard about this new revised edition while driving to work this morning. Apparently the new edition removes the "n" word and the use of "injun" because it might offend and not cause people to read the book. What this does is just try to cleanse what happened to African Americans in the 19th century. There is no way you can sugar coat that. While I don't often agree with charges of "pc run amuck," this appears to be a sad case of doing so.

Here's an article regarding the matter and an interview with a Princeton professor by Keith Olbermann regarding the matter.
Click to expand...

not a proponent of racial slurs...but I too hate to see a classic changed...
 
With the 19th century racial slurs the book was removed form many, if not most, public school libraries thus denying the opportunity to enjoy these American classics. If this PC rewrite gets Twain back into the schools then it is a good compromise.
 
It should have never been removed from the schools in the first place. Anybody who knows ANYTHING about Mark Twain knows that he vehemently hated racism and the context of the words in the writing were meant to demonstrate that. The writing is basically highlighting the "badness" of racism.

Just another example of the PC police run amok and nobody standing up for it. What a bunch of crap. The worst part is the "censors" are not even qualified to censor, as I said, if you know Twain............They must be ignorant.

Let's all just sing Coombyah and hand out diplomas as if they were candy. Pass everyone, teach them nothing, put a bunch of losers on the street. Wouldn't want to offend anyone would we? I figure, give it a year and a teacher/school system will be able to be sued by any kid getting an "F".

Good lord, help the next gen.

TD
 
No surprise ,revisionism happens in these forums along with non pc censorship,,can that be said i forgot.
 
From NewSouth Book's page.


http://www.newsouthbooks.com/pages/...-mark-twains-tom-sawyer-and-huckleberry-finn/

"A word about the NewSouth edition of Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 by Suzanne

A new edition of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, forthcoming from NewSouth Books in mid-February, does more than unite the companion boy books in one volume, as the author had intended. It does more even than restore a passage from the Huckleberry Finn manuscript that first appeared in Twain’s Life on the Mississippi and was subsequently cut from the work upon publication.

In a bold move compassionately advocated by Twain scholar Dr. Alan Gribben and embraced by NewSouth, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn also replaces two hurtful epithets that appear hundreds of times in the texts with less offensive words, this intended to counter the “preemptive censorship” that Dr. Gribben observes has caused these important works of literature to fall off curriculum lists nationwide.

In presenting his rationale for publication, eloquently developed in the book’s introduction, Dr. Gribben discusses the context of the racial slurs Twain used in these books. He also remarks on the irony of the fact that use of such language has caused Twain’s books to join the ranks of outdated literary classics Twain once humorously defined as works “which people praise and don’t read.”

At NewSouth, we saw the value in an edition that would help the works find new readers. If the publication sparks good debate about how language impacts learning or about the nature of censorship or the way in which racial slurs exercise their baneful influence, then our mission in publishing this new edition of Twain’s works will be more emphatically fulfilled.

Learn more about Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and read an excerpt from the introduction at www.newsouthbooks.com/twain. See also a feature story on the volume by Marc Shultz at Publishers Weekly."
 
Look up Texas State Board of Education for revisionism.

NewSouth Books in Mongomery and Louisville, Anne Frank story from Culpepper, Va, I see a pattern, but it's modern polly-ticks.
 
Back in the 80's they thought it hurt children not to be rewarded for just trying even if they failed at something.So they stated giving everybody an award.If you ran in a race and came in 51st (out of 50:D)you got an award.No matter how badly you did in something you got an award.So what happen was when these kids grew up and went into the real world and weren't rewarded for their failures they had major problems coping with rejection.These are the people who are starting to run things now.God we are screwed.:eek:
Mark
 
Funny I've been reading George MacDonald Frazer's Flashman series with my 15 year old and she gets that it's 19th century language (written in the 20th) and they are just the character's words..
 
The point of one of the incidents in HF is that Huck tells a woman the a N***** died in a steamboat explosion and she replies that sometimes PEOPLE get killed. You need the period word.

I haven't seen that censorship locally in my kid's schools.
 
Click on the map of the US of A for the censored books and "why."


http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/Mapofbookcensorship.html

examples....

"Raceland, Louisiana
Last Updated by Alita on Aug 6, 2009
(2008) Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War was removed from a classroom at Central Lafourche High School for violating the district policy on cursing."


Lubbock, Texas
Last Updated by Alita on Aug 7, 2009
(2007) Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass was challenged at the Shallowater Middle School because of it's 'anti-religious messages.'


Hollis/Brookline, NH
Last Updated by Chris on Sep 25, 2010
(2010): (2010) Jeanette Walls "The Glass Castle" was challenged after the parents of one child objected to its inclusion on an AP English teacher's summer reading list. The teacher eventually apologized for not having notified students and parents of potentially offensive or disturbing content and offered to provide those with concerns about The Glass Castle with an alternative assignment.


Billings, Montana
Last Updated by Alita on Aug 7, 2009
(2007) Richard Bradford's Red Sky at Morning was challenged but retained on a high school reading list in Billings School District 2 despite concerns that the book contained excessive profanity. The book has been used in the district for more than twenty years.


Newman, CA
Last Updated by Nanette on Jul 16, 2010
(2009) Maya Angelou's I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings was challenged in the Newman-Crows Landing, Calif. School District (2009) on a required reading list presented by the Orestimba High English Department. A trustee questioned the qualifi cations of Orestimba staff to teach a novel depicting African American culture.
 
tdubel said:
It should have never been removed from the schools in the first place. Anybody who knows ANYTHING about Mark Twain knows that he vehemently hated racism and the context of the words in the writing were meant to demonstrate that. The writing is basically highlighting the "badness" of racism.

Just another example of the PC police run amok and nobody standing up for it. What a bunch of crap. The worst part is the "censors" are not even qualified to censor, as I said, if you know Twain............They must be ignorant.

Let's all just sing Coombyah and hand out diplomas as if they were candy. Pass everyone, teach them nothing, put a bunch of losers on the street. Wouldn't want to offend anyone would we? I figure, give it a year and a teacher/school system will be able to be sued by any kid getting an "F".

Good lord, help the next gen.

TD
Click to expand...

It is a shame they can't take their nosey do-good-er attitude and actually use it for something that is good and makes sense instead of wasting resources, time and energy on twoddle like this, give me a break!!!
 
It is not an educator's job to "clean up" history. A competent educator and education system explains the context of an historical event (and language) so a lesson can be learned from the past. Where will censorship stop?
By High School students shoud be aware of the good and bad that is the history of their country and the world. Use the negatives to teach tolerance and to correct injustices. There is no perfect society or system in the world today. Education and example is the only way to create positive change.
 
Having taught college English for 15 years, I have grown numb to students' ill-preparation in literature for college studies. High school educators were accused (15-20 years ago) of "dumbing down" their curricula to accommodate students who apparently weren't achieving. This is why so few children actually fail an English course these days. Classic literature is generally such for the stylistic skill of the writer as much as any "message" it may contain. Change it and you are no longer teaching the book. Alter the character's language, and it is no longer the character. Frankly, if you want to santize it, don't even bother to teach the bloomin' thing. I find it interesting that those who are often in the vanguard of these causes generally don't read at all, and they only discover the questionable language when their child is shocked or amused by the content or the language and mentions it. If a child is shocked by something they read at school, that's probably a good sign. They generally are comatose through most literature classes.

Frankly, the "n" word isn't very nice, but it seems a bit cliche today, and I find it a lot less objectionable than much of what I hear on cable television every time I turn it on. I have to wonder if these parents prohibit their children from watching cable, where (by the way) you can hear the "n" word regularly - and I understand the context has changed, but nonetheless, there it is.

And seriously, did they really think that taking out the "n" word and "injun" (and why can we say "injun" and not have to call it the "i" word?) was really going to bring new readers to Twain? I somehow doubt that the inclusion of these two terms has kept many kids from reading Twain. More likely distractions would seem to be television and video games and the belief that they hate reading...period.

On a side note, regarding the removal of Anne Frank's journal entries exploring her feelings of sexual awakening...are you kidding me? Does anyone seriously think that adolescent kids aren't having the same feelings, and generally talking about them (let alone acting on them) much more openly than anyone in Frank's day would have? I still find it astounding that some folks fear ideas so much, they find it necessary to advocate for censorship, generally the worst kind of forced ignorance...then we wonder why children enter adulthood without a sense of the world around them. Sigh. I won't even go into the topic of history education.
 
marco55 said:
Back in the 80's they thought it hurt children not to be rewarded for just trying even if they failed at something.So they stated giving everybody an award.If you ran in a race and came in 51st (out of 50:D)you got an award.No matter how badly you did in something you got an award.So what happen was when these kids grew up and went into the real world and weren't rewarded for their failures they had major problems coping with rejection.These are the people who are starting to run things now.God we are screwed.:eek:
Mark
Click to expand...
I have not read a truer statement on our current and future condition. A nice summing up.:cool: -- Al
 
My son used to get trophies for bike races and I couldn't figure why because he usually came in last in the various heats. He was 10 at the time. The races he's involved in now as an adult are far different in the awarding of prizes and he knows why. My daughter has been in theatrical shows in junior high school where everyone gets a part. The plays are chosen because they are written for large chorus's or "walk ons" at the 10-13 year old level. Plus the shows are double cast so that there are different leads on different nights. She knows that in High School, theater is more competitive and challenging and rejects that everyone gets to play in the middle school productions. The older kids are aware that college or professional theater is more select. In my experience the kids "get it" about awards for "showing up" and real awards.
 
It's because, as Americans, we have a Constitutional right not to be offended, we all do. That trumps everything else.

Look in the penumbra, right next to the Right to Privacy, I think that's where Madison put it.
 
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