Scientific Dictatorship

The question of whether Mark Twain's classic Huckleberry Finn should be censored first came up a year after it was published, and the pressure on the often politically incorrect (then and now) book hasn't stopped in the 125 years since, earning it fourth place on a list of the US's most banned books.

Now a Twain scholar from Auburn University in Alabama believes he has found a way to teach Huck Finn without all the controversy about race and language: Alan Gribben is editing a new version of the classic novel that will remove all 219 instances of the "n-word," replacing it with the word "slave." The book will also replace the word "Injun."...

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...

In my generation, Huckleberry Finn was required reading, so I am familiar with the book. I have a very hard time with these small tweaks, because it is a slippery slope. It won’t end with this book, I assure you...

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Labels: censorship, Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain

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