Huck Finn Censored

GallowsGallows Regular
edited January 2011 in Spurious Generalities
"A new effort to sanitize “Huckleberry Finn” comes from Alan Gribben, a professor of English at Auburn University, at Montgomery, Ala., who has produced a new edition of Twain’s novel that replaces the word “nigger” with “slave.” Nigger, which appears in the book more than 200 times, was a common racial epithet in the antebellum South, used by Twain as part of his characters’ vernacular speech and as a reflection of mid-19th-century social attitudes along the Mississippi River."

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/07/books/07huck.html

Other than ruining the authenticity of the characters' dialect, I don't see what this will accomplish. If anything, it will just give the word more power.

Comments

  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited January 2011
    Twain is rolling over in his grave. He went off in his introduction about how he painstakingly reproduced a dozen or so dialects in the book. His manuscripts show some how he altered the speech patterns of his characters over time, changing them to make them sound like real people. This is some 1984-type shit that should not happen in literature, least of all when it's a professor doing the censoring :facepalm:

    People should stop being butthurt and realize that people said nigger in the 1800s. It's fact. It happened.

    The other thing that makes me mad is that "making a new edition" of the book by Ctrl+F is fucking retarded.
    Find: nigger
    Replace with: slave

    Look. I made a new edition.
  • DysgraphiaDysgraphia Locked
    edited January 2011
    Never read the book.

    Is it any good?
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited January 2011
    This is the kind of stuff that makes racists racist. Like Fanglekai said people used the word nigger back then. Fucking PC liberals. Sadly though I'm not that shocked that this is happening.
  • edited January 2011
    Dysgraphia wrote: »
    Never read the book.

    Is it any good?

    It is. However it requires you to pay attention and sit still for elongated periods of time sos it is, sadly, not for everyone.

    Oh and I think black people would be offended by this fucking assault on our freedom to write damn fine books. Any black people here? No? Wow shouldve seen that coming. That prof. is def a fame seeker and a lil bitch for hiding behind the wave of political corrected-ness DirtyShanchez associates with progressivism
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited January 2011
    Dysgraphia wrote: »
    Never read the book.

    Is it any good?
    When I read it in high school I thought it was pointless. I've read it 3 more times and each time I saw more and more why it's considered a classic. It's somewhat boring in a lot of places, and you'll get tired of the shit that goes on, but it's a great book. Pretty funny at times, also rather depressing seeing how bleak most people's lives were. It was also very carefully constructed. It's worth the read for sure.
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited January 2011
    Qft. Imo that professor guy just wants to be famed with "forwarding" Huck Finn :rolleyes:

    Now I'm pissed I never thought of Ctrl F throughout huck fin. I could be rich and famous now for doing absolutely nothing.
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited January 2011
    Now I'm pissed I never thought of Ctrl F throughout huck fin. I could be rich and famous now for doing absolutely nothing.
    No one would have accepted it. You aren't a professor of English. I can't believe no one ever thought to do that before, though.

    Let's start a new publishing company called Censored Books. We can ctrl+f controversial books.

    Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22, and more.
  • Gary OakGary Oak Regular
    edited January 2011
    I've never read the book, but I know it's an American classic. If anything it's the most significant book written by an American. WTF. If it offends you, your a cunt.
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited January 2011
    Gary Oak wrote: »
    I've never read the book, but I know it's an American classic. If anything it's the most significant book written by an American. WTF. If it offends you, you're a nigger.
    Pretty sure only niggers get offended.
  • DirtySanchezDirtySanchez Regular
    edited January 2011
    This is what the equality myth leads to. This is what multiculturalism causes. We've allowed all non whites to become protected classes are beyond criticism to the media and the libs. Fucking white guilt needs to stop.

    My ancestors never owned a slave and even if they did I'm not going to feel guilty about it. This idea that we should be sorry for what happened so many years ago is ridiculous.
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited January 2011
    This is just stupid...
  • KatzenklavierKatzenklavier Regular
    edited January 2011
    :facepalm:
  • edited January 2011
    Huck Finn is a fucking masterpiece
    P.S. fucking niggers
  • edited January 2011
    I heard this guy defending himself on the radio today. His main argument seemed to be that saying "nigger Jim" made people uncomfortable. What a fucking pantload. He spent the entire interview calling it "the n word", and said it has a much different meaning today then when Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were written. He even suggested the movie be edited to remove the word. Peckerhead.

    If I were a teacher I would use Twains use of the word as an instructional tool, editing it denies anyone this opportunity.
    C/O
    "The n word, fuck me, thats what I get for listening to public radio"
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited January 2011
    I studied the book in several classes, and the profs basically just said "that's what people said. be mature." No one said shit.
  • dr rockerdr rocker Regular
    edited January 2011
    It is a disgrace, pure and simple. The guy wrote the book with the intention to be the way it is - to make people question if it was right to call others 'nigger jim'.

    What next? Shall we re-write the bible and the works of Shakespear into modern day language to cater for 'tards?

    Shall we remove all reference of Odyseus being short from the Illyad and the Oddesy for fear of upseting short people?

    Shall we burn the speaches of great leaders of the past for fear of them being used for nationalism?

    The editing of historical text to suit what we feel is appropriate to todays society is akin to Nazi book burning. No difference at all.
  • KatzenklavierKatzenklavier Regular
    edited January 2011
    Anyone old enough to understand the book is going to be mature enough to handle "nigger". On top of the fact that this is a book written in and about a time when using that work was okay! Should we go around the world replacing all the "fucks" with "dangs"?! I was actually allowed to read the book as a sixth grader, the reason? Because the book is ABOUT racial diversity and freeing yourself from unequal rights, not about people being called the n word. It's such a classic literature book that the word doesn't make a difference. The book should be left as it is. If you want to read it but don't want "nigger", SUCK IT UP! because if you are going to be that immature than you won't be able to understand and comprehend the deep meaning of the book. The fact that we go to such lengths to avoid race is ridiculous. We shouldn't talk about race as a discriminatory subject but we should talk about race as something that we are because, although it doesn't define us, it's part of who we are.
  • bornkillerbornkiller Administrator In your girlfriends snatch
    edited January 2011
    I read a comment somewhere a couple of days ago concerning this issue, It was from some black dude who said
    "I'd rather be called a nigger than a slave"
  • fanglekaifanglekai Regular
    edited January 2011
    Twain was ridiculing racist people in the book, too. This is really sad.
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited January 2011
    fanglekai wrote: »
    Twain was ridiculing racist people in the book, too. This is really sad.

    Perhaps satirizing would be a more apt description but yes, essentially he was making fun of them to some extent in order to shine a light in the dark.
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