"Huckleberry Fi" (n's removed)

Huck and Jim

This Is Just Too Weird Dept.: Tonight when I came home from work, precisely as I pulled Mrs. Hermanson into the garage to leave her for the night, her odometer turned over 100,000 miles.

I think there can be no question that this is a Sign and a Portent.

But of what, I wonder?

According to this article from Entertainment Weekly (Tip: Big Hollywood), NewSouth Books is bringing out a new edition of Huckleberry Finn, aimed at students. Every instance of the “n” word (you know the word I mean) has been changed to “slave.” And every instance of “Injun” has been changed to… something. They don’t say what.

“Is this really a big deal?” the columnist asks.

Yeah, I kind of think it is.

On the other hand, if this puts the book into the hands of kids who would not otherwise be allowed to read it due to forces beyond their control (overprotective parents and the school boards they frighten), then maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to judge. It’s unfortunate, but is it really any more catastrophic than a TBS-friendly re-edit of The Godfather, you down-and-dirty melon farmer? The original product is changed for the benefit of those who, for one reason or another, are not mature enough to handle it, but as long as it doesn’t affect the original, is there a problem?

My opinion (I could, of course, be wrong), is that if a student is old enough to understand the extremely sophisticated themes of Huckleberry Finn, he or she is old enough to understand that the “n” word, while always offensive, was in very common use in Mark Twain’s time, even by black people themselves. I think that’s a fact worth knowing. Educational, even.

“Ah ha!” says someone. “But you’re saying ‘n word’ yourself! You’re a hypocrite!”

“Silence, Imaginary Interlocutor!” say I (I might as well. Anthony Sacramone isn’t using the phrase much these days [I just tried to link to his dormant blog, but now it won’t let you in without a Google account]). The truth of the age I live in is that the “n” word is no longer in common use, except as an insult (and in rap lyrics). If I tried to use it in Mark Twain’s way, I’d be as false to my own world as it’s false to his to clean it up in Huckleberry Finn.

I hold (again, I could be wrong) that when it comes to speech, the Victorians were able to express themselves with far greater freedom than we enjoy today.

0 thoughts on “"Huckleberry Fi" (n's removed)”

  1. This is ridiculous, and I hope the book does not sell. Of course this change affects the original. It’s as much a change as correcting Huck’s grammar would be.

  2. Hold on to your un-bowdlerized copies. Sometime they’ll be black market collector’s items. On second thought, get rid of them. Once the Thought Police have completely taken over, possession of them will be evidence against you in your trial for a “hate crime.” Just like your un-bowdlerized copies of “Money For Nothing.” Sometimes now on the radio a certain word is electronically garbled so it sounds roughly like “That little fed-huff has his own jet airplane/that little fed-huff is a millionaire.”

  3. Big Brother is Watching You. Better learn Newspeak.

    By 2050—earlier, probably—all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron—they’ll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually contradictory of what they used to be. Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like “freedom is slavery” when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking—not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.

    Orwell, 1984

  4. we must not start changing literature to apease

    those that think being politically correct is of upmost importance.Huck Finn was written at a time when the “N” word WAS used. Now shall we go back and change all literature to delete other words we don’t care for like, bitch, SOB, dyke, MF, queer,: next we will remove God, Jesus; the list could go on.I hope those who believe in freedom of speech will stand up for what they know is right.. our voices must be heard.

  5. I also think teachers and parents should explain to children the whole context in which the word was once used as part of a particular historical period. They should also tell them that its usage today is inappropriate. Then there will be no need to interfere in our classic novels and damage their value.

  6. Yes, you’re right, Lorne. Striking the word is not education and may backfire on the students exposed to it, but then we have bad education of many types in America today. Only some of it backfires in noticeable ways.

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