Huckleberry Finn

Last year we blogged several times about how political correctness had overtaken common sense in the classroom. How book publishers were changing references in historic novels to accommodate the perceived sensibilities of readers who were purportedly offended.

Now comes word that Auburn University Professor Alan Gribben has produced  versions of Mark Twain's literary masterpieces Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer--without the words nigger or injun.

Professor Gribben says he was uncomfortable saying those words when he was teaching the book. Aw. I'm sorry the good professor was uncomfortable. But guess what? When you're teaching there are things that will make you uncomfortable. It goes with the job. If you teach The Diary of Anne Frank are you going to pretend that the Nazis were Harley owners and only wanted to take Anne and her family to the annual Sturgis Rally in South Dakota? If you teach your kids about sex are you going to say that daddy gives mommy a candy bar and a baby grows in her stomach?

Who would dare re-write this guy?

Teaching is tough work. Trust me, I used to do it. It takes a tough person to overcome that discomfort and give a student, a child, a player or anyone else a lesson that will last a lifetime. Huckleberry Finn was the first real book I had ever read. I was 16. It changed my life and made me a lifetime reader and writer. Because for the first time I learned that words had meanings and consequences. If a teacher hides a word from a student, it has no meaning for that student. And if it has no meaning, there are no consequences to using it.

Perhaps Prof. Gribben doesn't have what it takes to stand up in a classroom. Maybe he and his mates ought to find another line of work.

Just thought you might like to know.

Enough of this Almighty-Condemned Political Correctness

Just when you've had enough of "man-made disasters, " "persons of interest" and other politically correct terms comes word out of the Netherlands that some PC publishers are sanitizing ("censoring" might be a better word) the great works of literature.

Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English author and adventurer whose works like Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim have been staples of school and university Literature classes in Europe, Africa, North America and elsewhere for a hundred years.

One of Conrad's lesser known works is The Nigger of the Narcissus. One scholar has called the short novel the best work of Conrad's early period.

Now comes word that a Dutch publisher has renamed the classic "The N-word of the Narcissus." No joke.

The publisher says it made the change as a public service. But the Congress of Racial Equality, an American civil rights group that has a long history of defending the rights of African Americans, calls the publisher's changes "outrageous."

So this is now what now passes for intellectual thought in Western society. Authors of any generation and time have the right to know that their works, if they contribute greatly to humanity, may one day be judged great, and may live on for years, decades, centuries or millennia. King Lear has stood the test of five centuries. The Book of Genesis has been with us for thousands of years. Are we at the point that a hack publisher would substitute his judgment for that of Shakespeare, Moses or Mark Twain?

What of Nigger Jim, the most noble character in Huckleberry Finn? A character who defines humanity in the book. Would he be more noble as "N-word Jim?"

Would renaming the "shack jobs" of James Jones' sweeping World War II epic From Here to Eternity "sex workers oppressed by a white-male dominated society" make a great work better?

How about fashioning a loin cloth out of Quickrete  and affixing it with Mighty Putty to Michelangelo's Statue of David? In avoiding prudish sensibilities would the work be improved?

Or, should we reset Wagner's Ride of the Valkryies to a polka melody because 60 years ago its marshall rhythms had an errective effect on a bunch of Nazi misogynists?

The point is that it is timeless acceptance of a work of art that makes it great. And that objective greatness trumps the sensibilities of any future age. Or any politically correct "progressives."

Just thought you might like to know.