Censoring Mark Twain

So, I guess this is what happens to you when you're in the public domain. An English professor named Alan Gribben is publishing an edition of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn under one cover (that's nice) and taking out the period-specific racial terms (that's very not nice.) Read the whole story in this New York Times article.

I'm not a fan of either book (although I like Twain in general), but the notion of whitewashing history like that is just plain yucky. All the arguments against this sort of censorship/bowdlerization are obvious. But I would like to also call attention to the sheer audacity of reworking Twain. How would Alan Gribben feel if somebody came along and changed his words to remove the parts they wish weren't there? Say, that give me a swell idea!

“I found myself thrown out of graduate school at Berkeley not wanting to teach either ‘Huckleberry Finn’ or ‘Tom Sawyer,’” Gribben said. “And I don’t think I’m alone.”

“I’m sanitizing Mark Twain--the sharp social critiques, the humor. I'm just obsessing about this one word," Mr. Gibbon said, "and I won't let the stories stand alone.”

This is fun! I take it back, Alan Gribben--you're really onto something with this whole putting-words-in-other-people's-mouths thing. By the way, you can't do a damn thing about this. Just like Mark Twain is defenseless against you in the public domain, you are defenseless against my re-writes thanks to a little help from my friends "fair use" and "parody." Now, if only I could figure out a way to profit off of this like you and your publisher are...