Plan B Forum

A new version of Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will remove racially insensitive terms from the text. Critics say it is taking political correctness a step too far

New editions of Mark Twain’s ­classic novels about Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer have ­triggered a row by removing all uses of the word ‘n*****’.

Publisher and Twain scholar Alan Gribben claimed the word – which occurs 219 times in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and four times in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – had prompted schools to stop teaching the works over concerns about racism.

In Dr Gribben’s editions the offensive word has been changed to ‘slave’, while mentions of ‘injun’ will become ‘Indian’ and ‘half-breed’ is altered to ‘half-blood’.

But the decision has prompted charges of political correctness and censorship and a row over whether the books are racist.

Ishmael Reed, a prominent black American writer, accused Dr Gribben of ‘philistinism’. He pointed out that Twain, a passionate critic of American racism, had portrayed Jim, the black slave, as ‘one of the few characters in the book with any kind of integrity’

It is considered one of the ­greatest American novels – but is also the fourth most banned book in U.S. schools.

Dr Gribben, an English professor at Auburn University in Alabama, said: ‘It’s such a shame that one word should be a barrier between a marvellous reading experience and a lot of readers.

‘Race matters in these books. It’s a matter of how you express that in the 21st century.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1ADnZoXF1

Gob wrote: "Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to."

Mark Twain

Crackpot wrote:I hear Gribbens next task is going to be an n-word free version of Blazing Saddles.