Folks;  I'm still working through the implications of all this about AHF,
but can now throw in a few cents -- sitting here in LA and waiting for the
book exhibit to open (it was NOT open yesterday, for some unexplained
reason).

I begin with an anecdote about Ted Williams -- who, when he passed, was
considered the "greatest living ballplayer."  Immediately the debate ensued,
about who was his logical replacement.  Was it Warren Spahn? Willie Mays?
Henry Aaron???  or (gasp!) a pitcher -- Bob Gibson? Bob Feller (who just
died a few months ago)??

Anyway, yes-- I do have a point.  It seems strange, even uncanny, that this
debate is timed just after the passing of Lou Budd, our own "best
ballplayer," by many accounts.  Because in my view, there are just a few
other special scholars whose name I would utter as a potential new "dean" of
our craft.

One of them is Alan Gribben.  I admit I was very surprised to hear that he
was behind this new project.  But for now, and with all my reservations
about what this brouhaha entails -- I'd like to give Alan a little leeway
here, and I also think I'd like to speak on his behalf as one of the kindest
and most knowledgeable Twain scholars.  There have been a few (vague)
comments on here directed at Alan that approached the line between fair and
mean, and that is very unfortunate.

I do have reservations about this new, edited (bowdlerized?) text -- but
Alan's credentials are impeccable and his character is well known to all of
us.  I guess I'd mostly like to corner him and hear his explanation, because
I'm sure he has one.





-- 
Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Professor of English
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO  63108
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
<www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>