In a recent conversation with a retired librarian friend of mine,
who is now volunteering to be a librarian (about the only sort we have
left as there is so little support for libraries these days), the topic of
Mark Twain came up.  Actually, Mark Twain was the primary purpose of
my visit with this librarian.  I was loaning her my copy of Twain's
book on Joan of Arc and in return she loaned me the most recent version
of his autobiography and a copy of The Outrageous Mark Twain.  She
bemoaned the fact that Twain is longer taught in public schools and in
fact has become "politically incorrect".  The latter particularly in
reference to Huck Finn.

 Now, Huck Finn has always been my favorite book, of all time.  And,
I consider the portion containing Huck's moral dilemma in regards to
freeing Jim, to be perhaps the single most valuable bit of literature
I have ever read.  I must say, though that I've never been entirely
satisfied with the closing portion of the novel, Tom's attempt to
"steal" Jim.

  Anyway, I'd like to hear what the subscribers to this list have to
say about Twain's standing in today's community at large.  I hope this
is an appropriate thing to post here.  I'm not a Mark Twain scholar and
neither am I a sociologist, but I do believe that if Twain's work passes
from our general "social consciousness" something of great value will
be lost.  Comments please...

Scott Holmes