BOOK REVIEW

_Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: The Translated Dialect
Edition_. By Mark Twain. Edited by Alan Gribben and Irene Wong. Black Belt
Press, 2025. Pp. 380. Softcover. $24.95. ISBN 978-1961938090.

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Reviewed for the Mark Twain Forum by:
Barbara Schmidt

Copyright (c) 2025 Mark Twain Forum. This review may not be published or
redistributed in any medium without permission.

Alan Gribben and Irene Wong have just edited and released a new edition of
_Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_--an illustrated "Translated Dialect"
edition. Wong had advocated for the "Translated Dialect" edition for
years.  In a personal note she explained the difficulties Gribben had faced
when teaching an American literature course in a Southern satellite campus
of Auburn University where 40-50% of his students were Black. All the
students, both Black and White, stumbled over the Black vernacular of the
enslaved characters. They said that they skipped the dialect because it was
indecipherable. The Black students went further and made the reasonable
objection that only the enslaved characters in the novel "sounded stupid."

An extensive Introduction details the history of Mark Twain's scrupulous
efforts to correctly render the dialects of enslaved people of the 1840s
and explains how these renderings appealed to readers of the 1880s.  The
editors also point out that through the ensuing 20th century and into the
21st these dialect wordings have had undesirable consequences in today's
classroom, since many of today's students and adult readers find the
unorthodox spelling and syntax annoying and baffling.

"Even readers who understand that enforced illiteracy lies behind the
ungrammatical speech of the enslaved characters can feel disconcerted by
the uncomfortable fact that the only incomprehensible dialogue in the novel
is spoken by the Black figures. A solution to this dilemma is feasible for
readers willing to accept a minor editorial compromise" (p. xi).

An illustration of how the "translated dialect" is rendered can be seen in
a sample from Chapter 14 when the slave Jim and Huck are discussing wealthy
kings and Jim says:

"I didn' know dey was so many un um. I hain't hearn 'bout none un um
skasely, but ole King Sollermun, onless you counts dem kings dat's in a
pack er k'yards. How much do a king git?"

The above passage is revised for today's readers:

"I didn't know there were so many of 'em. I hain't heard about none of 'em
scarcely, but old King Solomon, unless you count them kings that're in a
pack of cards. How much does a king get?"

This edition also restores the "raftsman passage" to Chapter 16. It was
originally intended for the first edition of _Huckleberry Finn_ but later
deleted and utilized in _Life on the Mississippi_.

In addition to the Introduction is a lengthy bibliography of relevant
studies by today's scholars on _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_, a listing
of the 1885 first edition chapter headings, and the Editor's Chapter
Summaries and Explanatory Notes. Wong also adapted many illustrations from
the first edition.

Gribben is well-known in Mark Twain scholarship as the editor of the
magisterial volumes of _Mark Twain's Literary Resources: A Reconstruction
of His Library and Reading_ (2022)--a lifetime achievement in which he
invested fifty years of travel, research and writing. He also edited the
controversial NewSouth edition of _Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_ (2011),
the first edition that replaced the "N-word" with the more palatable word
"slave" as Gribben endeavored to combat the tide of classroom censorship or
just plain avoidance for Mark Twain's literary jewel. The "N-word" has
similarly been replaced by "slave" in this "Translated Dialect" edition.

Irene Wong served as managing editor of the _Mark Twain Journal_ for
several years and has been a behind-the-scenes worker and supporter for all
of Gribben's literary endeavors.

In today's atmosphere of book challenges and censorship across America,
this "editorial compromise" edition can be a welcome alternative for
schools and teachers who want to introduce their students to American
literature and inspire them to dig deeper into Mark Twain's legacy. The
editors introduce this edition as one that can be read to any audience, any
age, anywhere.