I would definitely buy the latter, so I await it eagerly.  It will be like
the "radio" version of HF, where the mind can supply its own ideas of what
is happening in the story.  <g>

I am not a reactionary.  I thought a lot about changing "nigger" to "slave"
before I wrote my comment.  I can understand the arguments, and as a
professor of 27 years, I can understand that some students and their parents
don't like what you teach.  Even when it seems completely innocuous.  I
teach computer subjects.  I moved to Pennsylvania in 1992 for my present
job.  Several times since then, while teaching the concept of binary, octal,
and hexadecimal numbering systems, I have had students tell me that such
systems were against their religion and that "God" had not put those systems
in the Bible, and therefore they should not be taught.  Seriously.  Now, I
really don't want to move anyone from his religion, but I have to teach what
the subject is, and they have to demonstrate that they have learned it in
order to pass the course.  I never knew that numbering systems were
controversial.  I wondered if the Roman numerals the Pontius Pilate
presumably used (but which I don't think are explicitly mentioned in the
Bible) would provoke the same reaction.  At no point did I ever consider not
teachijng those numbering systems just because a few people considered them
heretical.  But, of course, the concerns I dealt with were trivial compared
to those of people getting fired because they teach a book with an unliked
word in it.

I also thought of how old works of art and literature are often updated to
reflect contemporary contexts and sensibilities.  Kiss Me Kate.  West Side
Story.  Etc. But that is a completely different story.  And perhaps a
discussion for a different list.

Carl

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
> [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2011 11:57 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: a new Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
> 
> Well, I hope this action of Mr. Gribben's in no way distracts from the
> two
> editions I have planned of Huckleberry Finn coming out in the spring.
> One
> is a  legal/military redacted version where the offensive words are
> blacked
> out. The  other is a MAD LIBS version where the offensive words are
> omitted
> and replaced  with a 15 character space allowing the reader to supply
> an
> appropriate word  of his or her choice.
> 
> Alan C. Reese