Agreed! "A French Reader" is right on target. I had a go around on this subject in 2010 with ended (for me) with my letter to the /LA Times/ - which, please excuse me, I'll post here, in support of unbowdlerized texts: Mark Twain a racist? Oh, bosh! When we're talking about Twain, we're speaking of someone born well before the Civil War, in a small town, from a slave-holding state. That his humanity -- hmmm, like Lincoln's -- could overcome the fundamental bigotry of his time and place, with all of its attendant horrors, is extraordinary. Does that make him a 21st century man? No -- and we ought not hold him to the so-called niceties of our own social and political fabric. But that he wrote, so effectively, about a boy coming to understand that a slave is a sentient person and not property is remarkable for his day, and long after. Céline-Albin Faivre wrote: > This is totally insane and stupid! > Only American people can imagine such a thing! > You have NO right to amend his works. He wrote "nigger", you have no > right to change the word or to delete it. You betray a great > anti-racist novel in the process... Mark Twain was not a racist. > When you are scared by the words (you are even not brave enough to write > the word!!), you are beaten. Censorship has been tried throughout > history. It never works. The goal of eliminating racism from our > society will be accomplished by facing it head on, not by trying to hide > it with politically correctness. I despise politically correctness. > This is a disease. > “The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is > really a large matter—it's the difference between the lightning bug and > the lightning†(letter to George Bainton, Oct. 15, 1888) > Twain used the word on purpose. > A French reader > > > > Le 03/01/2017 à 20:17, Clay Shannon a écrit : >> When reading or quoting his works, I have struggled with whether to keep Tw= >> ain's words "sacrosanct" by retaining the original wording in every case - = >> specifically, the "elephant in the room" - the so-called "N word" (see, peo= >> ple don't even like to write it out, let alone verbalize it). >> I have determined to (not uniquely or originally) replace the word with "sl= >> ave" when I encounter it. >> Here is my reasoning: >> When I do my Twain performance, I do not speak as slowly as Twain did (alth= >> ough I do speak more slowly than my natural rate). Why? Because modern audi= >> ences would not have the patience to endure that "three-words-per-minute" s= >> tuff. They would tune me out quicker than a Barry Manilow song at a mosh pi= >> t. >> I have also determined not to mimic the Twain gait on stage, again because = >> the average member of the audience would be distracted, wondering whether I= >> had hurt my leg or had imbibed two too many toddys prior to trodding the b= >> oards. Now among a crowd of Twainians, it would be different - I would prob= >> ably effect the "sailor-on-shore" weave, because they (you) would "get it." >> So, my point is: the current milieu must be served. And that's why "slave" = >> should, in my opinion, replace the "N" word when reading/quoting Twain's wo= >> rks. If the original word was retained, the audience would understandably b= >> e uncomfortable, distracted, and possibly even antagonistic both towards me= >> and Twain, viewing him perhaps as the immoralist of the insane rather than= >> the moralist of the Main. >> What the word meant to be people back in the 1840s (and 1880s, even) and ho= >> w they responded/reacted to it in those times is different from people's re= >> sponse and reaction today. It may be that "slave" is, in actuality, a prett= >> y good modern equivalent for the dreaded and now decidedly derogatory slur. >> Why Twain used the word (especially in "Huck Finn") could continue to be di= >> scussed, but (alluding to Daniel Day-Lewis-as-Lincoln's advice to Tommy Lee= >> Jones' character in "Lincoln"), the most effective way to get to the other= >> side of the swamp is sometimes to go around it, rather than plunge headlon= >> g into the muck and mire. >> The preservation of Twain's reputation, and to keep him on the world's read= >> ings lists, may best be served by bending a little in this case. >> Your responses are welcomed and awaited.=C2=A0- B. Clay Shannon