Being a mere lover of Twain, and not a professional in the field, I have a question: what does "relevance to today's students" have to do with the teaching of literature... or any other art, for that matter? Also, since when was the primary purpose of art to effect social change? Why not teach *Huckleberry Finn* as literature, rather than as social history? One more question (I promise:-): isn't the use of the word "nigger" confined to dialogue? I have yet to find an instance where the Twain voice, or the third person narrator, ever uses it. If I'm wrong on this point, I'd really like to know about it. If I'm not, doesn't this say something about Twain's attitude towards this awful word? Incidentally, I'm counting Huck's 1st person narrative as dialogue. Leslie Kinton Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario.