Gus, You're right. After reading the postings by J.D. Stahl and Daven (sorry, there was no last name posted), I now realize that *Huck Finn* cannot be defended on purely artistic grounds from this kind of attack. Please consider me duly chastised. To the two aforementioned individuals: I had considered composing a carefully reasoned response to your positions, but I don't have the energy at the moment; maybe later. All I am going to say is that I disagree utterly with everything both of you said about the novel, and that the implicit ideology in both postings is antithetical to everything I stand for as an artist; moreover, the characterization of Jim is really an outrageaous distortion (as was that of Bill Cosby). Of course, as I said in my first posting, I'm just a mere lover of Twain, and not a professional in the field, so what do I know? Leslie Kinton Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario. P.S. The reason I am responding at all, incidentally, is because J.D. Stahl's posting was partly a response to my initial posting. I am not arrogant enough to think my opinion is really of any consequence; i.e., I don't have an urge to hold forth on a subject in which I am an amateur.