> B.L. Howard writes: > and the Native American Studies dept. here, and this comes up a lot. Consenus > among my Native friends and colleagues is that Twain was DEFINITELY a racist, > and a rather nasty one to boot. I have struggled with this as I thoroughly > enjoy most of Twain's writing. I'm interested in this type of reaction. If an author is racist, how does it - or should it - affect our reaction to his works? It seems to me that literary quality doesn't evaporate if a work is racist. Also, to merely say a work or author is racist may obscure more than it clarifies. Today's racism might be quite different than yesterday's. Bob Rogers Minneapolis, MN