Friends and colleagues, I found the range of responses to the "should plot summaries be used?" issue fascinating, and a bit disturbing. I'm not an academic, merely a writer for whom SLC has been the biggest inspiration. And I think a good chunk of that impetus came from supremely wise teachers who understood implicitly that there was, and never will be, a substitute for Twain in his own words. That these students no longer read is a feeble excuse. I was fortunate to have discovered HUCK FINN, TOM SAWYER and LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI on my own before having Twain introduced in an academic environment. Why is it so hard for these students now, and if they're so averse to reading, what are they doing in college? It's a curmudgeonly argument, but when did college become about saving time and work, instead of engaging in genuine study and discourse? From what I know of our subject, he probably would be appalled at the idea of being studied in the first place, but also rather bemused. The plot summaries, though, I suspect he'd find rather insulting. Kathy O'Connell Hartford Advocate