Mark Twain

One could argue that 2010 was surely “The Year of Mark Twain”: the centennial of his death, the 175th anniversary of his birth, and the 125th anniversary of the American publication of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. That remarkable year also saw the publication of several biographies, numerous critical studies, and most notably the first of three volumes of Mark Twain’s Autobiography. This year could not match that output, but it did see the Autobiography reach near the top of the New York Times bestseller list as well as confused reaction by nonacademics who misunderstand the nature of scholarly editions and indeed of Twain’s unconventional approach to autobiography. Even in a year of retrenchment, 2011 brings us a new edition of Huckleberry Finn that sparked controversy and national headlines as well as books on Twain and the Philippines and on his Hartford house and one placing him in the company of august philosophers and thinkers. While articles on Huckleberry Finn slow to a mere trickle, a number of articles examine other works, with a special emphasis on works published before 1885.

On a very sad note, Twain scholar Michael Kiskis of Elmira College, who was to have written this chapter, died suddenly and unexpectedly. As a substitute for my good friend, I survey the year’s offerings.

i Editions

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn made headlines and sparked editorial debate upon its publication in 1885, and it does so again a century and a quarter later with Alan Gribben’s NewSouth edition Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Reuniting the two novels is not controversial, but Gribben’s decision to substitute the 200-plus occurrences of the word nigger with slave certainly does. Gribben’s motive for this editorial move is to keep the book from being banned, especially from secondary school reading lists and classrooms. He states several rationales: the word has become so insulting that it becomes a bar for readers to encounter the text; the substitution of slave does not dull the book’s meaning; and Twain, ever mindful of audience and sales, would have made the change if he knew how hurtful the word would become. Gribben cites personal experience of substituting slave for nigger in both the classroom and public readings, noting the relief audiences feel when they do not have to hear the word repeatedly. He also recounts conversations with high school and middle school teachers who lament that they can no longer teach the novel. He admits that though “the text loses some of its caustic sting that the n-word carries, that price seems small compared to the revolting effect that the more offensive word has on contemporary readers.” Gribben’s arguments deserve to be taken seriously, not shouted down with cries of “political correctness” as many in the mass media immediately did upon hearing of the change. Huckleberry Finn is indeed less widely taught than it was a generation ago, especially in secondary schools. Teachers who choose this sanitized edition will probably do little real harm to their students, who will read a classic they might not otherwise encounter in the classroom. But they will certainly not be reading Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, and there is a price for the substitution: readers of this edition will have the sting of a hurtful word removed but they will also have removed much of the sting of Twain’s satire and irony. With careful teaching by prepared and sensitive teachers, high school students can understand and appreciate irony and satire, but only if they get to meet them in full force. Further, it could be argued that Gribben’s substitution makes several powerful passages absurd—for example, Pap’s tirade against “govment” and the “free nigger” from Ohio, or Huck’s late comment to Tom about “setting a free nigger free.” And would Twain indeed have made the change, as Gribben suggests? A writer who railed against typesetters and proofreaders who made small changes in punctuation and spelling would likely have strong opinions about 218 changes of nigger, 67 changes of injun to Indian, and 8 changes of half-breed to half-blood. Of...