Should Mark Twain's work be edited?

1. 81

   badeggposted 13 years ago

   Should Mark Twain's work be edited?
   
   It has been brought up in the news recently that Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" are to be edited to make them more politically correct. All racial references of the time will be changed to something more acceptable for today's world. Do you agree?

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2. 61

   BobbiRantposted 13 years ago

   No, not any great writer's work should be edited.  Nazis tried book burnings, did not work.  Since when is a small group in America cheeky enough to 'fix' a great writer's works?  Oh yes, slavery, and prejudice and bigotry is something America needs to 'pretend' does not exist.  Like we did not try to commit genocide on Indians and the Holocaust  did not exist either.  Ridiculous!

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3. 62

   nightwork4posted 13 years ago

   no it shouldn't be edited. if the original works are concidered to be politicaly incorrect, so be it. if you go on a site like twitter the word nigger is used constantly by the black community there or at least some form of nigger. being politicaly correct is killing honesty in this world.

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4. 60

   MickSposted 13 years ago

   No, it's about time these cretins got a life that doesn't include rewriting social history to how they think it should be.
   A bunch of busy bodies telling us how we should think.

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5. 69

   Klenaposted 13 years ago

   Definitely not, and it's a disgrace that it's even being debated.
   
   These books are examples of social history. The censorship of the racial language does not make the word go away or destroy of the power of the word. It's the power of the word today that seems to frighten these groups.
   
   Freedom of speech still appeals to literature.

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6. 61

   weholdthesetruthsposted 13 years ago

   To do so is to falsify history.   Why would we wish to do that?  Who is so dumb that they think we should alter history to appease a few people who are manufacturing angst just to get attention over non-issues of complete unimportance?

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7. 0

   Mr Tindleposted 13 years ago

   No, books and storys should always stay exactly the same as they were originally written. The only person that should be allowed to do any editing or revising is the author.

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8. 70

   MikeSyrSuttonposted 13 years ago

   No way. He was a master among the best of writers.

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9. 61

   vahidpeerposted 13 years ago

   I believe not. The writer uses his imagination to write. You have your own imagination, or idea. No one can change any one's ideas made from imagination.

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10. 0

    fordieposted 13 years ago

    Definitely not. Readers should be credited with enough intelligence to understand the words used and the context

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11. 60

    Tim Blackstoneposted 13 years ago

    While I think the motivation of those people who want to alter classic texts like these is for the best of intentions I fear the only people who really benefit are those who want to claim that things were not as bad as they really were.
    History should teach us how to behave better but if we alter the historical record we will never learn and never improve.

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12. 60

    sturner1posted 13 years ago

    No,  I think that's why we have Freedom of Speech. You can't change history, you can only learn from it,  And as for Nightwork4, please do not clump a few idiots with the whole of "Black Community", I don't use the "N" word with an er or a ga, nor anyone in my househould for that matter, because that's how I was raised, and my children will be raised, so when someone gets bold enough to use it in a derrogatory manner, it still has a stigma, and they will heed the consequence.

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13. 60

    darrenhooperposted 13 years ago

    No. These pieces of work were written at a time when that is the way people thought and spoke. Leave the words alone and have people learn from them.

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14. 61

    larryprice5372posted 13 years ago

    No way.
    
    I am especially against it because of the reason and method being used for the excuse to do it.  It's censorship plain and very simple.
    
    The man wrote it that way, it is true to the times, and we do not need to modernize it for left wing reasons.

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15. 60

    smelloftruthposted 13 years ago

    Mark Twain wrote for the people during his time. Why bring him back from the dead and sugarcoat his writing? It doesn't make any sense.

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16. 60

    AngusNzposted 13 years ago

    Even the fact that they have considered it is disturbing, we learn that the use of these words is wrong from these historical works, if there is talk of changing the original text then there is a change in freedom afoot. If America is beginning to censor its past it does so because it has an agenda and that is scary for us all. Do not let it happen.

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17. 77

    CarolineChicagoposted 13 years ago

    No, they should not be edited. That was how people spoke back then. It's sad and frightening that the issue is even being discussed. These were the authors words, he was writing for an audience in his own time--that's what life was like back then. It had slavery and bigotry, racism, sexism and even religious discrimination. It was not the ideal time period that people romanticize about today. And an author's words should not be revised because of the political climate of the current times. Sounds like something the Soviet Union would have done back in the day.

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18. 83

    Freeway Flyerposted 13 years ago

    No way. Mark Twain was employing language that would have been common in the settings where his stories took place. Plus, Huck Finn is a book that tries to show the foolishness of racism, so he is criticizing a society in which the "n-word" was commonly used.
    
    But even if those reasons are not enough, you shouldn't mess with a writer's work. If people are deeply offended, stop reading.

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19. 60

    jantamayaposted 13 years ago

    A difficult question. Maybe yes. He is using the n-words but he means it differently than we understand it now (this is why he can be misunderstood). He was a friend of all discriminated people - at least he was trying to be... :-) ??? BUT, when I would change anything than only the particular n-words, because I know he didn't mean them in this way we do it today.

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