Sanitizing Mark Twain

[loosechickens]

Absolutely, strongly, emphatically.......LEAVE IT ALONE. It is what it is. It reflects faithfully a period in history where that speech was common. Sanitizing history, remaking reality and forcing today's views on yesterday's beliefs does nothing but make us look like the Victorians who felt the need to cover up the "nakedness" of ancient Greek statues.

Not only should it be left alone, but the original book opens a wonderful opportunity to talk with kids about our past, mistakes made, things learned, changes that occurred, and why we will always be a better country for looking with open eyes at reality, whatever that reality might have been.

I have the same thoughts about the recent attempts to "dumb down" the Little Women book, because somehow it was thought that the language was just "too hard for today's kids". Obviously generations of kids managed to figure it out, so I'm sure the pampered little darlings of today could as well.

Bah, humbug on the whole thing........bask in it bae and Iris Lily.....because this is one area in which we are in complete agreement!

[redfox]

Here is what Dr. Cornel West said on Facebook, and he sums up my sentiments beautifully:

"Mark Twain was a literary genius and a bluesman who grew from a racist Confederate soldier to a mature solider of freedom on behalf of black people, yellow people and all others. Huck Finn is a funky text, because it tells the truth about America. Don’t deodorize it for the reality-denying audience of contemporary America."

[iris lily]

...

I have the same thoughts about the recent attempts to "dumb down" the Little Women book, because somehow it was thought that the language was just "too hard for today's kids". Obviously generations of kids managed to figure it out, so I'm sure the pampered little darlings of today could as well. ..

I don't know if there's a particular new edition you are speaking of, but there have always been simplified versions of the classics for children and I suppose they have their place in children's literature. The idea beind them is that a good story is a good story, and introducing it early to children at a simple level will give them a foundation to enjoy the real thing later.

I don't know if I buy that entirely, it really depends on the title.

But then, the Lambs' Tales of Shakespeare is a classic in itself. It's a re-working of famous literature for children.

What's interesting these days is the graphic novel treatment of so many classics. I flipped through a Japanese anime version of Jane Austen's Emma last week. The anime version is more of a new work that a reworking, it's not trying to dumb down the original but is artisitically different than the original. But is ure has fewere words that the original! ha ha.

[Anne Lee]

I've also heard black/African American scholars say they disagree with this version. Using the "n word" in an historical context is different than using it as contemporary verbal attack.

I think by the time children are old enough to read Huck Finn (I believe the reading level is middle school or above) they are old enough to understand the nuances of context.

[puglogic]

I think by the time children are old enough to read Huck Finn (I believe the reading level is middle school or above) they are old enough to understand the nuances of context.

Agreed, and heaven forbid we should actually take time to TALK to our children about what they are reading, explaining the differences between how that language was used then and now. Sanitize=laziness.