In recent news, New South Publishing has decided to release an amended and edited version of the Mark Twain
classics The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, to be released in a single volume. This story follows the news of the release of Twain’s autobiography, set to be published on the centennial of Twain’s death. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer were required reads for many students in the United States. However, in recent years the novel has been omitted from numerous public school curricula and in some cases libraries due to an unfortunate racial slur that most readers would find offensive. An example of this usage is that Huck’s friend and fellow escapee Jim is refered to as N____r Jim. Although this is most certainly a deplorable racial slur, the term was unfortunately a ubiquitous term at the time of publication and beyond referring to a person of African-American decent. Also on the chopping block stands the menacing antagonist of Tom Sawyer, Injun Joe. ”Injun” is a bastardized version of Indian, which in itself a misrepresentation of Native American. Regardless of the fact, Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer are considered by many as the epitome of American literature. But how to approach these sensitive racial slurs? Does one simply edit them out, or does it stay in memory regardless of absence in print? Read more »
Archive for literature
Huck Finn: Editing Out History or Expanding A Reading Base?
Posted in American Literature, History, Movie/Film Inspiration with tags censorship, literature, Mark Twain, racism on January 6, 2011 by dakota1917Sir Arthur C. Clarke: A Testament to Time
Posted in Birthday Wishes, Horror/Suspense, Movie/Film Inspiration, Science Fiction, World Literature with tags 2001: A Space Odyssey, aliens, literature, Paranormal, Sir Arthur C. Clarke on December 17, 2010 by dakota1917
Sir Arthur C. Clarke Dec. 16, 1917-March 19, 2008.
I had every intention of posting this my most recent for my readers yesterday. Yesterday would have been the 91st birthday of the late great Sir Arthur C. Clarke. I began writing yesterday and after about 30 minutes of stumbling through my own words of laudation, I waved the white flag of defeat. Think about this: this is Sir Arthur C. Clark I’m attempting to give reverence. I felt like I was giving a speech in a crowed room with an ill-researched presentation laden with “ums” and “uhs”, followed by a deluge of tears and toppling over the podium. To my chagrin, I gave this task up. As usual, I remain a day late and a dollar short.
Now that I have had a night to sleep on it, I decided that I would instead relay what Sir Arthur C. Clarke and his work meant to me.
I read 2001: A Space Odyssey when I was still in middle school. I had a copy that I bought at a library book sale that
was held together lovingly with Scotch tape. Read more »
Happy Birthday, Shirley Jackson
Posted in American Literature, Birthday Wishes, Etc., Horror/Suspense, Paranormal with tags Haunted House, homework, literature, lottery, Paranormal, reading, ritual sacrifice, Shirley Jackson, Terror, The Haunting, The Haunting of Hill House on December 14, 2010 by dakota1917I was looking through a list of author’s birthdays today to try to write a new birthday wish. I like to do this everyone once in a while, often for my benefit. Being a history major, birthdays are just little tidbits of information stored for later use during a heated round of Trivial Pursuit.
Shirley Jackson
Shirley Jackson (December 14, 1916-August 8, 1965) sounded familiar to me. Upon a few moments of research, I discovered she was the author of a high school requirement and one of the more terrifying haunted house stories I have read. Read more »
True Grit: For Readers Who Hate Westerns
Posted in American Literature, History, Movie/Film Inspiration, Westerns with tags Charles Portis, Coen Brothers, John Wayne, literature, snow, True Grit, Westerns on December 13, 2010 by dakota1917
Book cover for True Grit
I love realizing that a semester is finally coming to an end. After tomorrow, I will have taken my last exam and officially be on winter break and will not have to approach any building on UNCA’s campus until mid-January. I think that one of my favorite moments that comes along with the sensation of semester’s end is the moment when I realize that I now have the ability to bathe myself in the words of authors that I actually want to read, authors that I am not required to read. Granted, there are occasions in recent memory of required reading that were enjoyable, but the fact of the matter is that I still had to read them.
Oftentimes, my quest for literary jubilation circulates through themes or phases. A strange phenomenon that I have noticed about myself is that the first couple of books I read on winter break are Westerns. This being said, I am not a middle-aged man sitting by a fireplace smoking a pipe reading a sweeping McMurtry epic. Actually, I am just like many of you reading this post. The history of the American Old West is a subject that fascinates millions of consumers worldwide. Cowboy culture is not simply an American phenomenon. The point is, I love a good Western and something about cold weather brings it out of me. Read more »
Happy Birthday Boris Pasternak!
Posted in Birthday Wishes, History, World Literature with tags Boris Pasternak, communist Revolution, Doctor Zhivago, literature, Russia, Russian Civil War, Soviet Union on February 10, 2010 by dakota1917Russian literature, much like Russian history, has always been an interest of mine. Granted, it is not for everyone
. Usually, the books are very thick and equally dense in subject. Take for example War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Incredibly thick, huge and expansive plot plus a lot of French in it owing to the Russians’ idea that speaking French was a way of showing culture, etiquette and nobility. But the stories are sweeping and enlightening; the number of pages is what seems to frighten people away from them. Read more »
