dlow - Extremists don't give much quarter, and I believe it is only some on the far left that continue to hold this uncompromising view about Huck Finn. They seem not to want to recognize the vastly different standards of behavior in different historical periods.
Hmmm - extremists from either end finding themselves uncomfortably glued together back to back, and indistinguishable, as they maniacally pull the rope from their end, eh?
Mark Twain was no racist. Neither was Stephen Foster. My favorite tale of Stephen is that he once was at the bedside of his dying friend. The friend asked him: "Where is the song you were going to write for me?" Stephen is said to have improvised "Old Black Joe" in reply.
Recent novels have provoked an outcry, like AMERICAN PSYCHO by Bret Ellis, whose first publisher refused to print it. Right now the forces of censorship in America are on the Left as well as the Right. The women's movement attacked Ellis' book and would gladly have cenored it if they could have.
Not long ago there was controversy because certain schools were rewriting the classics for the children, leaving out or altering all "objectionable" passages. The schools said they would quit the practice. I wish there were links to this so one might follow up to see if they did or didn't.
I want to expand this topic to include the movie SONG OF THE SOUTH. I believe it is being withheld from circulation by the Disney people because of the furor that would accompany it, not because it violates any specific statute. I have never seen this movie, but a synopsis includes the following information: Kindly loveable slave person, Uncle Remus entertains the white plantation owner's kids with tales of Brer Rabbit. He runs afoul of the kids' mother, I suppose because he is suspected of either wasting their time in idleness or else she doesn't think the tales appropriate (?). At any rate, he is banned from associating with the kids. After some special act on his part, Uncle Remus and the kids are reunited. I suppose the objection to the film is it makes life for slaves appear benevolent. Too, here is an old man being ordered about by the woman in a way that threatens the core of his existence simply because he is a slave. Never mind that she loves him in the final frame - she could easily revert to the woman with the threats if the poor guy makes any future mistakes. To my knowledge he lives out his days a slave.
The film was indeed a product of then current thinking. But it comes too close to the time of the awakening of the American conscience. It is not to be tolerated.
I was not aware of the problems associated with black folk in films when I was a boy. I thought Buckwheat, Stymie and the other black Little Rascals were part of the gang and I loved all the kids equally. It was a surprise to me, after I was grown, to learn that Stymie felt humiliation for the part he played.
Twain: both ends against the center
Hi my friendlies. Interesting topic Edgarblythe.
Twain and his banning by various groups is a favorite subject of mine. Currently we are most familiar with the misguided left's rejection of Huck Finn on the assumption that it is racist. Of course it is not. Jim is a truly sympathetic character, and there are plentiful scenes showing the barbarity of casual southern racism. The bone being picked is linguistic, in my opinion, a bone pickable only by the faulty teeth of hindsight. (Put that in your book of weirdly mixed metaphors, Granny!) It is the N word causing the ruckus, but, hey, what do the critics of its use want? The picture Twain draws is rich in the hues of dialect, and the folks said that word. Strange, the same groups currently defend the use of the word by rap artists as ironic. If Twain is not the eternal ironist, I can't read...
But what is often forgotten is that Twain was rejected long ago by the rabid right for several reasons. First, his atheism. The wit he pointed at the pomposity and hypocracy of religion was sharp indeed. Have a look at Colonel Pendergrasts Journey to Heaven, or his treatise pointing out the illogic of the Noah story. You will easily see how fundies went bananas in the face of this. And yet Twain was never a man to be cornered by his critics. If you have never read his Diaries Of Adam and Eve, then you must put aside everything in your life until you have. Here he takes the story of Eden, relocates it to the vicinity of Niagra Falls, and offers a tender and lyrical portrait of our species. In my personal opinion there is no finer writing from any American writer.
Further, his politics enraged the right. Find, if you can, a collection called A Pen Dipped in Acid. The main subject of the majority of essays contained here are Americas misadventures in the Phillipines. A close reading shows that Twain quite accurately predicted the hubris and general political trends that led to Viet Nam. All of this work, posted in his later years was so reviled by the right wing that... well, a true story:
When I first came to New York I discovered the the glories of the Main Branch of the NY Public Library (42nd and 5th -- a lovely building, no longer used as a circulating branch.) There was, at that time, a beautiful set of high ceilinged reading rooms jam packed with everything a scholar could need. I came there to study American Literature of the last Century.
At one point, I found some library editions of the complete works of Twain. These were huge volumes mounted permanently onto lecturns. A glance told me they'd been defaced. Huge portions of them had been ripped right out of their bindings. After studying them, I realized it was all this period of his political writing that had been expunged.
Sad, but no doubt typical, that a nations greatest writer should be abused so.
the library is the most dangerous institution in america, may it always remain so.
While I have not read all of Twain, certainly not the political writings described here, I have read enough to know where he stood. Whether his tale of people being brought back to life in preperation of Judgement day, or Huck Finn, or Puddn'head Wilson, I hold him over and above most writers of any age.
The problem with censorship is that, no matter how pure the motives of the person doing the censorship may be, it ALWAYS harms the freedom of the community. I am a great believer in people's ability to sort out bad ideas from good ideas if left alone to do so. Therefore, I favor total freedom of speech on the grounds that people will reject what is bad and stupid and racist if given the freedom to choose for themselves. But choosing FOR them is Fascist.
