tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post8715352221411235277..comments2023-10-25T02:52:26.716-07:00Comments on Tzimiskes: More Historical Revisionism, This Time Involving Huck FinnTzimiskeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-17099442559790099652011-01-08T12:02:58.812-08:002011-01-08T12:02:58.812-08:00I think it's necessary to abridge lessons for ...I think it's necessary to abridge lessons for general readers who might not be mature enough to understand historical context.<br /><br />Knowing that the book exists is lesson enough for some folk.k. riggs gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11807633349311664382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-23760469230191373582011-01-08T11:27:39.647-08:002011-01-08T11:27:39.647-08:00Karen,
I sympathize with the point and would agre...Karen,<br /><br />I sympathize with the point and would agree that Twain himself probably wouldn't care much beyond what sold his books. However, my concern isn't with the work itself but with the portrayal of attitudes and how people thought from that era. The change may not misrepresent the work itself but it does misrepresent the era it comes from. I question what this alteration says about the purpose of reading the work. I saw it when reading it as being partially about the simple craft of writing, which it was good for but which there are plenty of other choices, and partially about the times that Twain lived in, which is obscured by this change. So this change makes me question what the purpose of education is for those that wish to make the change. Is it just miming an education and saying that this or that work has been read simply because that's what an educated person has read or is it about engaging with the work and all of its difficulties in an attempt to actually further our understanding and knowledge about the world.<br /><br />If this alteration was made as part of an abridgment or simply for a general reader I wouldn't have so many qualms about it, there's no claim to be really trying to teach people from these kind of editions. But this is intended as a book to be taught which requires considerations about how much the meaning is changed and what the purpose of education is.Tzimiskeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-25897533218994152462011-01-08T08:17:01.223-08:002011-01-08T08:17:01.223-08:00I followed your link at Johnson. Commenter Joru al...I followed your link at Johnson. Commenter Joru also makes a valid point, though:<br /><br />"Twain was a satirist, and the mentality that we treat his work as an immutable classic flies more in the face of satire than the censorship of eliminating pejoratives."k. riggs gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11807633349311664382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-37560510830507547712011-01-06T18:07:20.581-08:002011-01-06T18:07:20.581-08:00Hear hear! How do you learn about a dirty world fr...Hear hear! How do you learn about a dirty world from sanitized books?Doug The Unahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04753071669562594194noreply@blogger.com