Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn has been without doubt one of the greatest American novels ever since it was published in 1884. Recently, however, Mark Twain‘s timeless wit, satirical wisdom, deep irony and historical context have given way to a new political correctness clearly lacking the historical perspective and subtle sophistication needed to grasp the author’s scathing depiction of entrenched stereotypes and 19th century American racism. Thus, in the 2011 NewSouth Books edition of Huck Finn, the words injun and nigger are to be “revised” to indian and slave “only to make it [the book] viable to the 21st century.” On the upside, it seems that rumors of the death of the archetypal Mark-Twainian irony, wit and satire have been (once again) greatly exaggerated: Two humor-enhanced fans of Twain’s work have started raising funds for the project of replacing all [...]