Writing about interracial friendships in yesterday’s post brings to mind the most famous interracial friendship in literature, that between Huck and Jim. The novel is once again in the news (is it ever out of it?) with a new edition of the novel where the n-word is changed to “slave.” The edition is the brainchild […]
Tag Archives: Mark Twain
Damn the N-Word, Full Speed Ahead
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged censorship, Huckleberry Finn, racism, teaching literature Comments closed
Mark Twain Made Humor Matter
It is Mark Twain’s unrivaled ability to combine both laughter and enlightenment that makes him continually relevant.
Huck Finn’s Censorship History
I have always been fascinated by the many ways that literature influences our lives, but, as a literary scholar, I also know that influence is a very hard thing to prove. That’s why I find censorship to be interesting. When people censor a book, they do so because they assume that it can have an […]
Twain Was No Racist (Not Even Close)
“I hope that like Mark Twain, 100 years from now people will see my work and think, ‘Wow. That is actually pretty racist.’” –Tina Fey accepting the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Thanks to a visiting lecturer in our Mark Twain series, I have a new understanding of Huckleberry Finn that is exciting me […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Heart of Darkness, Huckleberry Finn, Joseph Conrad, racism, segregation Comments closed
Tom Sawyer’s “Behavioral Disorders”
Educational experts have long been concerned about the large numbers of underachieving boys in our school systems. My wife, once a public school teacher and now a member of our Education Department, provided me with some of the explanations. She notes that, of the three learning styles—aural, visual, and kinesthetic—the first two tend to get […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged ADHD, Behavioral disorders, Boys, Childhood, Education, Tom Sawyer Comments closed
Defending Miss Watson
Many readers of Huckleberry Finn enjoy laughing at Miss Watson’s approach to teaching Huck. She tries to use the Bible to scare him into good behavior, insists that he sit still, and prohibits him from smoking and drinking. Romantics that we are, we make fun of her educational philosophy and find her a hypocrite, especially […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Class, Education, Huckleberry Finn, racism, slavery Comments closed
When Nature Wreaks Its Revenge
Randy Kennedy has written a superb article in the New York Times that points out parallels between the Gulf oil spill and Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Kennedy says that, in the 19th century, New England whalers had to venture further and further afield to find oil-producing whales (they had depleted the local stock). Melville’s apocalyptic vision is eerily prescient.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Albee (Edward), Edward Albee, Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Gulf oil spill, Moby Dick, Nature, Oil Spill Comments closed
The Damned Human Race
Last Wednesday was the 100th anniversary of Mark Twain’s death. To mark the occasion, Ben Click, our enterprising department chair, set up a panel to discuss what Twain had to say about “race, religion, politics, and the ‘damned human race.’” On the panel were Peter Sagal, star of National Public Radio’s “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell […]
“No one could resist him”
As I am out of town this week, colleagues of mine have been gracious enough to loan me articles for my website. The following was written by Ben Click, our department chair and a Mark Twain scholar. In addition to talking about Twain’s remarkable stage presence, the article announces a Twain colloquium that Ben is […]
