New Edition of Huckleberry Finn Censors the N-Word

Posted on January 5, 2011

A new edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn will be released in which the n-word - which appears more than 200 times in the book -- will be replaced with the word slave. The word Injun will be replaced with the word Indian.

Alan Gribben, an English professor at Auburn University at Montgomery, is the man behind the change. He says that Huck Finn has disappeared from schools because of the racial epithet and this will bring it back. He has been roundly criticized for making the change to a classic. Critics argue that literature should not be changed, and that the book gives teachers a chance to teach about the time period and to show Twain's satire of the practices of the time.

The New York Times has a number of essays on the subject, both pro and con, which you can read here.

The altered book from publisher NewSouth, Inc. can be found here.