Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Values? I find it interesting that "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Catcher in the Rye" are being banned in some schools while condoms are handed out ("Banned Books Get Libraries' Attention," Sept. 28). ANDREWS MONTGOMERY II San Clemente

The "N-word" has become so emotionally charged that its casual use can end a career, as radio shrink Laura Schlessinger discovered the hard way last year. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea to excise it from classic literature for fear of offending modern sensibilities. Alan Gribben, an English professor at Auburn University, is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a joint edition of Mark Twain's classics, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer," in which the word "nigger" ?

The irony is nothing less than stunning--former head Klansman and founder of the National Assn. for the Advancement of White People, now turned politician, David Duke, telling reporter Joanne Harrison his childhood was like that of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn's. Either Duke never read Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or he suffers from an acute form of amnesia concerning one of Huck's central boyhood experiences--attempting to help a slave achieve freedom. MILES BELLER Los Angeles

Our readers wrote letters throughout 1992, expressing their viewpoints on a variety of issues. Here are condensed versions of some of those letters to help us remember the events that mattered to Orange County readers this past year. We would like to thank the readers who took the time to share their views, and we look forward to hearing from them and others in 1992. Values? I find it interesting that "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Catcher in the Rye" are being banned in some schools while condoms are handed out. ANDREWS MONTGOMERY II San Clemente

Our readers wrote letters throughout 1992, expressing their viewpoints on a variety of issues. Here are condensed versions of some of those letters to help us remember the events that mattered to Orange County readers this past year. We would like to thank the readers who took the time to share their views, and we look forward to hearing from them and others in 1992. Values? I find it interesting that "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Catcher in the Rye" are being banned in some schools while condoms are handed out. ANDREWS MONTGOMERY II San Clemente

I write in praise of the anonymous librarian who shunned possible great wealth and the illumination of fame. What she had in her possession was the greatest literary treasure of the 20th Century, certainly of the American 20th Century. It was the manuscript of the first half of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," more than 600 pages in Twain's own hand. After affirming the authenticity of the document, she decided to send it to the Buffalo Public Library where it seems it was promised in the 1880s by her grandfather (Part B, Feb. 15)

The "N-word" has become so emotionally charged that its casual use can end a career, as radio shrink Laura Schlessinger discovered the hard way last year. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea to excise it from classic literature for fear of offending modern sensibilities. Alan Gribben, an English professor at Auburn University, is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a joint edition of Mark Twain's classics, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer," in which the word "nigger" ?

I enjoyed the Scientific View piece by Betty Ann Kevles on word processors and their antiquated predecessors, the common typewriters ("Word Machines: A Century Ago Twain Had the Write Idea," May 15). Yet I question her statement that Mark Twain submitted the manuscript of "Tom Sawyer" "typed and double-spaced." In the Heritage Press edition of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," copyright in 1936, a preface by John T. Winterich states that the original manuscript "was in Mark Twain's own hand."

A true musical treasure, trumpeter (and local jazz educator) Wadada Leo Smith continues his musical exploration with "NOTAWAY: Quest for Freedom," a melding of improvised dance and music inspired by Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. " The piece follows last year's sprawling and transcendent collaboration with Southwest Chamber Music "Ten Freedom Summers," and this performance will feature a teaming of Smith's long-running Golden Quartet as well as Japanese Butoh dancer Oguri.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, read by Dick Cavett, abridged by Sue Dawson. Listen for Pleasure. Casting is crucial in audiocassettes. The light, cheerful, urban voice of television interviewer Cavett is so familiar that when he lapses into an ersatz, all-purpose Southern drawl for Huck and company, the effect is lamentably obtrusive and unconvincing. The abridgement is efficient, but there must be more appropriate material for Cavett to read.

Values? I find it interesting that "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Catcher in the Rye" are being banned in some schools while condoms are handed out ("Banned Books Get Libraries' Attention," Sept. 28). ANDREWS MONTGOMERY II San Clemente

I write in praise of the anonymous librarian who shunned possible great wealth and the illumination of fame. What she had in her possession was the greatest literary treasure of the 20th Century, certainly of the American 20th Century. It was the manuscript of the first half of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," more than 600 pages in Twain's own hand. After affirming the authenticity of the document, she decided to send it to the Buffalo Public Library where it seems it was promised in the 1880s by her grandfather (Part B, Feb. 15)

The irony is nothing less than stunning--former head Klansman and founder of the National Assn. for the Advancement of White People, now turned politician, David Duke, telling reporter Joanne Harrison his childhood was like that of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn's. Either Duke never read Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" or he suffers from an acute form of amnesia concerning one of Huck's central boyhood experiences--attempting to help a slave achieve freedom. MILES BELLER Los Angeles

I enjoyed the Scientific View piece by Betty Ann Kevles on word processors and their antiquated predecessors, the common typewriters ("Word Machines: A Century Ago Twain Had the Write Idea," May 15). Yet I question her statement that Mark Twain submitted the manuscript of "Tom Sawyer" "typed and double-spaced." In the Heritage Press edition of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," copyright in 1936, a preface by John T. Winterich states that the original manuscript "was in Mark Twain's own hand."

Mark Twain was not quite 50 when he published "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" in February 1885, and in so doing, changed American literature. Until then, many of our writers had flirted with vernacular expression, most notably Thomas Paine, whose "Common Sense," was written to appeal to (and to sway) the common man. To read Paine now, however, as well as other populists such as Thoreau and Whitman, is to confront a strange dichotomy between their democratic intentions and their elevated prose.