Mark Twain

On last week’s show Kurt talked to Alan Gribben, the Twain scholar who, in a new edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, replaces all instances of the word “nigger” with “slave”. Their conversation generated a lot of response from listeners, and this week Kurt reads a few of the comments.

A century after his death, Mark Twain has finally published his autobiography. It’s not a cradle-to-grave memoir, but a kind of window into Twain’s mind, full of memories and thoughts randomly strung together. Kurt talks with Robert Hirst, an editor of the volume, who explains why Twain went about writing what he called a “love […]

On Wednesday we looked at a new edition of Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” that will be released in February without the “n-word.” We covered the social, cultural and literary implications of the decision and got many, many responses. What was the racial and linguistic context into which Mark Twain wrote “Huckleberry Finn?” To look at […]

A new edition of Mark Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn’ is being published in February, replacing the “n-word.” Instead the publisher, New South Books, uses the word “slave.” New South’s editor-in-chief told us that removing the racial slur isn’t censorship.