I've been mostly skipping the Huck Finn coverage...

...because, really, there has been a LOT of it, and what I've read has been pretty snoozeworthy.

Most of what I've read gets said during any debate about a challenged book.

J.L. Bell at Oz and Ends, though, has come up with some personal rules to make it a bit easier to sift through the commentary, as well as a roundup of stand-out links.

Comments

[Auntie M.]

Hmm. Bell says:

"This is about changing one word (or 236, depending on how we count) in Huckleberry Finn and two in Tom Sawyer. It doesn’t change the book’s plot, characters, or themes. It doesn’t affect any other editions or copies already on shelves."

But over here:

http://readroger.hbook.com/2011/01/take-it-from-old-stage-manager.html

Roger Sutton points out just exactly how the loss of that one word (or 236) does indeed change the book's plot, characters and themes.

[Leila]

Yeah, that's something that people (and JLB) are discussing in the comments.

[J. L. Bell]

Roger Sutton points out that that previously bowdlerization of Huckleberry Finn didn’t just replace one word with another; it excised whole sentences.

But even that editing didn’t change the book’s plot.

[Leila]

J.L., thanks again for starting (and hosting) such a thoughtful discussion about the issue -- if anyone hasn't read the comments section on that post, it's well worth it.