[Glice]

I should amend what I said - I'm fully aware of the position Twain has within the canon of American lit; I just don't like American writing, with a paltry few exceptions.

Look, as a minority, I can also play the minority card [etc]

Broadly speaking I agree with you; I just don't think there's a problem with giving people the choice of editions. America has this really peculiar relationship to the orthodoxy in texts that every book has to be the same forever... I'm reading a book about Shakespeare editions at the moment, and I'm genuinely surprised at the enormous diversity in copies of his work there is. And, for us, Shakespeare is the canon.

I mean, why are people getting annoyed with this revision and not others - because this one is politically motivated, right? My basic point is that books are always revised, then re-revised, then redacted, then re-issued as fair copy (etc). I don't agree with the person who thinks this book should be voided of the word nigger, but if someone else finds that word offensive (regardless of the content), good for them.