Within a few weeks of the PUBLISHERS WEEKLY article, my office computer registered 1,082 personal emails–443 (41%) strongly objecting to the NewSouth Edition, most of these unsigned and a great many of them seeming to take pleasure in an opportunity to throw the n-word around in denouncing me and my edition.

   A significant percentage of these profane missives alluded to their worship of the late comedian George Carlin; that is to say, they classified the n-word as simply another one of the curse words that Carlin asserted should always and everywhere be accessible to speakers and writers, just like the S-word and the F-word. But to my mind, a word attaching itself only to a designated racial minority is hardly the same as the profanities Carlin cherished.

  Anyway, by contrast only 170 (16%) messages were positive, taking the form of supportive comments or (at the extreme) wishing they could get into a boxing ring with the negative critics. Several older African American men wrote to tell me that the day Twain’s novel was discussed in class amounted to one of the worst days of their lives. Another 469 (43%) emails sought more information, seemed to be cautiously on the fence, or requested interviews or correspondence with me.

   A few people contacted my department chair, demanding that he fire or punish me. An anonymous online objector who claimed to be an Auburn University student vowed to seek me out and give me a thrashing, but he never showed up. NewSouth Books also received their share of hate mail and a warning that a determined group of objectors would be picketing their premises on a certain day, but that never materialized, either. My publishers resolutely refused to halt or postpone the NewSouth Edition in spite of the scoldings and invectives hurled at them.

3/5

The NewSouth Edition was published in February 2011 and soon after the Original Text Edition became available. Purchase these volumes from Amazon https://www.google.com/search?q=amazon+alan+gribben+books&rlz=1C1EJFC_enUS868US868&oq=amazon+alan+gribben+books&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i64.8542j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#ip=1 or from UGA Press https://ugapress.org/imprints/newsouth-books/

In 2023 NewSouth Books merged with UGA Press.