TWAIN CLASSICS TO BE CHANGED. WTF ALERT

Not sure how I feel about this one... The curse of political correctness has struck again.

Brand spankin' new editions of Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" plan to replace the N-word with "slave" in a blatant effort to not offend readers.

But what about offending writers? However damaging or insesitive, you can't just CHANGE a writer's work.

Twain scholar Alan Gribben is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a combined volume of the books in February and says the N-word appears 219 times in "Huck Finn" and four times in "Tom Sawyer."

Gribben tells the Associated Press that he has used "slave" instead of the N-word at public readings and audiences are more accepting.

Isn't that nice?? 'Ol Samuel Clemens must be rolling over in his grave.

Obviously, Twain scholars are in a virtual tizzy and have blasted his decision and Gribben has received a plethora of hate mail that accuse him of destroying one of the greatest literary works in America.

Stephen Railton, a University of Virginia professor and Twain scholar has said Gribben was well respected, but tells the AP that the new version is a terrible idea.

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MARK TWAIN DEAD 100 YEARS TODAY (DOWNLOAD HUCK FINN)

Samuel Langhorne Clemens died 100 years ago today.

Perhaps better known by his pen name -- Mark Twain -- he was the prolific American author and humorist noted mostly for his novels "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (1884) (the very epitome of "The Great American Novel") and "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" (1876).

A friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and European royalty, he was also a renowned humorist and beheld a keen wit in his scores of essays. His incisive satire earned praise from countless critics and peers. Upon his death a century ago, he was lauded as the greatest American humorist of his age and fellow author William Faulkner called Twain "The father of American literature."

A multitude of free Twain goodies, multi-media and links are available after the jump.

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