Rewriting History?
By The Misfit | January 7, 2010
I get irritated pretty easily, no doubt about that. But nothing drives me more insane than the PC’ing of novels written in a time where sensibilities were far different than today’s. It used to drive me insane when I was working on my BA sitting in class listening to women bitch and moan about the use of this or that word, everything was misogynistic and oppressive, etc… I’ve always said that one simply cannot study literature by looking at books from the 19th century (for example) by using modern sensibilities alone. Ignoring the society under which a book is written is just plain stupid.
So imagine how irritated I was to discover a publisher has taken it upon itself to rename a Joseph Conrad novel (that was written in 1897) from its original “The Nigger of the Narcissus” to “The N-Word of the Narcissus”. Not only does it sounds incredibly stupid, it drives me crazy that people feel the need to adhere to the ridiculous concept of Political Correctness to the point where they want to not only rewrite history, but strike it out completely.
If it were a book written in modern times, I could understand the PC title whether I agree with it or not. Our collective sensibilities would never stand for it. But to go back and change a 19th century book’s title based on a modern viewpoint is beyond ridiculous.
Topics: annoyances for the misfit, misfit hall of shame | No Comments »