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Sep. 9th, 2010 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladylostrisThis information is from the September 2010 edition of the AARP Bulletin. It is a list of 50 banned books, categorized as to why there were banned, with explanations of a few. Comments of my own are in italics.
Too political
1. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852
2. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque, 1928
3. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway, 1929
4. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939 (Read this one in high school English.)
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway, 1940
6. Animal Farm, George Orwell, 1945
7. 1984, George Orwell, 1949 (I read this in English class in seventh grade.)
8. Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak, 1957
9. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut, 1969
10. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Peter Matthiessen, 1983
Got it. Social commentary, war, and slavery are subjects best discussed somewhere that is not the classroom.
Too much sex
1. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert, 1856
2. Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy, 1891
3. Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922
4. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926 (I admit, I haven't read this one, but I am confused as to why a book that, from what I remember, has a eunuch in it has too much sex.)
5. Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence, 1928 (Not just sex, but adultery too!)
6. Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller, 1934
7. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955 {Given that it's not just about sex, I am not surprised that this one is on the list.)
8. Peyton Place, Grace Metalious, 1956
9. Rabbit, Run, John Updike, 1960
10. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou, 1969 (Yes, Maya Angelou!)
11. Jaws, Peter Benchley, 1974 (Considering it's about a shark, I don't want to know.)
12. Forever, Judy Blume, 1975
13. The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy, 1986
14. Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1987
15. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez, 1991
So the lesson here, kids, is don't read Hemingway. He might offend you!
Irreligious
1. On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, 1859 {Again, not surprised by this one, but let's pretend the Scopes Monkey Trial never happened, shall we?)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954 (Just take a moment to think about that one. Done? Tolkien was basically bffs with C.S. Lewis!)
3. The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis, 1960
4. Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya, 1972
5. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling, 1997-2007 {I could go into a whole rant about this one, but I won't.}
Socially Offensive
1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, 1791 (Uh huh.)
2. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850
3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884 (Read this one in high school too.)
4. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner, 1930
5. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932
6. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, 1936
7. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck, 1937
8. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank, 1947 (Yeah. All that stuff with the Nazis? Let's just ignore that, too.)
9. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, 1951
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, 1953 (Ironic, no? Let's ban a book that shows how getting rid of books is bad!)
11. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960 (Another one read in high school English.)
12. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl, 1961 (Admittedly, it's been a long time since reading this one in elementary school, but...I got nothin'.)
13. Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1961
14. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey, 1962
16. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, 1966 (Isn't this one non-fiction? Or based on a true story?)
17. Cujo, Stephen King, 1981
18. The Color Purple, Alice Walker, 1982
19. Ordinary People, Judith Guest, 1982
20. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley, 1991
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Censure: Frequently censored from 1789 to the early 20th century, the essays were often "sanitized" by publishers so that schools would buy copies.
Benjamin Franklin: His memoirs, written after he turned 65, include the essay "Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress," in which he Franklin lists the myriad ways that older women make superior lovers.
This book suddenly sounds interesting to me. Somehow I don't think that's what they had in mind when they banned it.
The Scarlet Letter
Censure: Conservative clergy have condemned this novel since 1850 for its adultery theme; the most recent school challenge was in 1999.
Roger Chillingworth: He develops from a kind scholar into an obsessed fiend. Chillingworth arrives in Boston to find his wife the mother of another man's child. Fixated on punishing Hester's seducer, he symbolizes Satan's ability to prevent forgiveness.
I suppose the clergy might also object to the fact that it's a clergyman who Hester's being adulterous with.
Bless Me, Ultima
Censure: Challenged or banned in four states.
Ultima: The old healer Ultima combines herbs, prayer and tough love to practice her mysteriously potent branch of medicine. It is witchcraft? The townsfolk -- and some conservative Christian readers -- suspect it is.
Fahrenheit 451
Censure: Ballantine published sanitized editions for schools from 1967 to 1973 and sold only the sanitized edition from 1973 to 1979 -- without asking or telling the author.
Faber: In a dystopian society that burns books to snuff original thought, Faber belongs to a group of academics who memorize literature to preserve it for future generations.
Yeah, I don't get it either.
The Grapes of Wrath
Censure: Burned in California, New York and Illinois; challenged or banned in 10 states.
Granma and Grampa Joad: The Joads are damn proud of their cussin' brood -- that kind of language helped get Steinbeck's masterpiece blacklisted across the country, including in Kern County, California, where much of the novel is set.
A Thousand Acres
Censure: Banned at Lynden High School, Washington, 1994
Larry Cook: Cook announces plans to divide his lands among his three adult daughters. The generous-patriarch image shatters when we learn that this wealthy Iowa farmer, based on Shakespeare's King Lear, is a pedophile who abused his girls decades earlier.
Harry Potter series
Censure: Burned in New Mexico; challenged in 19 states
Albus Dumbledore: A modern-day Merlin, the Hogwarts headmaster personifies the allegedly demonic attributes of this series -- witchcraft, sorcery and rebellion against authority. Rowling added fuel to the bonfire with her 2007 assertion that Dumbledore is gay.
Way to fail even more, New Mexico.
How nice it would be if people would stop telling other people what they were allowed to read. Heaven forbid we discuss any difficult or troubling subjects in school! It almost makes me want to be an English professor and teach an entire course on banned books.
Too political
1. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852
2. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque, 1928
3. A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway, 1929
4. The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939 (Read this one in high school English.)
5. For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway, 1940
6. Animal Farm, George Orwell, 1945
7. 1984, George Orwell, 1949 (I read this in English class in seventh grade.)
8. Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak, 1957
9. Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut, 1969
10. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Peter Matthiessen, 1983
Got it. Social commentary, war, and slavery are subjects best discussed somewhere that is not the classroom.
Too much sex
1. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert, 1856
2. Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy, 1891
3. Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922
4. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway, 1926 (I admit, I haven't read this one, but I am confused as to why a book that, from what I remember, has a eunuch in it has too much sex.)
5. Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence, 1928 (Not just sex, but adultery too!)
6. Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller, 1934
7. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955 {Given that it's not just about sex, I am not surprised that this one is on the list.)
8. Peyton Place, Grace Metalious, 1956
9. Rabbit, Run, John Updike, 1960
10. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou, 1969 (Yes, Maya Angelou!)
11. Jaws, Peter Benchley, 1974 (Considering it's about a shark, I don't want to know.)
12. Forever, Judy Blume, 1975
13. The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy, 1986
14. Beloved, Toni Morrison, 1987
15. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Julia Alvarez, 1991
So the lesson here, kids, is don't read Hemingway. He might offend you!
Irreligious
1. On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin, 1859 {Again, not surprised by this one, but let's pretend the Scopes Monkey Trial never happened, shall we?)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien, 1954 (Just take a moment to think about that one. Done? Tolkien was basically bffs with C.S. Lewis!)
3. The Last Temptation of Christ, Nikos Kazantzakis, 1960
4. Bless Me, Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya, 1972
5. Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling, 1997-2007 {I could go into a whole rant about this one, but I won't.}
Socially Offensive
1. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, 1791 (Uh huh.)
2. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850
3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884 (Read this one in high school too.)
4. As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner, 1930
5. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley, 1932
6. Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell, 1936
7. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck, 1937
8. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank, 1947 (Yeah. All that stuff with the Nazis? Let's just ignore that, too.)
9. The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, 1951
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury, 1953 (Ironic, no? Let's ban a book that shows how getting rid of books is bad!)
11. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960 (Another one read in high school English.)
12. James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl, 1961 (Admittedly, it's been a long time since reading this one in elementary school, but...I got nothin'.)
13. Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1961
14. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess, 1962
15. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey, 1962
16. In Cold Blood, Truman Capote, 1966 (Isn't this one non-fiction? Or based on a true story?)
17. Cujo, Stephen King, 1981
18. The Color Purple, Alice Walker, 1982
19. Ordinary People, Judith Guest, 1982
20. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley, 1991
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Censure: Frequently censored from 1789 to the early 20th century, the essays were often "sanitized" by publishers so that schools would buy copies.
Benjamin Franklin: His memoirs, written after he turned 65, include the essay "Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress," in which he Franklin lists the myriad ways that older women make superior lovers.
This book suddenly sounds interesting to me. Somehow I don't think that's what they had in mind when they banned it.
The Scarlet Letter
Censure: Conservative clergy have condemned this novel since 1850 for its adultery theme; the most recent school challenge was in 1999.
Roger Chillingworth: He develops from a kind scholar into an obsessed fiend. Chillingworth arrives in Boston to find his wife the mother of another man's child. Fixated on punishing Hester's seducer, he symbolizes Satan's ability to prevent forgiveness.
I suppose the clergy might also object to the fact that it's a clergyman who Hester's being adulterous with.
Bless Me, Ultima
Censure: Challenged or banned in four states.
Ultima: The old healer Ultima combines herbs, prayer and tough love to practice her mysteriously potent branch of medicine. It is witchcraft? The townsfolk -- and some conservative Christian readers -- suspect it is.
Fahrenheit 451
Censure: Ballantine published sanitized editions for schools from 1967 to 1973 and sold only the sanitized edition from 1973 to 1979 -- without asking or telling the author.
Faber: In a dystopian society that burns books to snuff original thought, Faber belongs to a group of academics who memorize literature to preserve it for future generations.
Yeah, I don't get it either.
The Grapes of Wrath
Censure: Burned in California, New York and Illinois; challenged or banned in 10 states.
Granma and Grampa Joad: The Joads are damn proud of their cussin' brood -- that kind of language helped get Steinbeck's masterpiece blacklisted across the country, including in Kern County, California, where much of the novel is set.
A Thousand Acres
Censure: Banned at Lynden High School, Washington, 1994
Larry Cook: Cook announces plans to divide his lands among his three adult daughters. The generous-patriarch image shatters when we learn that this wealthy Iowa farmer, based on Shakespeare's King Lear, is a pedophile who abused his girls decades earlier.
Harry Potter series
Censure: Burned in New Mexico; challenged in 19 states
Albus Dumbledore: A modern-day Merlin, the Hogwarts headmaster personifies the allegedly demonic attributes of this series -- witchcraft, sorcery and rebellion against authority. Rowling added fuel to the bonfire with her 2007 assertion that Dumbledore is gay.
Way to fail even more, New Mexico.
How nice it would be if people would stop telling other people what they were allowed to read. Heaven forbid we discuss any difficult or troubling subjects in school! It almost makes me want to be an English professor and teach an entire course on banned books.
