I read banned books – to protest their banning of course, but also because they’re invariably such good reads!
As you may know, countless modern classics have been banned or challenged at one time or another, among them The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, As I Lay Dying, Beloved, The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, The Good Earth, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Handmaid’s Tale, Heart of Darkness, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Lolita, Lord of the Flies, Naked Lunch, 1984, Of Mice and Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Satanic Verses, To Kill a Mockingbird, Tropic of Cancer, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
And of course the book often called the greatest novel of the 20th century was banned, deemed pornographic, and the subject of a famous 1921 censorship trial – James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses. (See My Love Affair with James Joyce)
Translated into more than 20 languages, Ulysses has spawned thousands of critical studies, college courses, doctoral theses, workshops, panel discussions, readings, literary celebrations, and stage and screen adaptions.
In a fascinating work entitled The Most Dangerous Book: the Battle for James Joyce’s Ulysses, Harvard professor Kevin Birmingham discusses the writing, legal fights, and eventual publication of that amazing and revolutionary novel.
But are banned books – like Ulysses – really dangerous? I guess you’ll just have to read them yourself and decide!
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
I want that sticker!! Still have to put some of those books on my list. Interesting how literature and art that are dismissed as too radical can turn into revered works—until some ideologue tries to ban them again.
Yes indeed Khati, consider it an admirable goal to read ALL banned books!
I agree with you and Khati. Reading/rereading the list of excellent banned books would be a worthy undertaking and an excellent idea for a book club.
Yes!
Great sticker and great story, Dana. You sure get to the heart of what banning is all about and brava to you for confronting it head on.
That said, count me among the many who have tried to read Ulysses and surrendered hopelessly. Though I did help underwrite and see an amazing opera based on it out on by my college residential house’s opera: society warmer this year, written by an amazing recent graduate. And mercifully brief.
Thanx John, but I do believe awhile ago you promised me you’d try Ulysses again!
How about it as you’re now an old retired guy with nothing much to do?
I also did not get very far with Ulysses. Like all of TS Eliot except my beloved Prufrock, I seem to be unable to parse it.
If you want to try Ulysses again Dave, maybe get a critical guide to consult as you read episode by episode.
And note the Calypso episode # 4 doesn’t need much parsing as Bloom eats the famous kidney and brings Molly breakfast in bed!
I must confess I haven’t read Ulysses, Dana, but I enjoyed your recap and the sticker. What have we come to in America? It’s a good time to read banned books and make sure the younger generations have access to them.
Thanx Mare, as a librarian I felt it was my duty to read banned books!
Love the books you name in your second paragraph, and have read almost all of them. I already planned to get The Satanic Verses, as I said in my own story, and now I will add The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which wasn’t on the list I was looking at. However, even though I knew you would talk about Ulysses, I’m still not going to put that on my list. Sorry. 🙂
Good Suzy, it is an admirable goal to read as many as we can!
The film of Unbearable Lightness of Being forever changed the way I view bowler hats.
Thanx Dave for reminding me of a film I’d like to see again!
Amen to reading them ourselves.
And this is quite a list. I’ve added a few of them to my “to read” list. And also the “try again” list. (Like Ulysses. Feel like I need to bench press it a bit before opening.)
Seems like it’s still sexuality, racism, and politics that get you banned. And since many of these books are hefty, taking concentration and thinking to finish, it’s a good bet that a lot of banning is done by sharing selective, juicy passages, rather than absorbing the author’s intention.
You’re right on all counts Lucinda, but as for Ulysses get a critique to guide you if you wish and jump right back in.
A prof told me there’s a place in heaven for those who’ve read Ulysses.
OK. I’m ready.
Brava Lucinda, keep me posted!
Oh, good, Dana. I’m going to heaven! I did read Ulysses and, in contrast with War and Peace, where I ‘learned’ stuff, reading Ulysses was somewhat psychedelic. And I haven’t taken much acid! I also read Judge Woolsey’s 1933 decision for the Southern District of New York and found it intriguing in its successful attempt at defining what’s ‘dirty’ and what isn’t. I really should take a course in Ulysses.
Good Charles!
We can look down from heaven together and watch the mortals destroying the planet!
Do take a Joyce course, with each read you discover more to love!
We do know your love affair with Ulysses, Dana. But thanks for your librarian’s input about so many of the other banned books throughout the years. Quite the list – so many award-winners among them. Narrow-minded people are just afraid of race, sex, gender. It’s a pity, because most young adults are hungry to learn!
Yes indeed Betsy!
I think that, as a writer, if you don’t really piss off some people at least some of the time, you ain’t doin’ it right!
Am sure many writers would agree!