In light of the recent banning (again) of Slaughterhouse Five, a book site, Worlds Without Ends, decided to list any and all Sci Fi books known to have been banned at one time or another since publication. Most were no surprise. Of course, not being a fan of those genres, I barely read any, but their reputations precede them. The usual suspects, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies, A Clockwork Orange are listed. But why ban Frankenstein? Or A Handmaid’s Tale? I can’t remember anything specific in Frankenstein to scare any one off, no pun intended. Other than the banning of pornography in A Handmaid’s Tale (Which I would guess many men wouldn’t love)–what offends? I find it humorous that some of the titles that were required reading, or recommended reading in my high school, may be banned in others today. Stranger in a Strange Land, Lord of the Rings, Welcome to the Monkey House–were considered classics almost as soon the ink ran dry. On the other hand, banning things like Harry Potter is just plain silly. To this day I’ll never get over a conversation I had with a couple of in-laws regarding this very subject. Their contention? Harry Potter books influence kids to become witches, and wizards, as if such as thing as imagined by Rowling exists. I patiently explained that real Wiccans try to do only good, they are not devil worshipers as my in-laws believed. I went on, disclosing the fact that Wiccans can’t worship a devil, because they don’t believe one exists. That only made me suspect, for knowing so much about Wiccans! If these East coast educated individuals really believe a book could turn an impressionable kid into worshiping the devil, no wonder in other parts of the country it’s been banned. Ridiculous, but there you have it.
Fahrenheit 451 drives me crazy too, in the amount of times it’s banned. A book about destroying books, shouldn’t be kept from individuals hands. I don’t know how many times it has been banned, or by what entity, but if it’s for the reason that it was banned the one instance I know of, then that reason is lamer than the one for Harry Potter. At some point in the book the Lord’s name is taken in vain, or something similar along those lines, and one individual was outraged by that phrase, and had enough clout to have it pulled, or he caused enough of a hissy fit, they removed the book just to shut him up, a practice we seem to be seeing more and more these days in high schools. Whatever the reason, the irony of a book showing the deterioration of society to the point where books are no longer of importance, therefore anyone who reads them is suspect, should not only be read, but read again and again, in an attempt to avoid the future as foreseen by Bradbury. He insists the book isn’t about the government taking away the books, but the consequence of a society that values ‘stories on the walls,’ (think Jersey Shore here) and increasingly dangerous activities for thrills, (think any extreme sport) over the written word, and so the value of books becomes inconsequential. But just to make certain that those in society who still see the power within written teachings hasn’t any access, the remaining books are burned, and anyone found with a copy, is turned in, and disappears. Exactly, perfect reasons to ban a book.
The Stephen King books make me laugh. Carrie? Why? Because she menstruates? Because her mother is depicted as a religious fanatic? Or because Carrie seeks and gets revenge? I’ve not a clue. I’m unfamiliar with some of the titles–no doubt, because I have no interest in the genres. Still, Gulliver’s Travels and Interview with a Vampire are familiar enough to me to simply shake my head and turn my eyes to the sky in wonderment.
Essentially, I suppose if we dug into each and every fiction, or non fiction genre, there are books that have offended someone some where, and if we continue as a people to allow one or two of the crowd to complain and demand to have a book removed and we comply, eventually there will be no books left on the shelves, for I guarantee there is something in each book one of us in the mass of humanity could find fault with, and that would mean, goodbye written word.
For the entire group of books banned so far–
Thanks to author Lia Matera for sharing this link
