Banned Books Week
September 24—October 1
Interlink Books reminds us that we are in the midst of Banned Books Week.
Their recommendations for reading this week include The Calligrapher’s Secret, which was reviewed here a few months ago. Although the book is widely acclaimed, it is banned in the author’s native Syria. Needless to say, he does not live in Syria any more. Connie Ong won the book, but you can still get it at Interlink or other book purveyors.
Of course In The Country of Men was an unwelcome book in Libya. Perhaps in a new, freer Libya, its author Hisham Matar can return to his country and even learn what happened to his father.
I am intrigued by some of the books on Interlink’s suggested reading list, like
The Novel by Nawal El Saadawi; translated by Omnia Amin & Rick London. El Saadawi is called the most prominent feminist in Egypt today. This book was banned throughout the Arab world.
Zigzag through the Bitter-Orange Trees by Ersi Sotiropoulos; translated by Peter Green. Although this author at first received many awards, her work was banned by a conservative Greek government. Since restored, it serves an example of the shifting winds of public opinion.
Did you think that banning of books only happened in the old days or in restrictive Mid-Eastern regimes? Think again. Here’s a map of libraries and schools in the United States where books have been banned recently.
We know that in our own country the books of our greatest writer, Mark Twain, still meet resistance. Arguments over Huckleberry Finn, it seems, will never end. But Huckleberry didn’t make it to the ten most challenged books list this year.
Although it seems slightly quaint today, perhaps the most notorious of the banned books is Lady Chatterly’s Lover, that I mentioned in my review of Lawrence’s Etruscan Places.
So what banned books have you read lately?
Picked up “In the Country of Men”. BPL did not have Nawal El Saadawi’s The Novel, so I read some of her prison memoirs instead, Thanks! This is the week to read banned books. -r
Well thanks to you – I have read The Calligrapher’s Secret. Why in the world would Huckleberry Finn be banned???? Craziness! Years ago I read the book, “I dared to Call Him Father” and it was a banned book in Pakistan- I was living in India at the time I read it.
Also- I did a research paper on which was solely based on banned books- I won’t name the country or leadership of which I wrote- but it was interesting doing the research (in the days WELL before internet)…scouting around for all the banned books highlighting the political regime of the country at that time- I received an A++ on the paper- but of course I was in a different country than the one the paper was on- so it might have received a totally different grade had I been in the country talked about.
Connie: I think you might have received your deportation papers rather than a grade!
Lots of people don’t like the sometimes naughty language in Huckleberry Finn, and particularly the fact that Jim uses what we now refer to as the “n” word. Sometimes censorship tries to remold history.
I believe most of the bans are far more a commentary on the censors than on the book. When did these folks have more idea than Twain, Fitzgerald, Solzenitzyn or Steinbeck. I adore the initiative of “banned book week” – maybe a chance to discuss social commentary on the value and effect of censorship.
I teach at a community college in central California , and every year students and faculty read from banned books all day in our library. This year’s reading will be Friday. I will read from Huck Finn in “honor” of the new publication that edits out all controversial language. That to me qualifies as a sin. Other books this year will be Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, William Burroughs, Naked, Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, The Sorrow of
Young Werther,Peter Mayle, Where Did I Come From?,Holy Bible (John 17), F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby among others.
Norma, Congratulations to the person who came up with the program at your college. GREAT idea!
Been remiss in my reading of banned books —- most recently Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickle and Dimed (on this year’s list). I reread Howl by Allen Ginsberg periodically. On my way to the BPL to check out some of these titles. Thanks! -r
I should have caught this earlier. No way I can get one of these read DURING banned book week, but I thank Interlink for raising my consciousness of banned books.
Just reading Harry Potter with my youngest daughter. Not sure it has been banned (in some states) or merely challenged.
If I were not already a dedicated fan of A Traveler’s Library, this post alone would be enough to win me over. What a sad new world without Huxley’s Brave New World–banned. And what a sterile one without Willy the Sperm–banned. And then there’s that pesky Chatterly woman again…
Thanks, Germaine. I give all credit to Interlink Books for calling it to my attention.
Sophie, I think that map of banned books mentioned in the article clarifies where particular books have been banned. A lot are children’s books.