“Dir Sir or Madam
will you read my book?
It took my years to write,
will you take a look?”
“Paperback Writer” - The Beatles
Interestingly, the song “Paperback Writer” was spawned by a challenge to Paul McCartney and John Lennon to write a song about something OTHER than love. Reportedly, Paul looked over at Ringo Starr reading a book and announced that he would write about a book.
This past week, Sept. 18-24, has celebrated “Banned Book week” in libraries across the country.
Whether you realize it or not, you have likely read a banned book or two in your lifetime.
Anything written by Albert Einstein is banned in Austria, something that dates back to Nazi occupation of the country, but has never been officially removed from the books.
Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” has been banned in China since 1931. Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” was banned in Germany during Nazi reign and has never been removed from ban lists officially in that country. Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” has been banned in Ireland since 1939.
Those are all classic novels, of course, but even recent novels have received the ban-hammer. Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” was banned in Lebanon in 2004.
Heck, even the Bible has been banned in countries at various times. Currently, Russia has an active ban on the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, the Jehovah’s Witness version of the Bible.
Author Stephen King was interviewed about book censorship and banning, and he responded, “…when books are run out of school classrooms and even out of libraries…, I’m never much disturbed as a citizen, not as a writer, not even as a schoolteacher - which I used to be.”
“What I tell kids is, ‘Don’t get mad, get even.’ Don’t spend time waving signs or carrying petitions around the neighborhood,” King added. “Instead, run, don’t walk, to the nearest nonschool library or to the local bookstore and get whatever it was that they banned. Read whatever they’re trying to keep out of your eyes and your brain, because that’s exactly what you need to know.”
We’re in a time that has made it easier than it has ever been to publish a book, with self-publishing now more accessible for the average writer. That means there are hosts of books available now that are published without the fact-checker, the publishing editor, and the multiple levels of further editing that previous books were subject to before being published. If any books should be considered for banning, it’d be some of the books released by those claiming so many things that don’t have any evidence in books published without the editorial review common for the books that they disdain.
However, as King noted, books should have the opportunity for public scrutiny. Reading a book and evaluating its merit will allow for independent thought to determine whether there is value to the ideas being presented.
One of the great joys of my college life was taking a literature class and reviewing sections of a novel with the class. We would have each read the same section of the book and had the same background in that book, but each of us would have a slightly different interpretation of the section we were reviewing in class that day, based on differing backgrounds, histories, and even moods as we read the book. It lead to great diversity in examination of the text.
Frankly, if we were to get into themes of books to be banned, let’s get into this one…
What would you do with a book that actively promoted murder to achieve success, had descriptions of incest, rape, and beastiality, and even had a full chapter of graphic descriptions of sex and lust between two lovers?
The Bible has all of that and more - and if you get into original translations, it can be even more questionable. Yet, you don’t hear the Bible mentioned by those in the current “book ban movement” as a priority book to get off the shelves in order to “protect children” or “protect morality” or whatever cause the censorship is claiming that particular week.
As someone who evaluated all those passages and more in seminary courses, it’s always interesting to hear someone at a pulpit, a pastor/priest/etc., who should have had to intensely review the content of the Scriptures as part of seminary education calling for a ban on ANY other book.
I guess that’s why I’m just a newspaper writer…writing about books.
