The American Library Association Banned Books Week runs this week from 24th September - October 4th.
As the week's nearly over and I don't have time to order anything from the library, I thought I'd read Richard II which was censored by Elizabeth I.
'The best-known case of political censorship is that of Richard II. The play's first edition had a scene that showed the deposition of Richard II, which "so infuriated Queen Elizabeth that she ordered it eliminated from all copies" (Haight and Grannis 18). Then, in 1601, the Earl of Essex used Richard II, including the excised scene, to arouse resentment against the Queen. The excised scene was restored in 1608, under the reign of King James, who had "an affectionate remembrance of Essex." (Chambers 1: 355)' - Quote from article here
I've also got Zola's Nana waiting to be read on my shelves ...hopefully I'll get around to that sometime - maybe for next years Banned Book Week!
You can get a list of banned books from the American Library Association Site here , or there's a list here which I used for the Banned Books Challenge earlier in the year.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hi. You might also want to see some balance on the issue. In the United States, for example, no book has been banned for many decades. Yes, some communities remove books from schools or libraries, and yes, the American Library Association calls that "banning," but it is not. Further, it usually is perfectly legal. Even US Supreme Court cases allow for such removals, and certainly that is not "banning."
Keeping children from sexually inappropriate material is simply not "banning" or "censorship."
I understand the ALA's propaganda is spread far and wide on the issue, but that does not make it right. Please see the following for more balance:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/sowell
Who is to say what is sexually inappropriate material? Are we talking about banning books which discuss same sex relationships? Why should we ban these? From what I've read, these books are banned by homophobics - not from people who want to 'keep children safe'.
Post a Comment