banned books week
By me • Oct 2nd, 2007 • Category: library tidbitDid you know that Sept. 29 - Oct. 6th is Banned Books week?
You didn’t? Okay, maybe only those of us studying or actually in the Library world it find it exciting enough to celebrate. But if you do a little investigating you can find some really interesting stuff.
Today I was sitting in the library, doing some research on banned books of the sixties for a paper, and came across these gems.
The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, published 1962 (in the United States)
“In hearing before the Subcommittee on Postal Operation of the Committe on Post Office and Civil Service in 1962, Robert W. Edwards, Deputy Collector of Customs, United State Custom Mail Division in Boston, testified that the Kama Sutra “bears the dubious distinction of being the filthiest book published today…In my opinion the human mind is scarcely able to withstand the impact of the overwhelming obscenity and sexually based desire for torture in the Kama Sutra.” The President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography recommended that books of its sort be “banned from the mails.”
- 120 Banned Books: censorship histories and world literature / Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, Dawn B. Sova. New York : Facts on File, c2005. pg. 353
After reading this my first thought was “I really feel sorry for the women he dated, the man was way too much of a prude” and the second was “since he’s so sensitive it’s really good he was out of office BEFORE the invention of the internet.”
Another Country, by James Baldwin, published 1962
“Upon publication in 1962, the novel caught the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation…The novel was considered of sufficient importance by the Bureau that it warranted a separate file, FBI HO 145-2625, apart from the main file on Baldwin. On September 19, 1962 FBI director J. Edgar Hoover sent the novel to the FBI Laboratory to be ‘examined,’ expressing particular concern regarding it’s interracial and homosexual sex scenes.”
So Mr. Hoover, you took time out of your busy schedule of wiretapping and targeting political figures to read homosexual fiction? Did you and Mr. Tolson read this to get in the mood? Were you wearing your heels? I hope so. But not only Mr. Hoover had a problem with book -
“The air of tolerance (toward the author and book) is subverted in the 1969 FBI summary on the author, which included the suggestion of an informant that Ku Klux Klansman obtain copies of the novel ‘to determine whether it is suitable reading for college students.’”
- 120 Banned Books: censorship histories and world literature / Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, Dawn B. Sova. New York : Facts on File, c2005. pg. 408
Right, groups of men got together and decided that it was necessary to read about interracial and homosexual sex. But ONLY in the name of education. And I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
So everyone out there, go out and read a banned book this week (Harry Potter counts!) I plan to, because not only do I enjoy learning new things, but it also secretly thrills me to do something that pisses a lot of narrow-minded people off.
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You know what’s funny? I totally fell even deeper in love with librarians (male, normally)/libraries when I learned ALA’s stance on censorship when I was in my undergraduate capstone class for English teachers, way before I even knew that I would pursue the latter field. I was floored, and excited by, the thought that plucky librarians stick up for books and the fact that it is the parent’s responsibility–not the library’s responsibility–to decide what the child will read, AND, the library still has the right to have that book on the shelf even if some folks don’t like it! I thought that was the coolest thing ever, and as a library admirer, I didn’t even know it.
Here’s a book that got everyone’s knickers in a knot for no good reason: The higher power of Lucky. Read it; it’s adorable, cute, and a Newbery winner. I know you’re probably not going to be a children’s librarian, but it’s still an adorable book with a great message, and PLUS it made national news because one word — scrotum — threw Nelly Knotty Knickers into a tizzy. It’s a short read and is very enjoyable, whether or not a scrotum is a good or bad thing.*
*=I won’t comment on that one!