Banned Books

My near recent purchase of Henry Miller's Olympia Press of Sexus got me to thinking about banned books. I'm pretty sure in the Who's Who of Banned Books Miller would be pretty high on the list, but there are books that have been banned that one might not think of. like Huckleberry Finn for example (because Twain used the "n" word in a way that made him the Chris Rock of his day).

Racist?

As one can imagine France isn't one for censoring or banning books. In fact if it hadn't been for a loophole in French law that had no right to govern over works not printed in French (thanks to Maurice Girodias of Olympia Press for that) then the world might never have read Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, The Rosy Cruxifixition (all Miller's works probably), or James Joyce's Ulysses. The only book I can think of that has been banned in France is Claude Guillon's "Suicide mode de l'emploi" (Suicide, a user's manual), but it also got a law saying you couldn't encourage people in any way to off themselves and the book has been since made illegal to sell or own.

You can't speak about countries that are big on censoring books without mentioning the obvious like the US or China, but how about Ireland? Censorship in Ireland was so rampant it has its own Wiki page at least up until 1998 (no books have been banned in the Republic of Ireland since). In 1922 however the list of banned books in Ireland added up to 1200 titles.

But the reality is some of the best books have at one time or another been banned. Here are what I consider in my opinion to be the best books ever banned:

1. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Not only was this book banned in the US and Ireland, but it contains within it an example of a "banned book" - John the Savage has only two books, one being the collected works of Shakespeare which are banned in The World State of Huxley's brave new world.

2. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
Another "classic" of American literature that was banned. Not hard to imagine why. The pages drip with sex, drugs, profanity, anti-war sentiment, and religion. It was as if Vonnegut set out to write a book that would be banned. Continuing with the trend in SH5, another once banned book is mentioned this time it's Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls (which Vonnegut must have hated as it's only read in absence of anything else to read).

3. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Phonies! Considering all the bad karma surrounding Holden Caufield you'd think this book would still be banned, but the reality is that because it's on many required reading lists in the US, it's a consistently top-selling book year after year.

4. Animal Farm, George Orwell
Snowball and his farm friends caused so much controversey that it was banned because American miltiary officials believed it would offend the Soviet Union. Plus it also features a Droste effect like Brave New World and Slaughterhouse Five as within the story as Minimus is banned for "Beasts of England".

5. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
Everything printed is burned in Bradbury's dystopian opus, but it's banned first. So is thinking for yourself. Bradbury chose the title because book paper burns at 451 degrees Fahrenheit.

If the ALA's list of banned and challenged books is any indication there is a "formula" that if followed might lead to your book being banned in today's day and age. Write books for children that mention religion (poor Philip Pullman as The Dark Materials trilogy is amazing); mention your religious viewpoint (even if that viewpoint includes vampires and werewolves); or write about gay penguins (or anything involving homosexuality for that matter).

1,536 challenges due to “sexually explicit” material;
1,231 challenges due to “offensive language”;
977 challenges due to material deemed “unsuited to age group”;
553 challenges due to “violence”
370 challenges due to “homosexuality”; and
121 challanged due to "religious view point:"

If only the ALA would accept challenges for poor writing...