In case you didn’t realize it, we’re smack dab in the middle of Banned Books Week, which reminds us not to take intellectual freedom for granted. Hundreds of books are censored each year in America’s schools, bookstores and libraries, many of them works of unquestionable literary merit, books like The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn.
The New York Times has created a handy guide outlining Ways to Celebrate Banned Books Week, while City Lights, the beloved San Francisco bookstore founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, came up with its own way to raise awareness. They got filmmaker John Waters to read a steamy passage from D.H. Lawrence’s controversial novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Although originally published in 1928, an uncensored version of the book didn’t appear in Britain until 1960. And almost immediately Penguin, the publisher, was tried under the Obscene Publications Act. A jury returned with a verdict of ‘Not Guilty.’ As you can imagine, the lines read by Mr. Waters are not safe for work. You can find Lady Chatterley’s Lover housed in our collection of Free eBooks.
– Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it. Mark Twain
via @GalleyCat
Related Content:
Frank Zappa Debates Censorship on CNN’s Crossfire (1986)
Allen Ginsberg Reads His Classic Beat Poem, Howl
Mike Wallace and Bennett Cerf (Founder of Random House) Talk Censorship
Add a comment