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Banned Books.
BANNED BOOKS
When I was once asked if I had read any banned books i did some research and discovered I’d read quite a few. The first was “Alice in Wonderland”, banned in some parts of the world because it made animals appear as intelligent as humans, when we all know they’re actually smarter. Orwell’s “Animal Farm” was also banned on similar grounds and because it criticized the Soviet Union, who were our allies at the time. Orwell had the good fortune to have a second book banned, when “1984”, was outlawed in most communist countries, as it was unkind to some over sensitive political leaders. The UK and America also considered banning it during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the 1950s Penguin Books were charged under the obscenity laws for publishing “Lady Chatterley’s Lover, basically a soft porn magazine. Hundreds of people queued outside the Old Bailey hoping to get a good seat where they could be titillated by readings from the book. When the jury returned a verdict of not guilty the public proceeded to queue outside book shops to buy their own copies. Penguin couldn’t have done any better if they’d organised the court case themselves. “Lolita,” basically a tale of paedophilia, was also banned in the 1950s, turning an exceedingly boring book into a best seller. In the 1960s Heller’s “Catch-22” was banned in a number of American States chiefly for its gratuitous use of the word whore. The Bible is still banned in a number of countries including North Korea and historically various versions have been burned. Hitler was fond of banning and burning books and paradoxically his own writings “Mein Kampf,” is now banned in his home country of Austria. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was once banned in South Africa on indecency grounds and Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” was banned in California” as it portrayed an unflattering image of Californian residents-the poor dears. It seems that almost everything Solzhenitsyn wrote was banned including two I’ve read “The Gulag Archipelago” and “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” “Uncle Tom's Cabin” was banned by the Confederate States for its anti-slavery stance and in Russia, as it suggested ideas about “equality.” My final banned book is “Spycatcher” a book written by Peter Wright a retired Intelligence Officer. The UK Government reacted immediately by seeking a court order banning its publication. However, the order was made by an English court and had no legal effect in Scotland, so some Scottish booksellers made a nice little earner, exporting it to English readers. The whole episode became farcical with everyone in the world able to purchase a copy apart from the English and eventually the ban was lifted. Of course it is not only novels that are banned by government, quasi governmental agencies, religious zealots, et al. Poetry, short stories, pamphlets and even government reports, such as Nixon’s attempt to ban what became known as ”The Pentagon Papers” are not free from prying eyes. Of course censorship, because that’s what it is, is not confined to written materials. There are attempts to ban electronic communications and some are successful. For example, I cannot access my bookie’s website in my local library. Now gambling is not an illegal activity in this country so I see no reason why the local authority should be indulging themselves in some sort of moral crusade but it’s only a minor inconvenience as I can use my mobile phone, until they start blocking the signal. Freedom of speech, or more accurately, freedom of expression, should be a basic democratic enforceable right. However, such freedom, in my view cannot be wholly untrammelled. As the United States Supreme Court Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes put it “Freedom of Speech does not extend to shouting fire in a crowded theatre.”
When I was once asked if I had read any banned books i did some research and discovered I’d read quite a few. The first was “Alice in Wonderland”, banned in some parts of the world because it made animals appear as intelligent as humans, when we all know they’re actually smarter. Orwell’s “Animal Farm” was also banned on similar grounds and because it criticized the Soviet Union, who were our allies at the time. Orwell had the good fortune to have a second book banned, when “1984”, was outlawed in most communist countries, as it was unkind to some over sensitive political leaders. The UK and America also considered banning it during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the 1950s Penguin Books were charged under the obscenity laws for publishing “Lady Chatterley’s Lover, basically a soft porn magazine. Hundreds of people queued outside the Old Bailey hoping to get a good seat where they could be titillated by readings from the book. When the jury returned a verdict of not guilty the public proceeded to queue outside book shops to buy their own copies. Penguin couldn’t have done any better if they’d organised the court case themselves. “Lolita,” basically a tale of paedophilia, was also banned in the 1950s, turning an exceedingly boring book into a best seller. In the 1960s Heller’s “Catch-22” was banned in a number of American States chiefly for its gratuitous use of the word whore. The Bible is still banned in a number of countries including North Korea and historically various versions have been burned. Hitler was fond of banning and burning books and paradoxically his own writings “Mein Kampf,” is now banned in his home country of Austria. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was once banned in South Africa on indecency grounds and Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” was banned in California” as it portrayed an unflattering image of Californian residents-the poor dears. It seems that almost everything Solzhenitsyn wrote was banned including two I’ve read “The Gulag Archipelago” and “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” “Uncle Tom's Cabin” was banned by the Confederate States for its anti-slavery stance and in Russia, as it suggested ideas about “equality.” My final banned book is “Spycatcher” a book written by Peter Wright a retired Intelligence Officer. The UK Government reacted immediately by seeking a court order banning its publication. However, the order was made by an English court and had no legal effect in Scotland, so some Scottish booksellers made a nice little earner, exporting it to English readers. The whole episode became farcical with everyone in the world able to purchase a copy apart from the English and eventually the ban was lifted. Of course it is not only novels that are banned by government, quasi governmental agencies, religious zealots, et al. Poetry, short stories, pamphlets and even government reports, such as Nixon’s attempt to ban what became known as ”The Pentagon Papers” are not free from prying eyes. Of course censorship, because that’s what it is, is not confined to written materials. There are attempts to ban electronic communications and some are successful. For example, I cannot access my bookie’s website in my local library. Now gambling is not an illegal activity in this country so I see no reason why the local authority should be indulging themselves in some sort of moral crusade but it’s only a minor inconvenience as I can use my mobile phone, until they start blocking the signal. Freedom of speech, or more accurately, freedom of expression, should be a basic democratic enforceable right. However, such freedom, in my view cannot be wholly untrammelled. As the United States Supreme Court Judge Oliver Wendell Holmes put it “Freedom of Speech does not extend to shouting fire in a crowded theatre.”