Books have been banned and burned all throughout history. Basically since language has been written down someone has wanted to censor them. Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China during the 200s B.C. would burn Confucian books.[1] In 1536 William Tyndale was strangled and then burned at the stake for trying to translate the Bible into English so that the common person could read it.[2] In 1982 Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl was banned because of sexually offensive passages.[3] In 1982 the book The Satanic Verses by Iranian author Salman Rushdie sparked violent Muslim protests that forced him into hiding. Also a Japanese man who translated the book was murdered.[4] The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies was banned in Oregon in 1993 because it encourages and condones homosexuality.[5] The book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou has been banned several times because of her description of being raped.[6] The Koran has been banned several times throughout history. For example students of history could not read it in the USSR. In 1790 the Spanish finally lifted their ban.[7]
In August 2007 Geert Wilders from the Netherlands of the PVV Party called for the holy book to be banned because he sees it as “‘Fascist’, ‘wretched’ and encourages violence.” He compared the book to Mein Kampf.[8]
One reason I decided to write because a supervisor at Feinberg Library brought to my attention one current case I found interesting. The book Jewel of Medina was banned by Random House because of fear of the reaction from the Muslim community. Three men and one woman have been arrested in attempting to burn down the house of one publisher who decided to print the book because he thinks regardless of reactions people should be able to speak freely in an open society. The book is a historical novel about the Prophet Mohammed and his wife. The author has said that her book “has been inappropriately and inaccurately characterized as a soft-porn book, which is the most inflammatory rhetoric anyone can use when talking about the subject matter, given the sensitivity of any religious group toward their sacred figures.”[9] The book is due out on October 30th in thirty countries. Do you think this book should be banned?
What other cases do you know or find interesting? Do you think banned books resemble the thinking in that society?
[1] “The first Emperor: Tyrant who unified China” The Independent, August 25, 2007, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-first-emperor-tyrant-who-unified-china-462928.html
[2] “William Tyndale: The Father of our English Bible”, http://www.wayoflife.org/articles/williamtyndale.htm
[3] Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/
[4] Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, “Random House Banned Book because of Fear of Muslim Ire.” Arutz Sheva, September 29, 2008. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127807 (accessed October 9, 2008).
[5] The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/
[6] I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/
[7] The Koran, http://title.forbiddenlibrary.com/
[8] “Wilders calls for Koran to be banned” Dutch News, August 8, 2007. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2007/08/wilders_calls_for_koran_to_be.php (accessed October 9, 2008).
[9] Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127807
