AuntShecky
09-28-2009, 04:14 PM
What have such seemingly disparate books such as Of Mice and Men, 1984, Lolita, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Catcher in the Rye, Catch-22, and Ulysses by James Joyce all have in common? In addition to being great works of literature, all have been subject to censorship.
As fans of good writing and as champions of the free exchange or ideas, we LitNetters should make note of Banned Books Week. Through the efforts of librarians and advocates of civil liberties such as Judith Krug who bought attention to the insidious danger of censorship, Banned Books Week first appeared as an organized event in 1982.
1982 also was the year of publication of The Day They Came to Arrest the Book, by Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff. (New York: Dell Publishing, Laurel-Leaf Library, 169 pp.) It's a "young adult" book, but don't let that deter you if you are well beyond that demographic. (It's a quick read --you can knock it off in a little over an hour or so.) And don't let the two decades-plus age of the book put you off. The issues raised are just as timely as they were then, if not more so.
What is remarkable about Nat Hentoff's little novel here is that it easily could have been a one-side polemic; instead, he presents all sides of the argument over whether Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be allowed in classes and in the library of a public high school. “Why torture Huck like this?” one student cries. “Why not take the poor boy out and shoot him?” It’s not torture at all, but Hentoff’s characters (on all sides of the censorship issue) actually cite scenes from Twain’s book itself to promote their argument. Actually reading a book before banning it? Wow, that’s a first! (Of course that’s an ironic statement, of which both Twain and Hentoff are masters.)
Neither Huck’s creator nor Hentoff can be accused of withholding part of the entire picture. For instance, the student and his parent who object to the use of a certain term in Twain's book are depicted with great sensitivity, as is the budding feminist who finds fault with Twain's portrait of women. Even the self-described moralist who debates the young lawyer representing civil liberties appears intelligent and forceful. The only main character whom Hentoff broadly draws is the vain, politically-ambitious principal of the high school, whose oily self-absorption is relentlessly mocked. (One could say that the school administrator is "stereotypical," but from personal experience I have to say that such a picture is, sadly, far more common than not.)
The only criticism I have of Hentoff's book is that the students seem unrealistically knowledgeable and engaged, even for 1982. Most teachers would give half their pension funds to have teach such earnest students, all of whom are blessed with parents who actually give a damn about public education. Again, with few exceptions, Hentoff treats parents on all sides of the censorship issue with fairness and respect.
None of this shows--I hope-- that Hentoff’s book is in any way dull. The edginess of what is essentially a book on trial makes the reader want to continue reading, and yes, it is “exciting.” As one student character puts it, “ I can't remember being part of anything this exciting at school before. I mean, the First Amendment is something personal now, you know, not just some words in a book. It’s mine.” His and – we need no reminders – ours.
As fans of good writing and as champions of the free exchange or ideas, we LitNetters should make note of Banned Books Week. Through the efforts of librarians and advocates of civil liberties such as Judith Krug who bought attention to the insidious danger of censorship, Banned Books Week first appeared as an organized event in 1982.
1982 also was the year of publication of The Day They Came to Arrest the Book, by Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff. (New York: Dell Publishing, Laurel-Leaf Library, 169 pp.) It's a "young adult" book, but don't let that deter you if you are well beyond that demographic. (It's a quick read --you can knock it off in a little over an hour or so.) And don't let the two decades-plus age of the book put you off. The issues raised are just as timely as they were then, if not more so.
What is remarkable about Nat Hentoff's little novel here is that it easily could have been a one-side polemic; instead, he presents all sides of the argument over whether Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should be allowed in classes and in the library of a public high school. “Why torture Huck like this?” one student cries. “Why not take the poor boy out and shoot him?” It’s not torture at all, but Hentoff’s characters (on all sides of the censorship issue) actually cite scenes from Twain’s book itself to promote their argument. Actually reading a book before banning it? Wow, that’s a first! (Of course that’s an ironic statement, of which both Twain and Hentoff are masters.)
Neither Huck’s creator nor Hentoff can be accused of withholding part of the entire picture. For instance, the student and his parent who object to the use of a certain term in Twain's book are depicted with great sensitivity, as is the budding feminist who finds fault with Twain's portrait of women. Even the self-described moralist who debates the young lawyer representing civil liberties appears intelligent and forceful. The only main character whom Hentoff broadly draws is the vain, politically-ambitious principal of the high school, whose oily self-absorption is relentlessly mocked. (One could say that the school administrator is "stereotypical," but from personal experience I have to say that such a picture is, sadly, far more common than not.)
The only criticism I have of Hentoff's book is that the students seem unrealistically knowledgeable and engaged, even for 1982. Most teachers would give half their pension funds to have teach such earnest students, all of whom are blessed with parents who actually give a damn about public education. Again, with few exceptions, Hentoff treats parents on all sides of the censorship issue with fairness and respect.
None of this shows--I hope-- that Hentoff’s book is in any way dull. The edginess of what is essentially a book on trial makes the reader want to continue reading, and yes, it is “exciting.” As one student character puts it, “ I can't remember being part of anything this exciting at school before. I mean, the First Amendment is something personal now, you know, not just some words in a book. It’s mine.” His and – we need no reminders – ours.