DailyLit Blog

Celebrate Banned Books Week with DailyLit

September 30th, 2008 Maggie

This week (Sep. 27-Oct. 4) is the American Library Association’s annual Banned Book Week, which celebrates our freedom to read—and say—whatever we want to without fear. You may not have time for all of the ALA’s action points, but it’s easy to get in on the freedom of speech party. Stick it to the censors by reading a book on DailyLit that’s been challenged or banned (or even burned).

Here are some ideas (and they’re all FREE):

-The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, both by bad-boy author Mark Twain, a fixture on banned author lists for years.

-Ulysses by James Joyce, which was burned in the U.S., Ireland, and Canada and banned and burned in England (sheesh).

-The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, which is perfect if you really want to stick it to big brother. It was burned in Nazi bonfires because of Sinclair’s socialist views in 1933 and banned in East Germany in 1956 as inimical to communism. It was also banned in South Korea in 1985.

-The Call of the Wild by Jack London, banned in Yugoslavia and also burned in Nazi bonfires in 1933.

-Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, which was banned for its use of a racial epithet.

-Sons and Lovers or Women in Love, both by D.H. Lawrence, who is just as bad as Twain. Indeed, in 1961 an Oklahoma City group called Mothers United for Decency hired a trailer, dubbed it the “smutmobile,” and displayed books deemed objectionable, including Sons and Lovers.

Whether you sail on the Mississippi with Mark Twain or take a ride on the “smutmobile,” make sure to practice and celebrate our freedom of expression this week. It’s important. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas said it best, I think:

“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

Amen, William.

All information in this post comes from the lists on ALA’s website. The cool image above comes from newprotest.org.

Entry Filed under: General, Books, Publicity