FollowThe idea of literary censorship interests me. I didn’t really give it a second thought until recently, however. Sometime over the course of my studies at SOU, I had a professor who had recommended Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer. I usually write book recommendations down and revisit them later, which is exactly what I did in this case. Going back through my notes I found the recommendation and decided to give it a shot; after all, I respect the perspective of that professor.
Wow. Do I understand now why that book was banned in the US from the 1930s through to the 60s. I understand great literature can also be subversive, but Miller’s work still seems subversive today. It was also at the heart of a legal trial testing laws on pornography in the 60s. I don’t think any book should ever be censored, as is the case with the “re-wording” of Huck Finn to remove controversial language, or banned because every person has the right to chose for themselves what they will put before their eyes. But I do understand the reaction to Tropic of Cancer in the 30s for the boundaries it pushed.
All of this leads to my interest in censorship. I am going to look at (probably) 3 major incidences of book banning or censorship in the US in the twentieth century. I also will discuss the laws that 1) govern the use of censorship and 2) the cases that have shaped them.
Suprisingly, Wikipedia has given me a really great place to start deciding which cases to cover (I don’t usually find much of any interest on Wikipedia, but they have a very comprehensive list of banned books in the 19th and 20th centuries). But I’m still not sure what to discuss–Huck Finn for sure, Tropic of Cancer maybe….any suggestions?
I’m doing my final paper on a very similar topic, but I’m focusing almost solely on Ulysses. If you could maybe avoid that one… 😉