The 30th annual Banned Books Week (September 23 – October 1), sponsored by the American Library Association, is in full swing with events and displays at libraries and bookstores across the country, along with a Virtual Read-out. Bibliophiles are invited to create videos of themselves reading from their favorite banned or challenged book and post it to the Banned Books Week channel.
The list of challenged books runs wide and deep, from contemporary tales such as Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants to classics like James Joyce’s Ulysses. The Irish writer’s novel might not have made it into print if it weren’t for Sylvia Beach, the original proprietor of the famed Parisian bookshop Shakespeare and Company and confidante and champion of expatriate writers. In 1922, she published Ulysses—controversial in part for its use of “dirty words” and sexual content—at her own expense. Another friend and loyal customer, Ernest Hemingway, aided Beach in having the book smuggled into the United States, where it was banned.
On display at the James Joyce Museum and Tower at Sandycove Point on the southern edge of Dublin Bay, a 40-foot granite tower where the scribe once stayed and later set the opening scene of Ulysses, is a rare early copy of the notorious tale illustrated by Henri Matisse.
[Photo © Dublin Tourism/VisitDublin.com]
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
September 28, 2011 at 8:36 pm
Dan Kleinman
No book has been banned in the USA for about half a century. Fanny Hill got that honor a long time ago. Challenged books in schools that are removed is different from banning. Setting aside that Banned Books Week is propaganda, the creator of BBW said:
“On rare occasion, we have situations where a piece of material is not what it appears to be on the surface and the material is totally inappropriate for a school library. In that case, yes, it is appropriate to remove materials. If it doesn’t fit your material selection policy, get it out of there.”
See: “Banned Books Week Propaganda Exposed by Progressive Librarian Rory Litwin; ALA Censors Out Criticism of Its Own Actions in a Manner Dishonest to the Core.”
See also: “Celebrate ‘Librarians Trying to Make Themselves Feel Important’ Week!,” by Annoyed Librarian, Library Journal, 26 September 2011.
Be sure to see a “banned” author admitting the ALA fakes its top 10 challenged book list for political reasons. See: “ Banned Books Week is Gay Promotion? Author Admits ALA Faked 2010 Top 10 Challenged Book List .”
October 5, 2011 at 3:46 am
iwriteinbooks
Oh, just fabulous! I so do love Joyce.