It is instructive, and somewhat pathetic, to scan a list of books that have been subject to censure by American schools and the American Library Association. A very partial list includes Uncle Tom's Cabin, A Farewell to Arms, The Grapes of Wrath, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Animal Farm, 1984, Doctor Zhivago, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Harry Potter, The Scarlet Letter, As I Lay Dying, Brave New World, Of Mice and Men, Diary of Anne Frank, The Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451 (book burning), To Kill a Mockingbird, Catch-22, The Color Purple, the list goes on, and I've left out the obvious sex of Peyton Place, Lady Chatterly's Lover, et. al.
What trash! What second-rate authors!
Virtually every one of these is either on my to-read list or has been read. Am I now corrupted, having allowed these 'second rate' works into my impressionable mind? The real question, in keeping with the intent of this thread, is to ask the question, 'how could these books be re-written in such a way as to avoid the censors, yet still retain the essence of the literature?' When reading for college english classes, I did not rely on Cliff Notes or secondary analysis, or Reader's Digest summaries. I read the original, uncut version, and I still do.
Altering even single words for a purpose is censorship of the original context and idea.
"As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends." --Jeremy Bentham
"Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads." --George Bernard Shaw
If ultra-conservative parents, school districts and librarians choose to deny a child access to specific titles, I can assure you that, given a chance, those are the very first books they will seek when given a chance. If you don't like what's in a book, simply avoid it. I don't like a lot of what I see in the news about war, homicides, politics, traffic accidents and catastrophic events, but I read or listen to it to be more fully aware. We don't re-write the uncomfortable parts of Dante, Shakespeare or the Bible, nor should we replace with "N" word with 'slave' in Twain -- they have different meanings.
"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home, but, unlike charity, it should end there."--Clare Boothe Luce
