Quote:
Originally Posted by Hamlet53
Yes, for me The Trial tops any book of the decade, or book of the century, list.
I found the discussion of how the Nancy Drew novels were edited from as first published interesting. I believe that the Mary Poppins novels went through that as well and for some of the same reasons. It's always a question if or how to alter any work that contains language or depictions that were current when the book was written, but now are recognized as offensive. There are people that would like to do the same to even great works like Huckleberry Finn. To my mind unless it is the original author doing the edit it should just not be done. I'd correct you slightly on the Nancy Drew edits. Done in response to public opinion, but I don't believe that the "bureaucracy" [government] would have mandated it. Not in the US at least.
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I don't think "corrections" are necessary. Books give a sense of history and culture at the time. It's important to REALIZE that it was/is offensive. It's important to read stories like Huck Finn and see how casually blacks/slaves were treated and to understand that time period. When you erase that, you take a piece of history and write over the truth. It's up to parents and people to BE offended and point out that it wasn't right, and why things are different now--not write over the top of it as though we have always been some sort of perfect society.
But that is probably a discussion for some other thread.
I picked the Nancy Drew books because they represent the start of a great genre for many readers (mystery). While many of the other books on the list are hard hitters when it comes to lessons, morals or meaningful ideas, I believe that the sheer joy of reading/entertainment starts young and leaves an impression. So that is why I picked Nancy Drew as opposed to some of the other choices that are also very, very important. Because you really can't pick just one book per decade.
