A Library of Banned Books?

It is the end of Banned Books Week 2021. The initiative came to an end on the 2nd of October, having run from the 26th of September. I heard of Banned Book Week via the hated Facebook, on the penultimate day of the week. In researching the movement, I discover that it began in 1982 but this is the first I have ever heard of it.

The focus or point of Banned Books Week is to raise awareness, to draw attention to banned books and to persecuted individuals. It is therefore, an anti-censorship movement and that is surely laudable. It is a highly questionable practice, this banning of books. Usually.

Very often books once and often still highly regarded, will face criticism. This criticism in our Post-Modern age is not often based upon their literary merits but because they do not support the current fashionable political trends. This practice is distasteful. If one does not approve of a book, do not read it but do not prevent others from doing so. That is an interference in an individual’s personal choice. An infringement of their rights.

People who know me well and as should be clear from the above paragraph, can clearly see where I stand on censorship and the rights of the individual. Yet we must still ask ourselves that very difficult question, are there exceptions to the general rule? Perhaps we should consider that equally distasteful practice, hate speech and incitement? Where is the line drawn between allowing the free expression of opinion, rare now on the internet where intimidation is sovereign and that dangerous practice of expressing vitriol? The line is not always clear and much depends on individual opinion, regarding politics and religion. Just because someone is offended does not mean that they are right but does that mean we have the right to offend?

These questions are very difficult to answer and not for the first time in an article, I admit I have raised questions that I am unable to answer in any concrete fashion. Sometimes we have no other choice, than to judge an issue on a case by case basis and allow our conscience to guide us.

‘I disapprove of what you say; but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’ Evelyn Beatrice Hall paraphrasing Voltaire.

It should also be recognised that banning a book generally has the opposite effect to that desired. The unnecessary furore of the Islamic world over a book called ‘the Satanic Verses’ made the author Salman Rushdie a household name. When Margaret Thatcher attempted to have the book ‘Spy Catcher’ by Peter Wright banned, an otherwise poor work became a bestseller. There are lessons to be drawn from this behaviour but sadly, the mistakes are oft repeated.

‘Only weaklings cannot tolerate criticism.’ Franz von Papen.

When I was at university we were encouraged to read widely. Which is good advice for anyone and not just student nurses. It is still good advice. However, one can read too widely. Dissipating one’s energy in reading material that may not be relevant to the research required. If a subject is too far outside the appropriate range, then appreciation for that subject may eventually be lost.

The other extreme is not reading widely enough. Being too obsessed with one subject area, will eventually lead to a narrowing of focus. The individual is unable to appreciate how one subject can be influenced by another. There is a failure to understand the wider scope. This latter approach is sadly taken by some religious groups. Independent research is not always encouraged and this is perhaps best described as ‘cultic’ malpractice.

‘Intellectual curiosity is the hallmark of the professional.’ Tappen, Weiss and Whitehead (2001).

I am by nature inquisitive and intellectually curious. I therefore, read. I study and I research areas of particular and special interest. I have in my possession ten or twelve Bibles. I have two copies of the Quran and I would like another. Perhaps something decorative in leather. I have perhaps half a dozen copies of the Mabinogi and a similar number of the Edda. I have copies of the Robin Hood ballads, Grimm’s Fairy (or Folk) Tales, copies of the Greek Myths and other assorted study materials, on the esoteric, mythological and legendary subjects of interest to me. Links to photographs of my library are below.

‘If you cannot read all your books, fondle them, peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on the shelves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that you at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them, at any rate, be your acquaintances.’ Sir Winston S. Churchill (1874-1965).

I have a sea-chest of rare, unusual and ‘dangerous’ books. More books are placed upon the lid of the chest. These provide weight and prevent the ‘dangerous’ books from escaping. Does this mean that I am I too widely read? I do not think so but more than three quarters of my library, would have been prohibited by the Catholic and Protestant Churches five hundred years ago. It is quite likely that five hundred years ago I would have faced charges of heresy and my books would have been cast into the flames about me.

‘There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.’ Joseph Brodsky.

Today we supposedly live in more enlightened times, we neither burn people or books habitually. I am reminded therefore, of the words of the poet Heinrich Heine; ‘Where one burns books, there one eventually burns people.’ Does the banning of books mean that we also ban people?

https://www.tumblr.com/chattering-magpie-uk/713746138841464832/dont-be-basic

The Summer of 2021