Banned Books; Marking 100 Years since the publication of ‘Ulysses’
I managed to scrape through an Art Theory degree in the early 2000s - Art Theory being the study of how and why we make art.
A favourite question among these scholarly types - and their keen students - is whether we can or should seperate art from the artist.
Plato's Republic is the foundational book for this line of study. Written in 375 BC, the Greek philosopher banished all artists from his ‘ideal city’ because of their corrupting influence. Plato’s opinion was, we often connect so strongly with artistic output that it influences our thinking and decisions, and Plato didn’t think we should trust artistic scallywags with such power.
Fast forward to the present day and this question has taken at least one side road. It seems we are now regularly asked whether it’s ok to enjoy the artistic output of someone who we know has done bad things? Or even, whether we can we support artists who have been accused of something objectionable or offensive?
In 2021, Featherston Booktown took on this question at their event, 'Do Artists Morals Matter?’. They started the session with recent revelation that poet James K Baxter had admitted in letters that he raped his wife. This provoked outrange and calls at the time for Baxter's work to be removed from the shelves of our libraries and bookstores.
Never the types to shy away from a difficult topic, Featherston Booktown will this year continue the discussion with a focus on banned books.
On June 11th they’ll host an event marking 100 years since the publication of Ulysses, James Joyce’s widely banned novel. Censored in England and the United States, as well as here at home. In 1950, New Zealand banned Ulysses for its sexually explicit content, with Napier Customs officer Henry Foster protesting its sale, and even going as far as saying the book, “seems to be one of the dirtiest I have seen, written by a mental defective."
Five unlikely banned books
Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was banned in parts of China for portraying animals acting on the same level as human beings. The censor considered this an insult to humans!
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley was banned in South Africa for containing obscene materials.
Aldos Huxley's Dystopian classic Brave New World was banned in Australia for five years for being anti-religion and anti-family.
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir was banned in Spain for advocating feminism.
The Grapes of Wrath by our hero John Steinbeck was temporarily banned in many parts of the United States, including California for its unflattering picture of the state's residents.
