I'm just going to warn you in advance that this might be a little controversial. So if you don't like that, don't read on. Okay? Consider yourself warned.
As I was at a swim meet today and didn't actually have time to write much of anything as far as my own fiction goes, I'll be talking a little about books again. Some of my favorite novels have been the dystopian books, like Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm or Lord of the Flies by Golding. Oddly enough, according to the list of banned books and authors, many authors of these novels (and other such excellent novels) either are or have been banned for some reason in some place around the USA. In fact, some of these have been required reading for school classes.
As an author, I don't necessarily invite debate into what I write, but I don't shy away from plot points just because they could be touchy subjects. Most of my characters tend not to swear too much (one of the main themes I've noticed in the "banned books" list) and I don't write past PG-13. My plot lines have elements of dystopian societies in them (or at least Once Upon an Alternate Universe will - think weird combination of influence from The Phantom Tollbooth, Animal Farm or just about any other dystopian society idea and CS Lewis - just because his writing is made of pure awesomeness and he's one of my favorite all time authors - and you'll be spot on). But I digress.
Honestly, if you don't want to read a certain book, no one is forcing you to read them. I don't think they should require such authors to always be read for school... we seemed to read an abundance of the dystopian and other weird books in high school English classes (but Edgar Allen Poe's stuff was freakier than anything like Animal Farm or Farenheit 451!)... and parents should be cautioned before letting their kids read whatever they want (except for Tetsuya Takahashi because he doesn't care what Emiko does). But books shouldn't be banned from public libraries just because of controversial issues; people just need to be aware of what they read.
Any thoughts?
As I was at a swim meet today and didn't actually have time to write much of anything as far as my own fiction goes, I'll be talking a little about books again. Some of my favorite novels have been the dystopian books, like Orwell's 1984 or Animal Farm or Lord of the Flies by Golding. Oddly enough, according to the list of banned books and authors, many authors of these novels (and other such excellent novels) either are or have been banned for some reason in some place around the USA. In fact, some of these have been required reading for school classes.
As an author, I don't necessarily invite debate into what I write, but I don't shy away from plot points just because they could be touchy subjects. Most of my characters tend not to swear too much (one of the main themes I've noticed in the "banned books" list) and I don't write past PG-13. My plot lines have elements of dystopian societies in them (or at least Once Upon an Alternate Universe will - think weird combination of influence from The Phantom Tollbooth, Animal Farm or just about any other dystopian society idea and CS Lewis - just because his writing is made of pure awesomeness and he's one of my favorite all time authors - and you'll be spot on). But I digress.
Honestly, if you don't want to read a certain book, no one is forcing you to read them. I don't think they should require such authors to always be read for school... we seemed to read an abundance of the dystopian and other weird books in high school English classes (but Edgar Allen Poe's stuff was freakier than anything like Animal Farm or Farenheit 451!)... and parents should be cautioned before letting their kids read whatever they want (except for Tetsuya Takahashi because he doesn't care what Emiko does). But books shouldn't be banned from public libraries just because of controversial issues; people just need to be aware of what they read.
Any thoughts?
3 comments:
Very interesting perspective ;) I agree on the banning issue, and definitely think parents should have some control over what their children read~~I, unfortunately, don't because of some of the requirements of schools ;), but I have learned to trust judgement of people I respect.
It confuses me as to why Tolkien is on there...
But I agree with Steinbeck and Bradbury and Orwell. But why Tolkien?
Tolkien because he wrote fantasy and a lot of people have problems with fantasy books for some reason. But one thing I love about Tolkien is that he was able to talk about what he believed in without making it explicitly obvious (ie, CS Lewis and Narnia).
I think Orwell was on there because of his political views. Interesting thing I've noticed about him is that people who enjoy his books and find what he has to say amusing are either really liberal or really conservative... I've yet to come across someone who is politically moderate and realy enjoys Orwell's stuff.
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