Once again, NPR’s Scott Simon summed it up beautifully. In this past weekend’s Weekend Edition Saturday his piece Banned Books Remind Us of the Power of the Written Word, he said: “Great books, beginning with The Bible have the power of the word to upset and inspire….Look around the world or through history and see what happens in societies that ban ideas, images and beliefs. They wind up as intolerant, oppressive and ugly.”
As we bid farewell to another Banned Books Week, it’s strange to read the list of those great books censored at one time or another. Anne Frank is still taken off shelves and reading lists in this country? It’s hard to believe anyone would withhold such a powerful, poignant portrait of a lovely young girl who was exterminated at a Nazi death camp, a book that has helped millions understand the tragedy of the Holocaust, in case a few people might be offended by her description of her “maturing anatomy.”
And Sophie’s Choice? Being a William Styron devotee I may be biased, but Sophie’s Choice is such a treasure it’s important to get it into the hands of every high schooler. It may have a few sexually explicit scenes and some drug use, but nothing gratuitous and nothing even close to the gross things that can be found on a cursory Google search. What better way to understand the realities of sex than to read about it in lovely prose? No wonder kids would rather get their stories from screens.
As the wonderful song at the end of Scott Simon’s NPR piece says, “When correctly viewed everything is lewd.” So true!
I’m going to celebrate the end of Banned Books Week by re-reading both Sophie’s Choice and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and by making sure my young nephew gets a copy of Anne Frank. Life’s too short to end up intolerant, oppressive and ugly.
Listen to the NPR piece here: http://www.npr.org/2014/09/27/351811082/banned-books-remind-us-of-the-power-of-the-written-word
NPR’s Scott Simon, Simon Says
