I came across this article “A Fireside Chat About Book Burning” and it intrigued me.Toni Morrison and Fran Lebowitz came together to talk about censorship in libraries, school and stores. Jane Friedman was the host of the gathering. National Coalition Against Censorship (N.C.A.C.) sponsored this gathering of about 40 publishers, artists and writers. N.C.A.C. is hoping the event will help make people more aware of the organization. The aging not for profit organization needs to become less "quiet" per Ms. Friedman. Toni Morrison talked about her book “Song of Solomon” and how it was not allowed at a Texas prison because it might “cause them to riot”. She said she proudly hangs the letter from the prison and was gratified that her book was that powerful to cause concern. She is coming out with a new book called “Burn the Book” a book about censorship and the power of writing. After reading this article I wondered how many great authors through the years did not write what they wanted to for fear of being censored. How many authors changed their stories because of editors and pressure to sell the book. We will never know how many wonderful books were never written because of the fear of banning. I applaud Ms. Morrison for standing up for her literature and finding justification in her work even though it is judged harshly by others. How many authors are that strong?
Ms. Morrison said “We think about novels as merely entertaining”, but the good ones are bodies of knowledge. When will we understand this?
National Coalition Against Censorship
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What a great chat! I do believe that Morrison had dealt with most of her books being challenged/censored in one from or another. I checked out that book on Amazon and I think I'm going to look at it more closely at the book store. The amazon reviews sound great. I think some of these essays I might be able to use supplementally for my Handmaid's Tale unit. Thanks for the great info!
ReplyDeleteAuthors have a power that is beyond any government or publisher, they have the power to transport people out of themselves into a different perception of reality. It is no wonder that governments and social institutions burn books and publishers attempt to change content, they want the control. It is fantastic to see an organization like this fight censorship and promote the power of the author to change peoples perspective. Thanks for the post.
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