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The Huffington Post | By Claire Fallon (/claire-fallon/)

Posted: 09/23/2014 8:22 am EDT Updated: 09/23/2014 8:59 am EDT

6 Historical High Points For BookBanning

Tracing the history of book-banning presents obvious difficulties: Written history,especially prior to the most recent centuries, is far from complete and reliable, andrecording an act of censorship under a regime given to censorship is an even moretroubled proposition.

Certain acts of censorship have doubtless been lost to history, while certain legendaryones -- such as the notorious burning of the Library of Alexandria by Caliph Omar inA.D. 642 -- have been called into question(http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/sep/27/the-vanished-library-2/)by historians. After all, historians are not always free from ulterior motives, andaccusing political rivals and despised former regimes of anti-intellectual crackdownsmay have allowed some ancient catalogers to control the narrative in favor of theirown preferred rulers.

Yet it’s clear that attempts to control and squelch literary speech have existed nearlyas long as published literature itself has. The American Library Association's yearlyBanned Books Week shines a light on how censorship and restriction of speechcontinue to affect readers and authors in America today, but the roots of bookbanning stretch deep into the past.

Here are six historical moments when book censors won major victories, restrictingaccess to the written word:

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Qin Shi Huang burns Confucian writings (~221-210 B.C.)

A powerful ruler who consolidated China’s empire and standardized its language,bureaucracy, and calendars, Qin Shi Huang left an indelible mark on the history of hispeople. He also is believed to have resented the scholars who kept memories ofConfucian tradition alive. As he came to power, Qin Shi Huang supposedly had manyConfucian texts destroyed, fearing that they would be used to undermine support forhis rule; he later allegedly ordered hundreds of scholars buried under suspicion ofspreading dissent. Some historians now question this narrative, which is laid out inthe Records of the Grand Historian, suggesting that it’s more likely that Confucianwritings were lost when a fire destroyed much of the imperial library during the fall ofthe Qin capital. The truth may always remain a mystery.

Girolamo Savonarola holds bonfires of the vanities (1497-98)

The Florence book burnings of the fanatical priest Savonarola were so notorious,they've made “bonfire of the vanities” a common cultural reference -- Tom Wolfetitled a novel (http://www.amazon.com/The-Bonfire-Vanities-Tom-Wolfe/dp/0312427573) after the event. In addition to “immoral” books, the bonfirewas meant to destroy other luxuries that might lead people into perceived sin (art,fancy clothes, cosmetics, and so on). Though Savonarola was a Dominican priest, hehad formed a political party that held significant power in Florence, giving hiscondemnations of certain texts and artistic creations overtones of governmental aswell as religious power.

Index Librorum Prohibitorum established by Pope Paul IV(1559)

The Catholic Church’s power rivaled that of empires in 1559, when it created a list ofbooks banned for its adherents, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. New editions ofthe Index continued to be published until 1948, and it wasn’t until nearly 20 yearslater that it was finally taken out of effect. That’s over four centuries of officialreligious regulation of Catholics’ reading materials. At various times, influential andbrilliant works by authors such as Immanuel Kant, Simone de Beauvoir, and JohnMilton were placed on the list.

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The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption by WilliamPynchon banned in New England colonies (1650)

Considered the first book to be banned in the New England colonies, The MeritoriousPrice of Our Redemption was a critique of Puritanism that so outraged Pynchon’sfellow colonists that he was compelled to return to England. Copies of the book wereburned in Boston, and Pynchon himself was accused of heresy in the MassachusettsBay Colony. Book banning would go on to have a long and troubled history in the so-called New World.

The Sorrows of Young Werther banned in several Europeanjurisdictions (1774)

While, in the history of book-banning, political or religious motivations often underliecensorship, the banning of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows of YoungWerther introduces a public health angle. Goethe’s slim novel follows the romantictravails of a passionate young man -- culminating in Werther’s gunshot suicide afterhe is rejected by his beloved. The novel became wildly successful, so much so that itspopularity was designated “Werther fever”; young people reportedly began to imitateWerther’s fashions and made pilgrimages to the grave of a friend on whom Wertherwas believed to be based. Authorities were so concerned about reports of copycatsuicides that several European cities and countries, including Denmark and Austria,banned or regulated the book. It's unclear how many actual copycat suicides tookplace, but the bans went ahead regardless.

Dr. Thomas Bowdler publishes expurgated Shakespeare(1807)

Like Savonarola, Dr. Bowdler popularized a new term in the vocabulary of bookcensorship: “bowdlerize.” Bowdler’s 1807 edition of 24 collected Shakespeare plays --which is believed by many to have been edited by not by Bowdler, but by his retiringsister Harriet -- remains infamous for attempting to make Shakespeare's dramaspalatable for polite domestic society by generously excising any vulgar or obsceneportions. The 1807 edition was followed by later volumes giving the same treatment tomore of Shakespeare’s works; the series was entitled The Family Shakspeare. That’sright: Shakespeare himself was given the bad-for-family-values treatment back in theday. At least the Bowdlers were able to see the value in reading and teachingShakespeare despite his profane turns -- but unfortunately the Bard isn’t really theBard without some bawdy jokes.

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7 comments

Charles Rowland · Top Commenter

CONSERVATIVES have been in the book burning business since the Gutenberg Presswas invented.Reply · Like · · Follow Post · September 23 at 10:54pm2

Jun Soriao · Top Commenter · Far Eastern University, Manila

Books, especially those wherein the high and mighty derived their divine authority to ruleover others, were just as sacred and consumed those to the point of being blinded bytruth and reality of the times.

For example, the Holy See saw to it that the Bible was the basis with which adherents ofthe church should conduct themselves. In it, the earth was the center of the universe andman the superior being over other species. Any introduction of other isms wassacrilegious punishable by either excommunication or death. Ergo, the Inquisitionbanned treatises challenging the all-encompassing Bible.

However, the advent of scientific thought espoused by those who could not stomach theholy book's inconsistencies resulted in the powerful issuing edicts after edicts to quietthe opposition and to preserve their hold to power. During the olden times, the powerfulnot only burned books, they also burned authors to the stakes.Reply · Like · · Follow Post · Yesterday at 10:24am1

David Jones · Top Commenter · Principal at Shibumi Management Canada

I was dazzled to see that the alleged book burning by China's first emperor was as likelymyth as fact. My research suggests the former: Qin Shi Huang loved learning and thevery idea of book burning would have sent him into a fit of anger and disgust. Here's thefirst emperor's history - told for the first time based on comprehensive historicalresearch: http://tinyurl.com/897kb6pReply · Like · · Follow Post · 12 hours ago1

Tim Bachman · Top Commenter

We might want to include the establishment of the New Testament as a time of the massdestruction of many books which didn't quite meet the orthodox story.The following books no longer exist: Gospel of the Ebionites, Gospel of the Hebrews, Gospel of the Nazarenes, Gospel of Marcion, Gospel of Mani, Gospel of Apelles, Gospelof Bardesanes, Gospel of Basilides.Reply · Like · · Follow Post · 14 hours ago1

Ayden Sadari · Top Commenter · Richmond, Virginia

Admittedly, Shakespeare is the only one of these I've actually read - but I love his'bawdy' parts.Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 23 at 9:49pm

Lex Ten · Top Commenter

Why, that lousy Savonarola................Reply · Like · Follow Post · September 23 at 10:29pm

Ian Miller · Top Commenter · University of Canterbury

No mention of Il Dialogo?Reply · Like · Follow Post · Yesterday at 8:57am

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