Meanwhile on the other side of the world..
A woman in Georgia (US, not Caucasus) is up in arms about Guardian editor lookalike Harry Potter and wants the books banned from schools. WBSTV.com has the details
There is a rather good Wikipedia item on banned books, including such curiosities as Brazil banning 'Tom Sawyer' in 1937 "as part of a crackdown on communist and subversive works". Well, the fence painting epsiode was a bit subversive, wan't it? And the Arabian Nights in Egypt in 1989, inter alia.
In the wake of the Lady Chatterley trial, all sorts of literary odds and ends were allowed into print in these parts, and a trawl through a half way decent second hand bookshop will unearth quite a few of them, like Krafft Ebing, De Sade etc etc. I read 'Justine' some years back, and utterly tedious it was too.
"The state Board of Education will consider the world of Harry Potter when it hears a complaint Tuesday from a woman who says the book series promotes and glorifies witchcraft. A Loganville parent -- Laura Mallory -- wants the books removed from school library shelves in Gwinnett County, including J.C. Magill Elementary, which her children attend".
However, before we all start giggling at the, erm, odd views of one individual, the same site has one of those self-selecting polls, and of the 4331 who could be bothered to click, 17% (743) want to ban the books as they 'glorify witchcraft'. Sigh.There is a rather good Wikipedia item on banned books, including such curiosities as Brazil banning 'Tom Sawyer' in 1937 "as part of a crackdown on communist and subversive works". Well, the fence painting epsiode was a bit subversive, wan't it? And the Arabian Nights in Egypt in 1989, inter alia.
In the wake of the Lady Chatterley trial, all sorts of literary odds and ends were allowed into print in these parts, and a trawl through a half way decent second hand bookshop will unearth quite a few of them, like Krafft Ebing, De Sade etc etc. I read 'Justine' some years back, and utterly tedious it was too.
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Ref: tech problems. I was just about to comment on the tech post and it disappeared! It's hidden below the footer.
Perhaps the woman in Georgia just finds this Rowling woman terribly irritating. I know I do. (I'm all for people making pots of money doing whatever they're good at and I'm actually pleased for her regarding her wealth, but she has a very irritating lefty personna.)
Hmm, now there's a thought. Although I'm struggling to think of novelists I find particularly irritating.
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