Thoughts on Banned Books Week 2016: Sept. 25 - Oct. 1
by Chet Weise, Editor Third Man Books
Many times the idea of banning books is ascribed to times past or to books that must be politically volatile or pornography or something terribly unmentionable. Many times people are surprised to find out that is very far from the truth, that books are challenged and banned in the right here and now and include titles such as Where the Wild Things Are and Green Eggs and Ham. In fact speaking of the here and now, Third Man Books, right here in Nashville, Tennessee has experienced something very similar not only once, but twice, during our young existence as a publisher.
As many of you might already know, two TMB books of poetry, PAIN: The Board Game by Sampson Starkweather and My Dinner with Ron Jeremy by Kendra DeColo, were yanked off the press on the day of their agreed print dates by the printers we had hired. For those who have read the two books, you know these books weren’t plotting violence against any person, did not include porn, in fact, they were only books that looked deep within the souls and thoughts of the authors and their relation to the world around them. Isn’t that poetry? I guarantee that if any of you met Sampson, there’s a good chance that you would want to hang out, talk about your favorite Prince records, crack jokes, maybe even ask him about his times as a high school basketball player or semi-pro soccer player. Likewise, meeting Kendra also means meeting her beautiful new baby girl and probably talking about her love for Rodney Dangerfield movies or the music of Sleater-Kinney. The fact that both their books were pulled off the press for “objectionable content” would probably surprise you. It sure as hell surprised me when I took those phone calls from the respective printers. Unless we count the time advertisers attempted to pressure iTunes and Spotify to remove the entire Insane Clown Posse catalog, the music side of the Third Man has not suffered from these sort of challenges. (For the record, both services do include ICP at the date of this post).
Kendra DeColo
I think there are many reasons why this problem may be more evident in the print world than in Third Man’s experience with music. The most obvious is that in Nashville most of the printers are oriented toward business focusing on religious institutions. This post is not anti-religion, by the way. But the explanation provided to us in the case of both books concerned the printers fear of their church-affiliated clients cancelling accounts if they caught wind of these books, or that employees within the printers themselves had objected to the books based on personal, religious beliefs. This post also isn’t saying that private individuals and private businesses should not have a right of refusal. So exactly what is this post saying? It’s saying that language is a powerful, beautiful, ugly, offensive, a pack of lies, honest, brave, frightening. etc.
Sampson Starkweather
I would argue reading and writing are very intimate acts that engage writer and reader one-on-one in a way unlike any other art form. Reading is an experience that requires space be set aside plus the allocation of considerable time and effort. When we read a book, our imaginations are fully engaged, our attention is fully demanded, and issues and ideas are poured directly into our conscience to be interpreted and deliberated. It’s a valuable experience. And we should protect that experience with everything we got.
Books are still being challenged or banned at many levels of our communities Reading is an experience that requires space be set aside plus the allocation of considerable time and effort. Banned Books Week is a time to remind ourselves how important the written work really is to us and our development, no matter what our personal ideologies might be. With that in mind, in a free society, I ask you why shouldn’t there be pornography or extreme political writing (ie the Declaration of Independence) available to us along with Green Eggs and Ham? We can choose for ourselves. We can also protect the appropriate people from seeing the wrong things at the wrong age. No matter what, if you’re a fan of Moby Dick,The Call of the Wild, The Catcher in the Rye, The Bible, Harry Potter, etc you will find these articles interesting. I’ll also include articles about Sampson and Kendra’s books. Because they are good books by good people, and whether you like any of these books aforementioned, you should know that your freedom of speech is under duress every day.
The 24 Most Controversial Books of All Time
https://electricliterature.com/24-most-controversial-books-of-all-time-70e484941082#.crdn3m59x
Banned Books that Shaped America
http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/censorship/bannedbooksthatshapedamerica
More Banned and Challenged Books
About Sampson Starkweather’s Pain the Board Game being Challenged
About Kendra DeColo’s My Dinner With Ron Jeremy being Challenged
Bless you, Chet. I’m so glad you became a part of the TMR family and increased the number of ways for them to expand our minds and our horizons.