I've always wondered what makes a work of literature questionable, controversial, and so hard to find in a bookstore or online because of it's material. What makes a book even remotely taboo? Who decides if a work of literature is banned? is it because of the plot? the actions of the characters? The issues the book references? And if a book doesn't have 'literary merit', is it worth reading?
For example, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is about a middle aged man falling in love with a 14 year old girl and their tumultuous relationship. It's banned for some time shortly after it is published, and the tagline of the film based off of the novel (directed by the brilliant Stanley Kubrick) is: "How could they possibly make a film about Lolita?" What I'm wondering is why this is so shocking to everyone, like young girls being involved with much older men is something new? Suprisingly, the taboo of pedophelia is pretty recent in world history. Henry VIII married 17 year old Catherine Howard when he was 49. In ancient Rome, girls were under the juristiction of their fathers and usually married at 12-14 years old. Thankfully, western civilization has come a long way with women's rights and longer life expectancy due to advancements in medical science, so the practice is now seen as horrific (FINALLY!) and looked down upon instead of being a familial obligation. But the setting of Lolita is the United States during the 1950's, and despite being banned in England, South Africa, New Zealand, and France it was a major sucess in the United States (the book sold 100,000 copies in it's first 3 weeks on the shelves) and it's language along with its humor was praised by literary critics everywhere. So I guess this off topic blurb about the marital practices in world history was all for nothing...
"Now 1984, Imma let you finish, but Lolita is one of the most controversial works of all time.... OF ALL TIME!"
For example, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is about a middle aged man falling in love with a 14 year old girl and their tumultuous relationship. It's banned for some time shortly after it is published, and the tagline of the film based off of the novel (directed by the brilliant Stanley Kubrick) is: "How could they possibly make a film about Lolita?" What I'm wondering is why this is so shocking to everyone, like young girls being involved with much older men is something new? Suprisingly, the taboo of pedophelia is pretty recent in world history. Henry VIII married 17 year old Catherine Howard when he was 49. In ancient Rome, girls were under the juristiction of their fathers and usually married at 12-14 years old. Thankfully, western civilization has come a long way with women's rights and longer life expectancy due to advancements in medical science, so the practice is now seen as horrific (FINALLY!) and looked down upon instead of being a familial obligation. But the setting of Lolita is the United States during the 1950's, and despite being banned in England, South Africa, New Zealand, and France it was a major sucess in the United States (the book sold 100,000 copies in it's first 3 weeks on the shelves) and it's language along with its humor was praised by literary critics everywhere. So I guess this off topic blurb about the marital practices in world history was all for nothing...
"Now 1984, Imma let you finish, but Lolita is one of the most controversial works of all time.... OF ALL TIME!"
Speaking of which, George Orwell's 1984 (one word: GENIUS) alludes to just some of the social issues such as censorship, totalitarianism, organized religion, sex, and torture. Orwell's horrfying image of Big Brother and chilling imagery of a world where nothing is sacred or individual, and free will is but a distant dream (a world that's frieghteningly easy to imagine now) is what made this book deemed controversial the day it was released, and so damn fascinating.
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