Book Bans: Truth, Lies, and the Deliberate Destruction of Knowledge

Judy Lockyer, Professor emerita, English, Albion College; coordinator Donna Ward.

Wednesdays, 1 — 3 p.m., February 7, 14, 21, 28. In person. Class size 20. Room 217, Ludington Center, 101 N. Superior St.

Banning and burning books have long been common ways that humans have attempted to control others. In the United States black people have been banned from “white libraries,” women and girls have been banned from libraries, schools, and universities. We all know we’re living in a time of heightened threats against democracy, peace, reason, and humanity. Right now librarians and teachers are quitting their professions because of threats of job loss, distorted curricula forced on educators at every level, and even prison.

This class will focus on exploring excerpts from specific texts and ideas under threat both now and in history. We can learn a lot by close readings and full discussions of why and how writers and thinkers have been banned or erased. What so threatens people? What exactly is the power of words in a world that also finds them so immaterial? Books such as Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin, A Wrinkle in Time, The Satanic Verses, On The Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, Mein Kamp, and Beloved have been banned or burned.

One writer who gets to the heart of the need to destroy knowledge is George Orwell. We’ll start by talking about excerpts from Orwell’s 1984, a novel that should make us all worry about our country and world. Certain ideas and words in fiction, non-fiction, and holy texts seem always under threat and that means we should care enough to understand the stakes. Libraries and archives contain long-term narratives about human experiences and ideas, and we ignore attempts to close or ban them at our peril.

Participants will receive xeroxed copies of the material we will analyze.