Skip to Main Content

RAMble, the University Libraries' blog

Banned Books at WCU Special Collections - By staff member, Jenna Bossert, and Special Collections student workers, Ally Magerr and Alexis Stakem

by Bridget Voltz on 2022-09-22T11:11:00-04:00 | 0 Comments

“Banned Books at WCU Special Collections”

“Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and spotlights present and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools.” (1)

The theme for Banned Books Week 2022 is “Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us”. READ HERE  to learn more about Banned Books Week, frequently challenged or banned books, advocacy, and related events.

This Banned Book Week (September 18-24, 2022), WCU Special Collections, a part of our University Libraries at West Chester University, is featuring “banned books” from our collection. We are exploring some historically challenged and/or banned books. The term “challenged book” refers to an attempt to remove or restrict it, whereas a “banned book” refers to the removal of it from a collection. Special Collections staff member, Jenna Bossert, and their student workers, Ally Magerr and Alexis Stakem, examined Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, and Animal Farm by George Orwell.


Figure 1: Slipcover of WCU Special Collection’s copy of Alice’s Adventures under Ground

Slipcover of WCU Special Collection’s copy of Alice’s Adventures under Ground

   Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is an imaginative story about a young girl on an adventure. It became a classic book, though not without its critics. Ally says, “Though popular when originally published, it started to come under fire during the 20th century. There are two main points of complaint; the first and most relevant being drug use, as Alice comes across a caterpillar smoking a hookah early on in her adventures, and she is given a mushroom that affects her size. The second complaint is the inclusion of talking animals.”

    Ally, a Language and Cultures major at WCU, examined an English version of the book as well as Vladimir Nabokov’s Russian translation. In Nabokov’s translation, Ally notes that, “he successfully navigated the fine line between staying true to the original story and adding Russian elements, so it makes sense to its intended readers.” Ally states that Nabokov’s clever use of language echoes Carroll’s original text and quirkiness, and because of this, in addition to its russification, Nabokov’s translation is seen as one of the best Russian translations of this text. Nabokov’s translation was published in Berlin, Germany, as it was banned in Russia.


Figure 2-1: illustration by Fred Meyer within WCU Special Collection’s copy  of The Great Gatsby       Figure 2-2: Cover by Fred Meyer within WCU Special Collection’s copy  of The Great Gatsby

Cover of and illustration by Fred Meyer within WCU Special Collection’s copy
of The Great Gatsby

 Alexis reviews The Great Gatsby as a story that “describes the futility and hollowness of the American Dream during a capitalistic climax” and introduces our main characters as follows:

  • Nick Carroway, a young Minnesotan returning from World War I
  • Jay Gatsby, a mysterious millionaire, and nostalgic man stuck in the past
  • Daisy, Gatsby’s cousin, and a pseudo-feminist thinker
  • Tom, Daisy’s husband, and simply the worst person

   Rife with class rivalry, Gatsby is of “new money” and Tom and Daisy are of “old money”. Gatsby desperately clings to the past and is obsessed with his past relationship with Daisy, continually trying to impress her throughout the book. As Alexis states, “a variety of events occur, and *spoiler alert*, things do not go well for Gatsby.”

           Things have not always gone well for The Great Gatsby either. According to the to American Library Association (ALA), this book has faced possible bans over the years, mostly for “vulgar” language and sexual references. Particularly, these qualms have revolved around Daisy and Tom’s respective affairs and Nick’s pining for Jay Gatsby, despite vague descriptions and innuendos. Another potential reason it may be on the list is that Fitzgerald critiques the American Dream, casting it in a negative light.


Figure 3-1: Frontispiece featuring a close-up of a Rockwell Kent illustration of WCU Special Collection’s copy of Leaves of Grass        Figure 3-2: Rockwell Kent title page of WCU Special Collection’s copy of Leaves of Grass

Frontispiece featuring a close-up of a Rockwell Kent illustration and title page of WCU Special Collection’s copy of Leaves of Grass

            Challenged or banned literature extends beyond novels, with examples noted here of Leaves of Grass and Animal Farm, a collection of poems and a novella, respectively. Leaves of Grass explores and celebrates individuality, the body, nature, and the universe, and it is a work that Walt Whitman revised over his life. It reflects the transcendentalist movement, as well as governmental ideals and changes in society over the mid to late 1800s. Whitman self-published the first edition in 1852, which had 12 poems; the last edition published before his death in 1892 had around 400 poems in it! (2) Both during the author’s life and afterwards, this poetry book has been challenged and banned for being sexually suggestive, and featuring sexual relationships, including same-sex relationships.


Figure 4: Cover of WCU Special Collections’ copy of Animal Farm

Cover of WCU Special Collections’ copy of Animal Farm

          Lastly, Alexis examined George Orwell’s allegorical novella, Animal Farm, and summarizes it as follows: “This story follows farm animals who rebel and create Animal Farm in protest to oppression and poor working conditions forced upon them by the farm’s human owner, Mr. Jones.” The new farm is to be a utopian fair and equitable society for all animals, guided by the Seven Commandments of Animalism, but soon things turn sour. Woven throughout the story, Alexis says, “themes of power and corruption continue to appear” and that the characters are allegorical representations of key individuals in the 1917 Russian Revolution and the following descent into totalitarianism under Stalin’s rule. The characters include:

  • Mr. Jones, owner of the farm (allegorical representation of Tsar Nicholas)
  • Old Major, the prized boar who inspires the revolution (allegorical representation of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx)
  • Snowball, an idealistic pig and supporter of Animalism (allegorical representation for Leon Trotsky)
  • Napoleon, a power-hungry pig who turns the revolution into a totalitarian state (allegorical representation of Joseph Stalin)

          As Alexis summarizes, “an allegory for society’s descent into totalitarianism is not ripe for a happy ending, so the revolution ends with all common animals, except for the pigs, living in the same conditions they were before the revolution”. The novella epitomizes the proverb “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” with greed and power overtaking even the noblest of causes.

         Published in 1945, Orwell’s Animal Farm has been challenged and banned primarily because of its discussion of the ideals of Communism and overthrowing oppressors. When put into a historical context, seeing as there were multiple “Red Scares”, fear of Communism, and the rise of McCarthyism in the 1950s, its banning is unsurprising. The CIA even bought the movie rights for it and the finished movie, as a result, changes multiple plot points to combat Communist ideas. (3)


To view these banned books or other holdings of ours, please feel free to schedule a visit here to WCU Special Collections on the 6th floor of Francis Harvey Green Library, University Libraries. SCHEDULE A VISIT HERE 


References:

  1. ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, “Banned Books Week (September 18-24, 2022), American Library Association (ALA), https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/banned
  2. “A Guide to Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass”, Poets.org, https://poets.org/text/guide-walt-whitmans-leaves-grass
  3. “Orwell Subverted: The CIA and the Filming of Animal Farm”, Penn State University Press, https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-02978-8.html

This post was written by Special Collections staff member, Jenna Bossert, and Special Collections student workers, Ally Magerr and Alexis Stakem.


 Add a Comment

0 Comments.

  Subscribe



Enter your e-mail address to receive notifications of new posts by e-mail.


  Archive



  Follow Us



  Facebook
  Instagram
  Return to Blog
This post is closed for further discussion.

title
Loading...
West Chester University   ---    WCU Libraries  25 West Rosedale Avenue, West Chester, PA 19383  610-430-4400