Banned Books
Above: Letter from Mrs. John Hughes to Philip Roth, circa 1970.
Staff at the Newark Public Library have been working on a project in preparation for Banned Books Week in October. Many of us volunteered to read passages from banned books and participated in recorded interviews about why they chose a particular book and passage.
It is a meaningful initiative which highlights the importance of the freedom to read. The Philip Roth Librarian chose a book from Roth’s own collection, The Awakening (1899) by Kate Chopin. After its publication, Kate Chopin would never write another novel ever again as a result of negative reactions to the book (some readers expressed they found it scandalous and controversial because the protagonist rebelled against the marital tradition and her responsibilities, chose not to follow established norms, and fell in love with another man).
We know that Philip Roth faced much criticism after Portnoy’s Complaint was published. The book was banned in Australia in 1970 because it was deemed obscene. Subsequently, copies were secretly printed and the ban was challenged in the courts and ultimately lifted in 1971. The book received negative reactions in the United States as well. Roth’s mother compiled scrapbooks of publicity related to seven of her son’s novels and the one for Portnoy’s Complaint is definitely the thickest volume.
Out of curiosity, we referred to the list of banned and challenged classics prepared by the American Library Association. Philip Roth owned many on the list:
The Great Gatsby; The Catcher in the Rye; The Grapes of Wrath; Ulysses; Beloved; The Lord of the Flies; 1984; Lolita; Catch-22; Brave New World; Animal Farm; The Sun Also Rises; As I Lay Dying; A Farewell to Arms; Their Eyes Were Watching God; Invisible Man; Native Son; Slaughterhouse Five; For Whom the Bell Tolls; The Call of the Wild; Go Tell It on the Mountain; All the King’s Men; Rabbit, Run; Tropic of Cancer; The Naked and the Dead; Women in Love; Brideshead Revisited; Naked Lunch; Sons and Lovers; Sophie’s Choice; The Awakening; In Cold Blood; A Clockwork Orange; Lady Chatterley’s Lover.