samlak
Let’s take a look at just a tiny fraction of the books
that were banned in the past and in recent times for
myriad reasons:
1) Alice in Wonderland
It was banned in Hunan Province in China in 1931.
The reason: The governor thought that it was
unnatural for animals to speak.
2) Burger’s Daughter
Recently passed away Nobel Laureate, Nadine
Gordimer was known for her stories challenging the
apartheid in South Africa. For precisely that reason,
this novel was banned in 1979.
3) Da Vinci Code
No one was ready to take Dan Brown’s thriller as it
was: a work of fiction! Everyone took it seriously for
its portrayal of Christianity and Jesus. It was banned
in Lebanon in 2004. It was even banned in Nagaland
in 2006!
4) Animal Farm
The book by George Orwell was banned in USSR till
the 1980s’ and also in the US for communist material.
5) Origin of Species
Charles Darwin’s book was banned in his own
college, Trinity for challenging the emergence of life
and therefore God. It was banned in 1935 in
Yugoslavia as well.
6) Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Banned on its publication in 1852 in the American
South. The reason: anti-slavery propaganda.
7) Fahrenheit 451
The author, Ray Bradbury, would never have thought
that his dystopian novel about censorship in the
future would itself be censored! It was banned in the
1990s’ for its questionable themes!
Black Beauty
Anna Sewell wrote this novel with a single purpose of
showing to the world the ill treatment of horses. But
the Apartheid South African government thought
otherwise and promptly banned the book for having
the word, ‘black’ in its title.
9) Satanic Verses
No “banned book list” is complete without the
mention of this book by Salman Rushdie. It was
banned in several countries for being blasphemous
and hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims. In
his autobiography Salman Rushdie writes that the
ban on his book in India came, improbably, from the
finance ministry, under section 11 of the Customs
Act, which prevented the book from being imported
and weirdly enough the finance ministry stated that
the ban ‘did not detract from the literary and artistic
merit’ of this work.
