Description

Throughout history, literature has been censored and bowdlerized for a variety of reasons: subject matter, style, intent. Most recently, books dealing with LGBTQ topics have come under fire, especially in YA works. Often these books are central to a reader’s understanding of others’ hardships and feelings of isolation. Although these are often valuable pieces of literature with significant themes, schools, libraries, and politicians continue to override our freedoms by outlawing such writings. Using mini-lectures and seminar discussions, we will examine five such works (in order of publication): The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel. (The public library has multiple copies of each, or you can purchase them from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Thriftbooks or Abebooks.com.) Note: Please read The Color Purple for the first class. No class 3/11 & 4/1.