preventive censorship regressive censorship self-censorship prosecute banning fatwa obscenity scandal confiscation destruction censure latent censorship challenging controversy subversion blasphemy taboo expurgating barring closeted censorship Inquisition Index litigation smuggling suppression exonerate book burning heresy bonfire edict excommunication erotica pornography Aesopian language politics heresy obscenity morality religion ostracize

Did I Miss Anything? by Tom Wayman (1991) QUESTION FREQUENTLY ASKED BY STUDENTS AFTER MISSING A CLASS Nothing. When we realized you weren't here we sat with our hands folded on our desks in silence, for the full two hours Everything. I gave an exam worth 40 percent of the grade for this term and assigned some reading due today on which I'm about to hand out a quiz worth 50 percent Nothing. None of the content of this course has value or meaning Take as many days off as you like: any activities we undertake as a class I assure you will not matter either to you or me and are without purpose Everything. A few minutes after we began last time a shaft of light suddenly descended and an angel or other heavenly being appeared and revealed to us what each woman or man must do to attain divine wisdom in this life and the hereafter This is the last time the class will meet before we disperse to bring the good news to all people on earth Nothing. When you are not present how could something significant occur? Everything. Contained in this classroom is a microcosm of human experience assembled for you to query and examine and ponder This is not the only place such an opportunity has been gathered but it was one place And you weren't here.

CENTRAL QUESTIONS IN THE COURSE: 1. Why was (is) the work considered to be scandalous? In what way is it pushing boundaries? What are these boundaries? Who has defined them? 2. Do you think it is scandalous? Why (not)? 3. Is this literature? Is this fiction? How is the work ’ s literary and/or fictional nature related to being scandalous?

Marquis de Sade Justine or Good Conduct Well Chastised France, 1791, Libertine novel

Henry Miller Tropic of Cancer France, 1934, Fictionalized memoir/ Autobiographical novel

Vladimir Nabokov Lolita France, 1955, Novel

Erich Maria Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front Germany, 1928, War novel

George Orwell 1984 UK, 1949, Political novel

Salman Rushdie The Satanic Verses UK, 1988, Novel

Taslima Nasrin Shame (Lajja) Bangladesh, 1993, Documentary novel

Nadine Gordimer Burger’s Daughter Great Britain, 1979, Novel

Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange UK, 1962, Novel

Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho US, 1991, Novel

Bibliography Coetzee, J. M. Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship. Chicago: U of Chicago P, Haight, Anne Lyon. Banned Books: Informal Notes on Some Books Banned for Various Reasons at Various Times and in Various Places. 3 rd Ed. New York, Bowker: Haight, Anne Lyon, and Chandler B. Grannis. Banned Books 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. New York: Bowker, Karolides, Nicholas J., Bald, Margaret, & Dawn B. Sova. 120 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature. New York: Checkmark, Schreurs, Marc, and Peter Zeeman. “ Literatuur en Repressie. ” Literatuur en Context: Een inleiding in de literatuurwetenschap. Eds. Peter Zeeman. Nijmegen: SUN, Steiner, George. “ De vraag waarop geen antwoord kwam. ” Het boek van de schoonheid en de troost. By Kayzer, Wim. Amsterdam: Olympus,