Why I’m Thrilled My Pulitzer-Winning Book Has Been Banned

I’ve to confess that just a few days in the past, once I first noticed the record of books banned in colleges in Kuna, Idaho, I used to be somewhat stunned, given it was revealed again in 1991. Even so, I used to be thrilled to be no 1—Maybe a revival was coming my means! Then I noticed that my e-book, A Thousand Acres, was on the high as a result of the record was alphabetical, not so as of shockingness. However it’s a good record to be on—Toni Morrison! Judy Blume! Thanks, banners!

Most authors know that banning books can improve gross sales, so right here’s hoping. So far as I do know, the one different time A Thousand Acres was banned was in Texas, not lengthy after publication. The rationale given was as a result of intercourse and violence within the e-book. Hmmm. Perhaps the writer ought to have written on the title web page “This novel is rated R. These below 17, have to be learn to by a guardian.”

Most mother and father additionally know that when your youngster is a teen, as quickly as you inform her or him to not do one thing, they go straight exterior and do it. A neighbor who lives up the hill behind our home recalled the occasions he noticed one in every of our sons sitting on the roof and smoking (properly, at the least our son wasn’t contaminating the indoor air—and he doesn’t smoke anymore). So with a bit of luck numerous youngsters in Kuna will learn the record, scratch their heads, and hitchhike to Boise to get a duplicate.

I had thought of writing a contemporary retelling of King Lear for some time earlier than I truly did it, however then I used to be driving by means of northern Iowa, from Minneapolis, and I regarded round and mentioned, “Oh, right here’s the place I ought to set that Lear e-book!” There was loads of farm land for a father and his three daughters to struggle over.

After I wrote A Thousand Acres, my objective was to not disrespect Mr. Shakespeare (or Uncle Invoice, as I name him) however to offer King Lear’s daughters Goneril and Regan a voice. So, is the concept of ladies telling their very own tales and having their very own opinions an issue in Kuna?

Oddly sufficient, my grandmother grew up in Idaho, and she or he cherished it—particularly the small city of Hailey, which is about 100 miles east of Kuna. My grandmother went to Albion State Academics Faculty, and taught elementary faculty in Shoshone, the place she met my grandfather. She by no means had any issues expressing herself, and by no means stopped any of her kids and grandchildren from studying, writing, and having their very own opinions. I feel she can be embarrassed on the concept of e-book banning in her much-beloved state.

A Thousand Acres is just not a YA novel, but when it’s important to learn Hamlet or King Lear in highschool (and I did), then you already know that even when your personal life is secure and nice, the lives of many individuals will not be—“To be or to not be” appears to be a query for lots of youngsters as of late. So are the parents in Kuna going to ban Uncle Invoice, too?

What you be taught from literature is just not despair however how despair feels and works, tips on how to perceive that issues and moods that you’re having will not be yours alone—different folks have the identical issues (and animals, too—why aren’t they banning Black Magnificence?)

The 2 primary characters of A Thousand Acres, Ginny and Rose, have completely different responses to the trauma they’ve endured—one is vengeful and the opposite one is considerate and, in some sense, forgiving. Which one is being banned?

Oh, properly. I assume that the banners in Kuna need their teenagers to return to studying the Bible. There’s nothing like struggle, human sacrifice, homicide, rape, and genocide to perk a child up. To not point out animal sacrifice—nobody within the Bible appears to have been a vegan (Let’s not neglect Hebrews 9:22—“with out the shedding of blood there isn’t any forgiveness”.

Perhaps the subsequent e-book banned in Kuna can be Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation: The Definitive Basic of the Animal Motion. Oh, proper—wildlife hunters and gun house owners are 61 p.c of the inhabitants (that’s 1.1 million gun house owners). Properly, I hope they ban it, as a result of then perhaps these teenagers will learn it.

Maybe the e-book I’d ban is the Bible, however why trouble? All of the books floating round on the planet find yourself within the palms of people that learn them, do their finest to grasp them, and make up their very own minds. Everybody ought to have the liberty to try this.