One final post in summary...goodbye!

SUMMARISE AND ORGANISE YOUR RESEARCH FINDINGS INTO ONE FINAL POST.

My topic is Banned books from the 15^th Century to the 20^th Century.

I found Google and Wikipedia my best sources of information for all blogs, and went in and out of websites until I had the information I wanted to present for my blog. I wanted to keep the reader interested in what I was writing so I chose books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Fanny Hill which still has a lot of controversy attached to the book. I also was conscience about presenting a different genre every week.

My first subheading is 15^th Century banned book. Here I chose a book I had recently ‘tried’ to read (it gave me a headache so I stopped for a while) which is Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. It was first printed in 1472 and was first deemed offensive in Portugal and Spain. In April 2012 there was an article in The Telegraph about the book being removed in the school curricula.

This book wasn’t hard to find on the internet and once I had made up my mind to write about it, there was plenty of information to gather about Dante (I wish I could say the same for the other centuries!).

My second subheading is 16^th Century banned book is.....

Here I wrote about William Tyndale who was the first person to translate the New Testament into the English language in 1525-1526 and used Google to find my research.

Tyndale was so threatened by The Church of England that he fled to Antwerp and had his translated bible smuggled into England and Scotland. Interestingly enough only one copy of the first edition exists, and the British Museum paid $2 million for it in 1948.

My third subheading is banned in the 17^th Century.
Again Google served me well. It was just a matter of being patient and going through websites to find the right information that was relevant and interesting to put into my blog.

The book I wrote about is William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Written in 1610 or 1611 the book belongs to the genre of Elizabethan romantic plays. It was banned as part of an ousted Mexican- American ethnic’s studies program in which it was said that this book ‘promotes resentment towards a race or class of people’. I haven’t read this book so I can’t comment on whether this book actually does this but millions of people have read The Tempest and I guess it may be a minority that views this book as ‘promoting resentment’ but it still remain a classic book.

My fourth subheading is 18^th Century banned book goes out to....
Now that the Centuries are getting closer to the 21^st Century, banned books are getting easier to find with much more information on the net. Here I talk about John Cleland’s ‘Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure?’

First published in 1748 and banned in 1749 I was quite shocked myself at the detailed sex scenes of this book. I’m sure if it was written today it probably wouldn’t get a second glance but back in the 1700’s, it caused quite a stir.

This book is essentially a love story, a historical chronicle and an ode to innocence lost.

There was a bit on the net about this book but Wikipedia was a good source of information and I was using the site a lot more for my future blogs. 

My fifth subheading is 19^th Century banned book goes out to...
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

I had read this book a couple of years ago and have to disagree with it being banned. I can see why it would upset many people, especially back in 1851 when it first appeared as a 40 week serial in National Era.

The book is a real eye opener to what was happening to African American people/slaves back in the 1800’s and even Stowe admitted it was a work on fiction (although she does state that it is based on people she knew and stories she heard).

There was plentiful websites with history on this book, again Google being my main source of information and allowing me to go in and out of websites until I got the information I needed. Again, it was getting easier to locate relevant information as the centuries were getting closer to the 21^st Century.

My final subheading and conclusion is 20^th Century banned book.
Here I chose another favourite book of mine which is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

It was first published in 1960 and the story is told through the innocent eyes of a six year old girl named Scout.

Again, I must say that I see no reason why this book was banned. She does use the “N” word a few times but really, it is so beautifully written and easy to read with a sweet innocence about the book.

For Harper Lee to use the words ‘damn’ and ‘whore’ back in the 60’s caused a great controversy, but really my personal view is that it is a brilliant book that should be read by all high school students at least once in their school curriculum.

Overall banned books was a great, interesting and diverse topic to chose and I found at the beginning of my search, not a lot of information but as the centuries progressed, so did my results.

Wikipedia was interesting and allowed me to hit hyperlinks and go in and out of the searches until I found what I wanted to put into my blog. It was sometimes a long process to find the right information but Google proved to be a great search engine and I found reliable sources in the form of newspaper articles and other peoples blogs.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

15^TH CENTURY
Squires, N 2012, Dante's Divine Comedy 'offensive and should be banned', Telegraph Media Group, viewed 9th April 2012.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9140869/Dantes-Divine-Comedy-offensive-and-should-be-banned.html

Cabinet 7: The Italians 2010, Special Collections, University of Otago Library, viewed 9th April 2012.
http://library.otago.ac.nz/exhibitions/bannedbooks/index.php


 16^TH CENTURY
Antwerp 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp

Illuminations and Epiphanies 2012?, Banned books, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.sanftleben.com/Banned%20Books/collection3.html
The History of the Bible in English 2008, Greatsite Marketing, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.tyndale-bible.com/

The History of the Bible in English 2008, Greatsite Marketing, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.tyndale-bible.com/tyndale-bible-history.html

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/william-tyndale.html

 17^TH CENTURY

The Tempest Study Guide 2012, eNotes, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.enotes.com/tempest/

Golgowski, N 2012, Shakespeare work axed in Arizona schools as law bans 'ethnic studies' , Associated Newspapers Ltd, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087667/Shakespeares-The-Tempest-banned-Arizona-schools-law-bans-ethnic-studies.html


 18^th Century
Cleland, J, 2011, Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, ebooks Adelaide, viewed 17^th May 2012.
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/cleland/john/c624f/index.html

Banned erotic romance, Google sites, viewed 17^th May 2012
http://sites.google.com/site/fannyhillbook/

Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, 2012, Goodreads Inc., viewed 17th May 2012.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1424731.Fanny_Hill_or_Memoirs_of_a_Woman_of_Pleasure

Fanny Hill, 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 17^th May 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Hill

19^th Century
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Wendy’s review, 2008, Blogspot, viewed 21^st May 2012
http://bannedbookschallenge.blogspot.com.au/2008/03/uncle-toms-cabin-wendys-review.html

Banned book – Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 2008, Blogger, viewed 21^st May 2012
http://www.forgetfulone.com/2008/10/banned-book-uncle-toms-cabin.html

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 2012, Answers Corporation, viewed 21^st May 2012
http://www.answers.com/topic/uncle-tom-s-cabin

20^th Century
Why was To Kill a Mockingbird banned from schools?, 2012, Answers Corporation, viewed 17^th May 2012
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_was_To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_banned_from_schools

To Kill a Mockingbird, 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 17^th May 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

VIDEO AND IMAGES

VIDEO LINK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DxqbRRQtaLc

IMAGES:

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=divine+comedy&hl=en&sa=X&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enAU431AU432&biw=1440&bih=710&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsb&tbnid=MKaSHl1jBYz7VM:&imgrefurl=http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/the-divine-comedy-by-dante-alighieri&docid=U8EBooELgHtSEM&imgurl=http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/image/detail/Divine-Comedy-Dante-Alighieri.jpg&w=345&h=460&ei=O760T6nLGqeyiQfX0O3OBQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=860&vpy=194&dur=1099&hovh=259&hovw=194&tx=111&ty=127&sig=106800071725035289302&page=3&tbnh=162&tbnw=116&start=50&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:50,i:190

 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaS1bmW_v8EN5g3_S60-Weu-yTPD2zGFGOlQfTaQ9fc8ytEGO8Sql9MdQn2KZK8MrRR-l1tQnnblCOr9hjLoWgvRec1E-U-sBXwXwlPiMXFq_ku_BGHSTOM5-tcIbYOLu991xNjvppSP6J/s320/tyndale-bible-lg.jpg

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1440&bih=710&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsb&tbnid=we8w2SRVctemtM:&imgrefurl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest&docid=v1YmtebMnGLiTM&imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/William_Hamilton_Prospero_and_Ariel.jpg/220px-William_Hamilton_Prospero_and_Ariel.jpg&w=220&h=310&ei=wcC0T5feDK-8iAeYq-34Ag&zoom=1

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=fanny+hill&hl=en&sa=X&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enAU431AU432&biw=1440&bih=710&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsbo&tbnid=7TTvFcrrtrd_fM:&imgrefurl=http://topyaps.com/top-10-controversial-books/&docid=PZ-ahywfuL4yuM&imgurl=http://www.topyaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/fanny-hill.jpg&w=287&h=460&ei=DNC0T4yhCO2QiQeg4vmHAw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=1220&vpy=297&dur=193&hovh=284&hovw=177&tx=123&ty=152&sig=106800071725035289302&page=2&tbnh=150&tbnw=93&start=22&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:22,i:1

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=uncle+toms+cabin&hl=en&sa=X&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enAU431AU432&biw=1440&bih=710&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnsb&tbnid=m0Xh39-_BBGgNM:&imgrefurl=http://helebeth.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/uncle-toms-cabin-by-harriet-beecher-stowe/&docid=nDe36uFt4skpeM&imgurl=http://helebeth.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/uncle-toms-cabin.jpg&w=559&h=760&ei=vOO6T9WXDfC0iQedqrDwCA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=914&vpy=316&dur=1176&hovh=262&hovw=192&tx=97&ty=167&sig=106800071725035289302&page=1&tbnh=144&tbnw=142&start=0&ndsp=26&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:0,i:103




http://www.google.com.au/imgres?q=to+kill+a+mockingbird+banned+reasons&hl=en&sa=X&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4ADFA_enAU431AU432&biw=1440&bih=710&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=B1Q2EYiN0tVqHM:&imgrefurl=http://leaguewriters.blogspot.com/2010/09/banned-book-week-to-kill-mockingbird.html&docid=OVUZSUB1nij_QM&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQEzFW4qwdg06_MO_ZaACA0mDxTeme7ZQ2nc29yBd27MsMJOLwNZ70ZFsrDJ9ExRBYmd8A7-MNc56uco1dDU84SU_DKB0ZS1-Dmswyqq6unwaCMJpi_-cBgp4MoVuyW2Ccm3QPgdz9UyEV/s1600/to-kill-a-mocking-bird-first-edition.jpg&w=271&h=400&ei=5ey0T_3lAYehiQeB1vWhAw&zoom=1

19th Century banned book goes out to.....

Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Here is another book that i had recently read that has been banned in the past.

Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life Among the Lowly was first published in 1851. It was criticised by slavery supporters and outraged people in the southern states of America. People referred to the novel as utterly false, criminal and slanderous and Stowe received many threatening letters, including a package containing a slave's severed ear.
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an antislavery novel and in my opinion, a brilliant book. It is a true portrayal of one of the most shameful periods in American history and although Harriet Beecher Stowe declares that this book is a work of fiction, she does state that is based on people that she knew and stories she had heard. This book sold 300,000 copies in the first year and more than a million copies by 1860 , second only to the Bible.

Uncle Tom's Cabin first appeared as a 40-week serial in National Era, an abolitionist periodical, starting with the June 5th, 1851, issue. Because of the stories popularity, the publisher contacted Stowe about turning the serial into a book. While Stowe questioned if anyone would read Uncle Tom's Cabin in book form, she eventually consented to the request.

Published in 1852, it is set in the 1800's and begins with the story of Tom, a slave from Kentucky. Tom is a long-suffering black slave around whom the story of other characters revolve and the book begins with him being sold by his 'master' to settle a bet. A parallel story follows the life of Eliza, her husband George and their young son, Harry, who flee to Canada when they learn that Harry will be "sold down the river" and separated from his family.

Uncle Tom's Cabin charts the progress from slavery to freedom of fugitives who escape the chains of American chattel slavery, and of a martyr who transcends all early ties. At the middle of the nineteenth-century, the names of it's characters - Little Eva, Topsy, and Uncle Tom - are renowned. A hundred years later, 'Uncle Tom' still has meaning, but, to Blacks everywhere it has become a curse.

Many people find the book offensive also because of Stowe's use of the "N" word throughout the book. So controversial was this novel, upon meeting Stowe, President Lincoln is credited with saying, "So, this is the little lady who wrote the big book that made this Great War."



http://bannedbookschallenge.blogspot.com.au/2008/03/uncle-toms-cabin-wendys-review.html

http://www.forgetfulone.com/2008/10/banned-book-uncle-toms-cabin.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/uncle-tom-s-cabin

Discussion on research strategies

I didn't think that this blog of Banned Books would be as challenging as it was.
I picked a topic that I thought I was comfortable with and that interested me, but found getting the information, especially about the 15^th, 16^th and 17^th Centuries, quite difficult.

Google was my best friend. I just went in and out of websites until I found what I was looking for and the information that was relevant. When looking for book covers (I thought it really important to display), I clicked on the ‘Images’ link on the left hand side of the Google page.

Wikipedia was probably the best source of information and there were a lot of personal blogs about the topic banned books online that I used.

As for the video, I played around on YouTube and posted the one that I thought my blog follows would enjoy, and it was also the most watched video on this subject.

All websites are listed under my blogs in red and the pictures have link to the websites as well.

Hope you enjoyed reading my blogs as much as I enjoyed writing them! J

20th Century Banned Book...

One of my all time favourite book is Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and takes place during the three years of the Great Depression (1930). The story is told through the innocent eyes of six-year old Scout, who lives with her brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus.

It is the story of Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch, who serves as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers and his defense of a black man, Tom Robinson,  accused of raping a white woman, and the turmoil that the case creates within the “tired old town” of Maycomb. It is so beautifully written and very easy to read, and there is innocence there as well. Harper Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep South.

A big part of the story, apart from the court case is the friendship Jem and Scout make with a boy visiting Maycomb named Dill.  The three children are scared and fascinated by their reclusive neighbour Boo Radley, and after two summers Jem and Scout find someone leaving them gift inside a tree outside the Radley house. The adults of the town are hesitant about talking of Boo, and many have not seen him in many years.

It was banned because it had the "N" word in it 48 times out of 281 pages and Harper Lee uses such words as ‘damn’ and ‘whore lady’. This was obviously deemed offensive language and the book was banned in some schools throughout the States. It was also banned because of its racist implications toward the government. Many people denied being racist, so this novel was the key to helping racism getting acknowledged.

I thoroughly recommend you read it!

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_was_To_Kill_a_Mockingbird_banned_from_schools

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

VIDEO ON BANNED BOOKS you must check out!!

Guys, here is an interesting snap-shot of banned books over the past century. (1900-2000)

I'm sure you'll be amazed, as l was at some of the selection here and i'll hear you screaming 'What the!!!!????" when you see some of the titles...

Enjoy! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DxqbRRQtaLc

18th Century banned book goes out to.....

For my Research Skills 2 blog, I am still using Google as my search engine to find banned books from the centuries I have listed.

It is starting to get easier now that the centuries are getting closer to the 20^th century, and I now have more books to choose which is fantastic but really, who can go past John Cleland’s ‘Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Women of Pleasure’?

Fanny Hill was first published in England in 1748 and banned in 1749 and was known as the “first erotic novel in the English language”. It made its way to the United States and was banned from 1821 until 1966 for obscenity.

Fanny Hill at 15 years of age is orphaned when her parents die and is manipulated into working for a brothel. On her first night she shares a bed with a fellow lodger who tricks Fanny into having lesbian sex with her and soon Mrs. Brown who runs the brothel, figures out that Fanny is a virgin and decides to try to sell her virginity to the highest bidder.

John Cleland does a superb job in writing from this young women’s point of view and the book is written in a series of letter addressed to an unknown women. Cleland portrays Fanny as resourceful, intelligent and a jubilant young woman.

This book is essentially a love story, a historical chronicle and an ode to innocence lost. Fanny Hill will make you laugh, and in turn will make you cry when her true love Charles is sent away and she fears she will never see him again.

A year after it was published; John Cleland and Ralph Griffiths (his brother) were arrested and charged with "corrupting the King's subjects." The trial took place in February 1964. The defence argued that Fanny Hill was a historical source book and that it was a joyful celebration of normal non-perverted sex—bawdy rather than pornographic. Cleland renounced the novel in court and it was withdrawn from sale. Private editions appeared as the book became popular and were sold ‘underground’.

It is definitely an erotic novel with sex scene after sex scene of and really it’s no wonder it was banned in the 18^th Century. If it was written today, l have no doubt that it would’ve gotten a second glance on the book shelves!

 

Those of you who are interested in reading Fanny Hill, here is the eBook link!

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/c/cleland/john/c624f/index.html

http://sites.google.com/site/fannyhillbook/

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1424731.Fanny_Hill_or_Memoirs_of_a_Woman_of_Pleasure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Hill

16th Century banned book is.....

For my 16th Century banned book, l found it harder to find books banned in the 1500’s.

I finally did manage to find an interesting article about William Tyndale.



Tyndale was a theologian and scholar and was the first person to translate and print the New Testament into the English language in 1525-1526. He also went on to translate much of the Old Testament from Hebrew into English. Interestingly enough, he was also the first person to take advantage of Gutenberg’s movable-type press for the purpose of printing the scriptures in the English language.



Besides translating the Bible, Tyndale also held and published views which were considered heretical, first by the Catholic Church, and later by the Church of England which was established by Henry VIII. He felt so threatened that he fled to Antwerp and had his translated bible smuggled into England and Scotland. King Henry VIII contacted Emperor Charles V and requested he locate and apprehend Tyndale.



William Tyndale was found and captured in Antwerp (Belgium) in 1535. In a ridiculously unfair trial the following year, he was tried for heresy and found guilty. He was imprisoned in the castle of Vilvoorden for over 500 days of horrible conditions. Tyndale was then strangled and burnt at the stake in the prison yard, Oct. 6, 1536. His last words were, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes." This prayer was answered three years later, in the publication of King Henry VIII’s 1539 English “Great Bible”.

Only one complete copy of this first edition is known to exist, and the British Museum paid $2 million for it in 1948.

Antwerp 2012, Wikipedia, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antwerp

Illuminations and Epiphanies 2012?, Banned books, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.sanftleben.com/Banned%20Books/collection3.html

The History of the Bible in English 2008, Greatsite Marketing, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.tyndale-bible.com/

The History of the Bible in English 2008, Greatsite Marketing, viewed 25^th April 2012.
http://www.tyndale-bible.com/tyndale-bible-history.html

http://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/william-tyndale.html