I think it’s safe to say that everyone has read a book that made them uncomfortable.
More often than not, it’s because the subject matter or dialogue is controversial and readers aren’t used to that sort of exposure. As a writer myself, I frequently tiptoe on the line of the bizarre and the blasphemous.
It seems that books written long ago get a free pass on being controversial. While we sigh and longingly recall the first time we read the sexually-explicit and pedophilic "Lolita" or Kurt Vonnegut’s misogynistic "Sirens of Titan," we cringe in response to and bash the writing style of E. L. James for her "Fifty Shades of Grey" series.
Perhaps we despise "Fifty Shades of Grey" because it contains poorly-written narratives, or maybe we detest it because it was written recently in a period of political correctness.
Our new commonly-held ideologies are making us a little more hypocritical about what is acceptable and what is not.
This semester I’m rereading "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov. The first time I read it, I knew the subject matter before going in. For those who do not know, "Lolita" centers on the narrator’s obsession with a young girl around the age of 14 and how he pursues a sexual and romantic relationship with her.
The writing and narrative style of the novel is what makes readers unashamedly name "Lolita" as one of their favorite novels. We tell each other that if we can look past the content, we’ll love the art of reading and dissecting the narrator’s terrible urges.
But how do we separate art and content and then continue to feel comfortable after doing it?
Popular yet controversial novels, such as "Lolita", continue to be praised despite terrible subject matter because sometimes we feel as if we don’t get to critique the past. It is true that the context in which some works were written does lend to some of the more unsavory themes. However, the idea that "that's just the way things were back then," seems to reduce our feelings a bit and allows us to wash our hands of the injustice of the ideas.
Bannedbooksweek.org lists books that are said to have “shaped America” despite being banned at one point or another. On the entire list, only two books are listed to have been banned because of racial stereotypes, use of racial slurs or promotion of white supremacy. The rest of the list contained books usually banned for sexual content.
This is interesting to me because in current times, we would absolutely shred those books to pieces. I have done so in a previous column about Veronica Roth perpetuating racial stereotypes in her most recent novel, "Carve the Mark." On the other hand, we applaud and accept sexually ambitious novels—so long as they’re written well.
I can’t help but feel like we hold a double standard toward books written today versus books written in the last century. The spectrum of what is acceptable and what is not may have flipped, but we continue to condone books simply because they are classics and written well.
I will not say that I am exempt from this hypocrisy because I adore "Lolita" and similar works, however, I am seeing the double edged sword of literatures of the past.
mmgarbac@indiana.edu
@uma_merman
