By Andrés Muñoz
Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press tenfold increased the dissemination of thoughts in written form, and ideas spread like wildfire. While many embraced these texts in their search for knowledge and enlightenment, others took a more restrictive approach. This was the start of banning books, a practice that still happens today.
Here are a few recommendations from the past century that have been contested or outright banned by authorities at some point.
The Orwellian One-Two: Animal Farm And 1984
Written by English novelist Eric Blair (AKA: George Orwell), Animal Farm isn’t your typical countryside tale. It’s a fable of disgruntled animals overthrowing their farmer, Mr. Jones, and dreaming of a utopia free from oppression. Now universally available, the book was banned in countries like the Soviet Union, China, and Cuba when it was released in 1945.
Pigs emerge as the new leaders, but their promises of equality quickly crumble. The revolution’s ideals are trampled as the pigs adopt human vices—walking on two legs and living in luxury. A critique of totalitarian regimes, it demonstrates how “all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”.
Now… imagine a totalitarian state in the near future where the government rigorously controls all aspects of society. The world is in perpetual war and the powers that be have propped up a cult-like following of the nation’s leader, known as Big Brother. Free ideas are inherently subversive, and the nation’s Thought Police crack down on anyone suspected of having or disseminating them by perpetually snooping on all its citizens.
Written in 1949, Nineteen Eighty-Four is the cornerstone of Twentieth Century dystopian fiction. Orwell wrote it as a critique of totalitarianism based on the dictatorships of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Banned in the USSR until 1988, the novel is now a standard read in most schools and universities worldwide.
Brave New World
German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”
While Nineteen Eighty-Four’s society is controlled through fear, Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel Brave New World is quite the inverse. It depicts a dystopia where people are controlled through their pleasures. Massive scientific developments in psychological manipulation, reproductive technology, and pharmacology created a society where individuals are oblivious to the chains that bind them. Through drugs, sex, and other diversions, people believe they are free.
It reminds me very much of today’s society, with comedian George Carlin’s words ringing truer than ever: “The things that matter in this country have been reduced in choice. There are two political parties, there are a handful of insurance companies, and there are six or seven information centres.. but if you want a bagel there are 23 flavours. Because you have the illusion of choice!”
A Clockwork Orange
The third English author on our list, Anthony Burgess, published A Clockwork Orange in 1962. The book explores the themes of ultraviolence, gangs, and free will vs. order in society. It narrates the story of a highly violent teenage gang leader, Alex, who wreaks havoc with his friends in a future dystopian city. The book’s portrayal of characters and events sparked controversy in Western nations, particularly England and the United States.
Alex keeps up his antics until he is imprisoned and later placed into an experimental program run by the government to forcibly change his violent behaviour. The book is full of scenes containing juvenile delinquency, rape, murder, and questionable government intervention, causing the book to be banned in several places in the United States, and its final chapter was removed altogether in the US version until 1986.
Persepolis
Banned in Iran and some Middle Eastern countries where the government’s portrayal and social restrictions are sensitive topics, Persepolis is a graphic novel created by Iranian-French author Marjane Satrapi. A coming-of-age memoir, it shows Satrapi’s childhood in Tehran before the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and her teenage years navigating the Iranian social and political landscape.
The novel critiques the Iranian government and its transformation after the revolution. Satrapi covers the suppression of individual freedoms, the imposition of strict religious codes, and the impact of the Iran-Iraq War on society.
Thanks to the personal nature of its narrative structure, Persepolis truly shines. While Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World are fictitious accounts with room to expand ideas from a political perspective, Persepolis’s reality captures the complexities of growing up amid actual events. It gives us a glimpse into Iranian culture and how a young woman navigates a changing world.
These are only five of the Twentieth Century’s most famous banned books. If you’d like to explore more, look at this comprehensive list of books forbidden by specific governments. What other titles do you think should make the list? Let us know in the comments section below!