Uninvited Design: Ten Popular Banned Books of All Time

A quick redesign of a few book covers: some of these titles have been banned, others heavily censored

Most of these novels were first written and then banned in the West, except The Satanic Verses in West Asia. 

 

The blackballing and banning of Salman Rushdie’s book is understandable because it deals with one of the most intolerant belief systems. Most of these books have been banned because of explicit sexual contents (as in Tropic of Cancer), homosexuality (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), thematic issues of colonialism (Things Fall Apart) and so on. 

 

Apparently a society, like that of America which we consider is open and liberal, has some self-righteous pricks just as in our locality. Surprise! 

 

This reminds us of the collective mentality of our hometown, where everybody cares too much ass about decorum and propriety while all we do is to kill each other and if not, piss on each other. Sad but true.This post is more concerned with graphic inspiration than picking on or out the Great West of the Globe or our UVS. Oh, the ultimate virtuous society.

Check out the collection:

Author - Title - Reason/Charge for Ban/Censorship

1. Aldous Huxley: Brave New World - Language + Anti-family/Anti-religion
   
2. Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart - Alleged libel + Portrayal of coolonialism
   
3. Easton Ellis: American Psycho - Sexual content + Deemed harmful to minors
   
4. Franz Kafka: Metamorphosis - Anti-Soviet/Anti-authorianism
   
5. Henry Miller: Tropic of Cancer - Sexual content
   
6. John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath - Obscene language + Anti-religion + Communist propaganda
   
7. Kurt Vonnegut: Slaugterhouse Five - Sex and violence
   
8. Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses - Blasphemy
   
9. Stephen Chobsky: The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Homosexuality + Obscene language
   
10. Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita - Sex

It is amazing how people are sometimes so sensitive, besides the fact that their self-righteousness is hardly going to enhance the morality of the people. It is in fact an irony. Governments, bankers, and criminals are looting the public to the extent of neutralising anyone who dares to speak up. Yet this would not ruffle these same folks who cannot digest the themes in a title such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower. We are a strange animal.

 

More than this understanding, we have to keep up the freedom of speech and expression. It is built on the simple principle that we are rational and capable of taking decisions, plus the fact that literature is part of the society. The things that happen in a society reflect in literature and vice versa. 

 

For today, fortunately, all of these titles are available on ecommerce sites. Here it is noteworthy that we live in the age of Internet. Even if a book is banned, we can always find it on the world wide web. Personally, I would like to insist the self-righteous folks to ban it on the Internet too!

 

Well, do check the other uninvited designs on this blog: Uninvited Design