Books, plays and films should be censored

Let us suppose that you are in the position of a parent. Would you allow your children to read any book they wanted to without first checking its contents? Would you take your children to see any film without first finding out whether it is suitable for them? If your answer to these questions is "yes", then you are either extremely permissive or just plain irresponsible. If your answer is "no", then you are exercising your right as a parent to protect your children from what you consider to be undesirable influences. In other words, by acting as a censor yourself, you are admitting that there is a strong case for censorship.

Now, of course, you will say that it is one thing to exercise censorship where children are concerned and quite another to do the same for adults. Children need protection and it is the parents' responsibility to provide it. But what about adults? Aren't they old enough to decide what is good for them? The answer is that many adults are, but don't make the mistake of thinking that all adults are like yourself. Censorship is for the good of society as a whole. Highly civilized people might find it possible to live amicable together without laws of any kind: they would just rely on good sense to solve their problems. But imagine what chaos there would be if we lived in a society without laws! Like the law, censorship contributes to the common good.

Some people think that it is disgraceful that a censor should interfere with works of art. Who is this person, they say, to ban this great book or cut that great film? No one can set himself up as a superior being. But we must remember two things. Firstly, where genuine works of art are concerned, modern censors are extremely liberal in their views - often far more liberal than a large section of the public. Artistic merit is something which censors clearly recognize. And secondly, we must bear in mind that the great proportion of books, plays and film which come before the censor are very far from being "works of art".

When discussing censorship, therefore, we should not confine our attention to great masterpieces, but should consider the vast numbers of publications and films which make up the bulk of the entertainment industry. When censorship laws are relaxed unscrupulous people are given a licence to produce virtually anything in the name of "art". There is an increasing tendency to equate "artistic" with "pornographic". The vast market for pornography would rapidly be exploited. One of the great things that censorship does is to prevent certain people from making fat profits by corrupting the minds of others. To argue in favour of absolute freedom is to argue in favour of anarchy. Society would really be the poorer if it deprived itself of the wise counsel and the restraining influence which a censor provides

Text 2.5

THE BRITISH CLASSICS

William Shakespeare is considered the greatest British playwright born in Stratford-on-Avon in 1564. He was educated at Grammar School in Stratford which was known for its high standards of teaching. In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. In 1592, Shakespeare left his family and went to London. He made friends with the best contemporary actors and set up his own theatre, the company, known as the King's Men, performed most of his plays at the Globe. Shakespeare occasionally appeared as an actor himself but he was much better at writing plays. About 1610, he came back to Stratford, where he died in 1616.

The greatest of Shakespeare's contributions to literature was creating a new form of drama which did not abide by the rules of classical poetics. He wrote plays for the average theatre-goer. They reflected "the very age and body" of his epoch and showed a great understanding of human activities of all kind. His plays are roughly divided into tragedies and histories. The most popular ones are Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado about Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew.

It is less known that Shakespeare was also one of the most accomplished of Britain’s poets. His Sonnets show his extraordinary powers of expression and his deep understanding of human nature.

George Gordon Lord Byron was one of the most distinguished Romantic poets. He was born in 1788 to an aristocratic family and his life was stormy and eventful. He was considered a rebel who defied all social conventions. Branded as a man deprived of all moral norms, he left England forever in 1816 and travelled widely across Europe. He died of fever in 1824, fighting for Greek independence.

In his poems, lyrics and drama, Byron created a type of a 'romantic hero' personifying the fundamental conflicts of the epoch. A typical example of a 'Byronic' hero was Childe Harold from his poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. He also wrote the poetical poems Giaour and Don Juan, and a drama, Manfred.

Charles Dickens was the most popular novelist in the 19^th century. He came from a poor family and was not well educated. He left school age of twelve and worked in a factory. His novels often tell about young children who have to work hard to escape poverty, І example Oliver Twist.

Dickens was the main representative of realism in literature. In his novels he mocked and denounced the social evils and all sorts of deplorable things which were part of the Victorian scene. Still, his works are generally rather optimistic, saturated with humour and sentimentality. His best-known novels are The Posthumous Paper of the Pickwick Club, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities.

Charlotte, Emily and Ann Bronte were the most distinguished women writers in the 19th century. They were the daughters of a parish priest. They grew up in sparsely populated and dismal Yorkshire moorland. The unique atmosphere of that place had a great influence on their writing.

The sisters wrote under pseudonyms because at that time it was improper for 'good' women to write. The best known novel of Ann's was Agnes Gray, a sentimental romance. Charlotte's greatest literary achievement was Jane Eyre, a moving story about the life of a sensitive and romantic governess. However, all the critics agree that Emily surpassed her sister. Her famous novel, Wuthering Heights, is considered a literary masterpiece. It tells a romantic story of love, hatred, passion and destruction. The novel was later made into two film versions.

Text 2.6

Modern British Writers

Modern British literature is so varied that it is not possible to characterize it in a few sentences. Probably the best known names are Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, Graham Green, Kingsley Amis and John Fowles. Although they were all remarkable writers, they were not awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. This honour belonged to Rudyard Kipling (1907), George Bernard Shaw (1925), John Galsworthy (1932), Thomas Stearns Eliot (1948), and William Golding (1983).

John Galsworthy (1879-1933) made his name as the author of a series of realistic novels entitled The Forsyte Saga. This family chronicle enjoyed great popularity, and the name 'Forsyte' became a symbol of the English bourgeoisie. Galsworthy depicted in his novels the social and moral changes of the British middle class at the turn of the 19^th and 20" century. Although he criticized the bourgeoisie for the superficiality of its culture, hypocrisy, materialism, practical sense, eagerness for gain and lack of resilience, he remained a 'humanitarian moralist" who held an optimistic view of human nature.

The Forsyte Saga originally included three novels: The Man of Property, In Chancery and To Let. Later Galsworthy wrote another series of novels about a new generation of the Forsytes, entitled The Modern Comedy.

William Golding is one of the most distinguished writers of the post-war period. Educated at Oxford, he was for many years a teacher in Wiltshire. His literary output has a moralizing and even didactic character. By means of allegories and symbols, he emphasizes the maladies of our civilization. His novels bear some resemblance to moral parables or myths.

In his first and most successful novel, Lord of the Flies, Golding depicts the gradual disintegration of human values as experienced by a group of young boys forced to live on a desert island. The book is an allegory of contemporary human society, its cruelty and evil instincts. The novel warns of the real possibility of mass annihilation. Golding is also the author of the novels The Spire, The Inheritors and Alexandria Quartet.

In 1983, William Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, and in 1988 he was knighted.

Text 2.7

Amегісап writers

It is very difficult to decide on writers who represent American literature. An average reader usually associates it with such names as Mark Twain, Jack London, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Margaret Mitchell, Irwin Shaw, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Ken Kesey, Jerome David Salinger or John Updike.

So far, nine Americans have won the Nobel Prize for Literature: Sinclair Lewis (1930), Eugene O'Neill (1936), Pearl Buck (1938), William Faulkner (1949), Ernest Hemingway (1954), John Steinbeck (1962), Saul Bellow (1976), Isaac Bashevis Singer (1978), and Toni Morrison (1993). Because of limited space, only three of them have been presented here.

Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951).

Sinclair Lewis was the first American to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was one of the representatives of the "revolt from the village" movement and his success as a novelist resulted from his unusual ability to satirize the American middle class. Lewis's works express the attitude of rebellion against a limited life, stagnation and the oppressive atmosphere of the provincial American towns in the first decades of the 20th century. The writer himself came from the Midwest, often referred to as the "heartland" of America, and inhabited by hard-working but conservative, narrow-minded, dull and self-complacent people.

Babbit is usually considered as the best of Lewis's works. The hero of this novel, Babbit, is a businessman in a small city. He is a typical representative of the American middle class with all its limitations and drawbacks, such as moral hypocrisy, intellectual mediocrity, conformism and the devotion to making money. Although he rebels against the banality of everyday life, he is unable to break away from the confines and conventions of his class.

The American middle class has also been satirized in Lewis's Main Street. This time the protagonist is an ambitious college graduate who tries to reform the local community. However, all her attempts to evoke certain intellectual aspirations in people are in vain. Ultimately, she gives in and surrenders to ordinariness.

In his next major novel, Arrowsmith, Lewis ridiculed the medical profession, and in Elmer Gantry he attacked religious institutions. In all his works, Sinclair Lewis seemed to sum up what small-town America was all about.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)

Steinbeck is often described as a California regionalist. Indeed, the action of his novels is often set in the Californian countryside. He represents the realistic and romantic current in American literature. His novels and short stories also contain symbolic, metaphysical and naturalistic elements.

In Steinbeck's early works, for example Tortilla Flat, the protagonists are happy people, free from greed for money, spontaneous, carefree and living according to natural ethics. Later, Steinbeck gets more involved in social issues. His greatest novel, The Grapes of Wrath, tells a story of poor farmers from Oklahoma who head west to the Promised Land of California in search of a better life. The novel is Steinbeck's major statement about the Depression and an important document of social protest in the 1930s. Steinbeck's last major work, East of Eden, is a family saga. The main motive of the novel is the Biblical parable of Cain and Abel personifying right and wrong. Steinbeck is also the author of a collection of short stories The Pastures of Heaven, and a novelette Of Mice and Men.

Although not all critics are convinced of Steinbeck's literary genius, they agree that he is a superb storyteller.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

Hemingway's whole life was a great adventure. As a journalist, he travelled widely. He took part in World War I and in the Spanish Civil War. His literary works often reflect his rich experiences.

Hemingway's first novel, The Sun Also Rises, places him among the novelists known as The Lost Generation. It captures the spiritual lameness and disillusionment of the post-war generation. A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway's novel of World War I, reveals the inhumanity and pointlessness of war. For Whom the Bell Tolls, a story of an American fighting for the Spanish cause, confirms Hemingway's affirmative statement about the death for the idea. The writer's humanistic credo has been fully expressed in his short story The Old Man and the Sea for which he was honoured with the Nobel Prize in 1954. The essence of Hemingway's philosophy is the conviction that man can be destroyed but never defeated. The story of the old fisherman's struggle with a marlin is Hemingway's greatest literary achievement. On a symbolic level, it is a universal fable of human life. Hemingway's power of expression has been achieved by his characteristically tense and carefully restrained 'journalistic' language lacking in flowery terms or complex sentence structures.

Ernest Hemingway committed suicide in 1961. Still, his works have given him immortality. Together with William Faulkner, he is considered the greatest American writer.

Text 2.8

A book review

Recently I have read a very interesting book by the Polish-born American writer, Jerzy Kosinski. The novel is entitled Being There, and it was first published in 1971. It may be read as an extended metaphor of the power of television.

The action of the book is restricted to seven days during which its hero, mentally deficient Chance, makes a staggering career as the man of the moment, all without his comprehension.

When the novel opens, Chance lives peacefully in a rich Old Man's garden. Nobody knows who his father was, and his brain-damaged mother died when he was born. Sheltered by the Old man, Chance lives happily devoting his time to working in the garden. His existence, however, has not been recorded in any documents. He has neither name nor birth certificate. He can neither read nor write and all his knowledge about the world comes from television which he constantly watches.

There is a turning point in the novel when the Old man dies and Chance is asked to leave the house and the garden. Dressed in the Old Man's suit, he steps outside the garden and takes to the streets for the first time in his life. Almost immediately he becomes a victim of a car accident. He is injured and invited to stay in the house of Benjamin Rand, one of the wealthiest and most influential people in America. He quickly wins the close friendship of Mrs Rand by “repeating to her the parts of her own sentences, a practice he observed on TV”. He also gains admiration of Mr Rand himself for giving simple comments on life in the garden which are perceived as elaborate metaphors and optimistic pronouncements about the American economy undergoing a serious crisis at the moment. Chance's statements please the President who comes to visit Benjamin Rand. He uses one of Chance's metaphors in his speech and almost immediately the protagonist is acknowledged as an "economic prophet and presidential advisor". Without seeking or even realizing it, he joins the circle of the rich and the influential. He becomes a national figure and a hero of the American media. However, he is a great enigma. Nobody knows who he really is and where he comes from. "I have read a lot about you", a French diplomat boasts although he has never heard of Chance. The protagonist is courted by beautiful women and admired by wealthy businessmen. No one notices Chance's idiocy which infects larger and larger circles of power. The climax comes when Chance is named as a presidential candidate, just because he is a man from nowhere and with no background, therefore he "cannot be objectionable to anyone".

The question arises how mentally-disturbed Chance manages to succeed. The answer seems to be obvious. Kosinski sees Americans as "a nation of videots" and suggests that it is television that bears the blame for creating a passive and unthinking society which, in turn, enables idiots like Chance to rise to dizzy heights. He satirizes and criticizes mass media for turning people into robots, and believes that the collective media are a dangerous form of manipulation. Chance is not denounced but only because he imitates the patterns he observed on television.

Being There is an absorbing book which, once you have started, is impossible to put down.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

Step 1. Discuss the questions below in pairs.

1. What role do books play in human life?

2. Why do different kinds of books appeal to different kinds of readers?

3. What was the evolution of books like?

4. Who brought you into the world of reading? What were your first books? Have your literary tastes changed since childhood?

5. What makes you decide to read a particular book? How do you choose books to read?

6. Which kinds of books do you enjoy reading? Why?

7. How do you feel about the world of literature?

8. What are the reasons that people read the same book time and again?

9. How do you read? What are your reading habits?

10. What is your attitude to the technique of fast and cross-page reading? Are you able to read this way? In what situations can you use these techniques?

11. What does the rate of reading depend on? How does it influence the quality of reading and its thorough comprehension?

12. How can the choice of books characterize the reader, his interests and education?

13. Which factors influence the popularity of the book with the reader?

14. What literary works of English or American writers impressed you most? Why?

15. Why has the theme of war been prevailing in the works of Belarusian prose- writers?

16. What are the distinctive features of public libraries in any country?

17. How do public libraries in Belarus differ from those in Great Britain and America?

18. Which are your favourite British and American classics? Why do you find their works interesting?

Step 2. Approve or disapprove of the following ideas reasoning your opinion.

1. The central mission of a library is to provide access to knowledge and information.

2. These days libraries are used much less than it was in the past.

3. Every reader should acquire the art of fast-reading.

4. The physical appearance of the book is the most important factor.

5. Learning poetry by heart is a waste of time.

6. Science fiction books enjoy great popularity on the part of young readers.

7. Books have a great impact on moulding our character and forming our moral values.

8. Each author has his/her own peculiarities of writing.

9. It’s important to have a good home library.

10. Books are the greatest of the World’s wonders.

11. Reading is a vanishing custom nowadays.

12. Contemporary writers can’t create masterpieces.

13. Books are the only source of knowledge and information.

14. Nobody reads reference books for relaxation.

15. Reading in the original is the only way to understand the author’s skill with language and his/her manner of writing.

16. Many readers can’t stand reading the descriptions. They just skip them.

17. Screen adaptation of the book discourages reading.

Step 3. Comment on the quotations below. Be as specific as you can.

1. “Libraries are not made; they grow”. R. Augustine

2. “There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts”. O. Twist

3. “A writer is rarely so well inspired as when he talks about himself”. A France

4. “History books which contain no lies are extremely dull”. A. France

5. “The books that everybody admires are those that nobody reads”. A. France

6. “Books are sepulchers of thought”. H. Longfellow

7. “I would sooner read a time-table or a catalogue than nothing at all. They are much more entertaining than half the novels that are written”. W.S. Maugham

8. “Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds”. P.B. Shelley

9. “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”. R. Steele

10. “Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written”. H.D. Thoreau

11. “Read the best books first or you may not have a chance to read them at all”. H.D. Thoreau

12. “A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read”. M. Twain

13. “We are what we read”. M.C. Miller

14. “Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form a great majority”. C.C. Colton

15. “Public libraries are a feast of ideas to which all are invited”. A. Herzen

Step 4. Make up stories using the following proverbs and sayings. The contents of the story should reveal the gist of the proverb/saying.

1. There is no friend so faithful as a good book.

2. Choose an author as you choose a friend.

3. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

4. A room without books I s a body without soul.

5. Wear the old coat and buy a new book.

6. Like author, like book.

7. Books and friends should be few and good.

8. A house looks joyless without books.

9. We learn things by reading books.

Step 5. Read the beginning of the text and develop the idea touched upon in it.

Books have served us for centuries being the source of knowledge, information and entertainment. For centuries they have represented and reflected human culture and comprised an indispensable part of human life. People say that books are our friends. They are right. Moreover, they are faithful and undemanding friends: they can be put aside and taken up again whenever we need them. At so many moments of our life we turn to reading books…

Step 6. Make up and act out conversations that would be appropriate in the situations below. Work in groups of 2 or 3.

1. You are a Belarusian writer. You represent Belarusian literature at an International Book Fair. After the official ceremony you have a talk with your American colleague. You feel like discussing the similarities and differences of contemporary Belarusian and American literature.

2. You’ve just seen a screen version of the famous novel by Charlotte Brontё “Jane Eyre”. You share your impressions about it with your friend. You are absolutely stunned by the film but your friend is of a different opinion and tries to persuade you to read the book as that is a real literary masterpiece.

3. Interview your favourite Belarusian writer or poet. Ask him/her the role of literature in the contemporary world and the influence on forming moral values of young generation.

4. Both parents are concerned about negative attitude of their children towards reading. One of the children is obsessed with computer games and the other has a great passion for rock music. As a result, children’s progress in Literature at school is bad. Have a talk with the teacher of Literature and ask for advice.

Step 7. Arrange a group discussion on the problems suggested below.

• Describe what kind of reader you are. Speak about the kinds of books you consider most attractive. Explain your preferences.

• Comment on the following saying “Except for a living man there is nothing more wonderful than a book”.

• Many people think that that reading is dying, that it is a vanishing custom. What’s your personal point of view concerning this problem?

• There are so many different books written by different writers, but only few of them become our favourites. Why?

• To read or not to read. Is that a question to you?

• If a book you want to read for pleasure is available both as a book and as a CD, which version would you buy? Explain your preference.

• Speak about the pros and cons of reading detective novels and thrillers.

• People who study need textbooks. Will the days of textbooks be over in the future? Will they be completely substituted by the Internet?

• Reading a book versus a screen adaptation of the book. Which do you prefer? Explain your preference.

• J. Ruskin said “Books are divided into 2 classes: the books of the hour and the books of all time”. How do you understand this? Give some examples from your reading experience.

• This quotation belongs to a famous philosopher Francis Bacon “Some books are to be tasted others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested”. Do you share this point of view? If yes, be as specific as you can, when expressing your opinion.

• Books about Harry Potter have become bestsellers. What are the reasons for that? Would you buy it for your children or your younger siblings? Why? Why not?

Step 8. Debate on the controversial statements. Work in two groups. One group should agree with the statements below and the other should disagree. Put forward the appropriate arguments and convince the members of the other group.

1. Children’s reading should be censored.

2. Books are the only source of learning.

3. It’s useless to re-read books.

4. Intelligent people don’t read detectives.

5. These days young people are not in the habit of reading.

6 CDs and the Internet are going to replace printed books.

Step 9. Fulfill the following written assignments.

1. Write a letter to your friend recommending to him/her the book you’ve just read.

2. Write the synopsis and the review of the book you’ve read lately.

3. Write a newspaper article under the title “Books give food for our mind and warmth for our soul”.

4. Share your impression about virtual visiting of the British Library in London.

5. You are the Head of the School Library. Prepare a report for the parents’ meeting about the role of parents in encouraging their children to read.

6. Write an argumentative essay on the topic “Parents shouldn’t censor their children’s reading.”