18 November 2006

However you do it, read the Blind Owl


Hedayat's masterpiece has been banned in Iran (see below). Luckily it is freely available to purchase here in the UK and in the USA. It is also available online at the Iranchamber website.

Buy it or read it online, it is a magnificent work. That it has been banned is an utter disgrace.

9 comments:

elasticwaistbandlady said...

HOO knew that a book called The Blind Owl could cause such a HOO-Ha? I may have to HOOry out to go buy it.

I'm so lame. :(

jams o donnell said...

Seriously ewbl it is a magnificent work. The idea that it would be banned is an utter disgrace

elasticwaistbandlady said...

I stand all amazed when banned book lists are released here on a yearly basis, jams. Especially the lists of banned books in schools like Harry Potter, and the ones my kids love The Series Of Unfortunate Events. Even Diary Of Anne Frank. Literature is subjective, and I take offense at being guarded by the "powers that be" from making my own reading selections.

Fahrenheit 461 come to life, anyone?

jams o donnell said...

It's one thing not to let kids read the Story of O or 120 Days of Sodom but I wonder what the hell goes through the minds of people who ban innocuous stuff like Lemony Snicket or Harry Potter.

Even the Vatican stopped telling catholics what book they can and cannot read decades ago..

Perhaps teh banners should be forces to read my two dads, why is my daddy now my second mummy? and (shreik) the Origin of Species!

elasticwaistbandlady said...

As a parent, I censor my kids reading material in the home, and what they select from the library. Government doesn't have to rule EVERY single freakin facet of our lives. Some of us can still monitor, and choose whats best for our families and ourselves. :(

jams o donnell said...

The idea that a government or a school board should ban books revolts me. Nobody in their right mind would have the Karma Sutra in a kindergarten library but you dont need to ban it!

The ones who ban the likes of Harry Potter are religious fanatics I would imagine, beleiveing that HP is some tool of the devil or something like that. It is as bad as when the Vatican had its Index or the appalling censorship of so called "socialist" states.

Agnes said...

"or the appalling censorship of so called "socialist" states." - some advocate and praise it. Hypocrites. However banning books on any level is absolutely stupid, and if the parents ban it, well, the child will know what to read next. I did.

elasticwaistbandlady said...

Well, there has to be some modicum of censorship on the parents part. While my children can read whatever they want when they're older, I don't want them perusing age inappropriate material now. Since they're schooled at home, they have limited access to objectionable literature anyway.

Like I said, we don't need government entities controlling the things we read, and have available. That should be left up to the individual.

jams o donnell said...

\There is a big difference between limiting things on the ground of age appropriateness and banning things outright.. Since I've been signed off work thanks to the chest infection not clearing up and some major rib pain and since sitting up straight is one of teh few things I can do with little discomfort I mught post some examples of books banned in various countries.