Friday, July 15, 2005

Bad books

Parents Against Bad Books in Schools lists books with questionable material along with a review form to help objectively identify them. (Via MobyLives.)

I can't imagine teenagers really enjoying Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose, but they may pick it up now to be titillated by such tasty bits as this:

"He pointed to the Virgin’s slender bust, held high and tight by a cross-laced bodice, which the (Christ) Child’s tiny hands fondled.... Beautiful also are the breasts, which protrude slightly, only faintly tumescent, and do not swell licentiously, suppressed but not depressed... What do you feel before this sweetest of visions?"


Also noted are many controversial sentiments:
"A dream is a scripture, and many scriptures are nothing but dreams."
"...the female is a vessel of the devil..."

The book is riddled with homosexual monks, and there's witchcraft (never mind, that the "witch" is to be burned at the stake for it).

PABBIS, curriculum Inquisitors, are on the job. I just knew The Name of the Rose was a corrupting force.

5 comments:

Tim said...

Thanks for pointing this out. Of course, I couldn't help but wonder, when they say...

IN NO EVENT WILL PABBIS BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND resulting from viewing or any other use of this material

...exactly what would constitute "other use of this material?"

Anonymous said...

I suppose the one redeeming feature of Eco's 'Name of the Rose' accoring to PABBIS would be that a library gets burnt to a crisp.

Suzanne said...

Hmmm...

"any other use" could refer to holding it over an open fire...

Guess PABBIS wouldn't want to be liable for personal injury ?

SFP said...

I kept telling myself this was all an extensive joke. Then when I saw how the books beginning with the word "The" were listed I realized they were in dead earnest.

Ye gods and little fishes.

Anonymous said...

Okay, the review form's examples for evaluating the level of explicitness are just too funny. "Large, voluptuous bouncing breasts with hard nipples covered with glistening sweat and bite marks" is "extreme", but without the sweat and bite marks, it's only "very". So what do you do if there's sweat but no bite marks?!? Brain... hurting...

I am completely terrified by this site. I'm just laughing so I don't cry.