Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/10-books-so-controversial-they-were-burned-now-classics/
There is something deeply ironic about a book being set on fire. The people who light the match believe they are erasing ideas. History, again and again, proves them spectacularly wrong. The books that faced the most ferocious attempts at destruction often became the most studied, the most beloved, and the most influential works in all of literature.
Some of the most controversial books in history are now regarded as classics, and the Bible along with works by Shakespeare are among those that have been banned over the past two thousand years. That should tell you everything. If you’re looking for proof that censorship is a self-defeating act, look no further than this list. Let’s dive in.
1. Ulysses – James Joyce (1922)
James Joyce’s radical, stream-of-consciousness story of Leopold Bloom’s daylong journey across Dublin stoked a fiery reaction literally on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean after its 1922 publication. Government authorities in the United States and England not only banned what is now considered a modernist masterpiece, they also confiscated and burned more than 1,000 copies. That’s not a typo. Over a thousand copies. Gone.
After the release of a controversial episode, the United States Post Office determined the material was obscene and confiscated three issues of The Little Review, burning 500 copies of them. Ulysses was first published in 1922 in Paris and instantly became an…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-03-11 11:30:00
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