Expurgation Throughout the Centuries

Marinei Siculi regii historiographi Opus de rebus Hispaniae memorabilibus modo castigatum atq[ue] Caesareae maiestatis iussu in lucem aeditum by Lucio Marineo

1533

The following book is an official history of Spain by Sicilian-born scholar Lucio Marineo. This particular passage discusses Jews who converted to Chistianity, but continued to practice Judaism in secret during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. These Jewish converts were targeted by the Inquisition and these particular lines of text were marked for expurgation (Funke, 2015).

Epistolarum astronomicarum libri by Tycho Brahe

1610

The Catholic Church expurgated Tycho's "Epistolarum astronomicarum libri," not because of its astronomical assertions, which were actually in line with Catholic teachings, but because he referred to himself as "Noble, and virtuous, wise, learned genius who is a famous teacher" (MacLean, 2013, para. 5). The Church felt that Tycho, as a Protestant, could not give himself such honorifics and removed them from his text.

The Family Shakespeare by William Shakespeare & Thomas Bowdler

1818

The Reverend Thomas Bowdler, intent on making the works of Shakespeare family friendly, edited his edition to remove language and situations he felt to be "'unfit to be read aloud by a gentleman to a company of ladies'" (Ladenson, 2013, p. 175). Bowdler excluded "Measure for Measure," "2 Henry IV," "Othello" because he felt that he couldn't edit them to make them suitable for family consumption (Ladenson, 2013).

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

1855

Whitman's poetry compilation created a stir with its "frank portrayal of sexuality and its obvious homoerotic overtones" (University of Virginia Library, n.d.). Whitman eventually agreed to bowdlerizing his own work in an anthology that would reach a wider audience, which he referred to as "Leaves of Grass, Junior" (Folsom, 1991). He disdained these edits, exclaiming "'Damn the expurgated books! I say damn 'em! The dirtiest book in all the world is the expurgated book;" (Traubel, 1906, p. 124).

In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

1970

Sendak's "In the Night Kitchen" was frequently targeted for removal from libraries by censorship panels because of its depiction of full-frontal nudity. Librarians drew diapers on the character, expurgating Sendak's work (Krystal, 2012).

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Apr 10, 1992

A middle school teacher in Irvine, California, assigned her students to read Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451," a novel about book-burning and censorship. In an ironic twist, the teacher had blacked out many of the words in the book, mostly "hell" and "damn," because she felt that the words were unsuitable for her students (Froomkin, 1992).

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

2008

Members of the New Rochelle, New York, school board removed pages from Kaysen's "Girl, Interrupted" because a staff member decided that the sexual content depicting a character encouraged to engage in oral sex would not be suitable for high school students. The bowdlerized pages were discovered by 12th grade film students who were assigned the book in class (Flood, 2008).