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Ban this book? 120 Days of Sodom

Ban 120 Days of Sodom?

  • Burn every copy.

  • It has historical value; national libraries should preserve a few copies.

  • It has philosophical, literary, or artistic value; it should be in university libraries

  • It has advanced educational value; it should be in high school libraries

  • It has intermediate educational value; it should be in elementary school libraries

  • it has beginner educational value; it should be in kindergarten libraries

  • On planet X, we read it to toddlers during Drag Queen Story Hour

  • Other good idea not listed here

Results are only viewable after voting.

theprestige

Penultimate Amazing
theprestige
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Has anybody read this book? I tried.

My conclusion: This is philosophy, not smut. People write smut to titillate themselves, or to titillate some demographic that will form a paying audience. You write adultery porn for people who like that sort of thing. You write minotaur porn for people who like that sort of thing. Etc.

De Sade isn't trying to write something titillating for a particular audience. He's trying to lay out as comprehensive a catalog of perversion and obscenity as he can possibly imagine. Every reader can probably find one or two tropes in there that turn them on, in addition to the other 99% of the tropes in the book, that will leave them cold, or disgusted, or horrified.

A closer reading might discover some trenchant socio-political commentary, but I confess I have no desire to read it any more closely or completely than I've already attempted.

Anyway, on to the question of banning. Or "banning" as is more correct to say. Personally, I think there's something impressive, even admirable, in putting down on paper such a work of disgusting sexual depravity. Someone should catalog our most horrific taboos and predilections, from time to time. For this reason, I think it has philosophical, literary, and artistic merit. Universities should make an effort to include a copy in their catalog, and make it available to students and the public without judgement. I think national libraries (i.e., institutions like the Library of Congress) should preserve copies as part of the historical record.

I think public libraries (county libraries, municipal libraries, etc.) should probably think very carefully about whether they want to keep a copy on their shelves, and how tightly to restrict its circulation. Even public libraries that maintain a complete collection of Playboy Magazine (are there any such libraries?) probably don't loan issues out to schoolchildren.

I don't think the book has any place in high school or elementary school libraries. School budgets and shelf space a much better spent on other, more germane works.

ETA: I hope I wouldn't have to tell public school librarians not to put in in their catalog. If that turns out to be too optimistic, I have no qualms about firing any public school librarian or administrator that thought having it was a good idea, and passing whatever laws necessary to make it absolutely clear that such nonsense will not be tolerated in public schools.

What do you think?
 
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if a kindergarten kid is able and willing to read it, I think they should be allowed to. They won't understand anything and either forget all about it or do a wonderful thing: ask a grownup about it and start a discussion.
And anyone older than that can just read it online whenever they want.

The best, and IMO only thing to do is to make Libraries so large, and stock them with so many books, that the really controversial and problematic bits will become the needle in the haystack.
 
I can't abide unfinished books.

It's not very good as a book in itself, but no doubt it is of interest to students of history and sociology as a window into that period, class, and locale. I don't think many people would read it for titillation; these days there are ubiquitious better-quality pornographical writings available freely almost everywhere. Heck, I've read Spiderman fanfic that was much, much better in every metric.
 
I haven't read the book. Don't plan on reading the book. I know what it's about. I have read the commentaries about the book. But I mostly agree with Prestige on this. (Always shocked when we agree on anything) Except I disagree with his take that public libraries not necessarily stock the book.

I'll leave that up to the librarians managing their inventories. They have to consider everything from demand, shelf space, and budget. This is a very famous book. I think it's very appropriate for a large big city library to have a copy or two. Hey, you can check out Mein Kampf, Dante's Divine Comedy and even the most disgusting books of all time, the Quran and the Holy Bible at most of them.

But I can understand why small town libraries would be hard pressed to stock it.

I didn't vote. Couldn't find a category that fit my opinion.
 
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i'm aware of the film, though i've never seen it in it's entirety. to my knowledge it's been taken as a criticism of fascism, which each of the noble sadists representing a different role in the fascist power structure. the film is often lumped in with other shock pieces of cinema like a serbian film, or cannibal holocaust. not familiar at all with the book.
 
I have read his other famous bodice-ripper, Justine (the misfortunes of virtue), when I was in university. Not on any reading list, I was just curious. I actually quite enjoyed it which probably makes me a sick perv.

Not read 120 Days of Sodom, but I did watch the film because, well… see above.

Anyway, I get where this is going and no, if 120 Days of Sodom is anything like Justine or the film, it should not be in elementary school libraries. University and public libraries, fine! High school would also be okay, although the budget for the library would probably be better spent on other books.
 
My local public library doesn't have it, but it's available in the next bigger town. Listed in the publicly visible catalogue, available to anyone with a library ticket (including minors). If this was likely to cause any problems, I suspect they'd have been encountered by now.
 
I mean, it's in the public domain. You can just download it. I don't see the point of fretting about which libraries it's in.
 
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