Banned Books Week ends today -- coincidentally, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, where we make one last big push to atone for our sins of the previous year that we may remain inscribed in the Book of Life. In keeping with the religious theme (and because censorship explicitly based on religious claims is the last major category I haven't talked about), our final book -- series of books, really -- is one beloved of millions of children and adults and yet asserted by some folk to contain satanic elements. It has a plucky hero, wise and good-hearted but misunderstood by many in his middle-class hometown, who is befriended by wizards, aided by magic, and situated smack at the epicenter of a great battle for the future of his world.
Harry who? Folks, it's The Lord of the Rings.
It could have been Harry Potter. Everyone knows that series gets certain types absolutely frothing. There are those who hear wizards and witches and become simply incontinent with medieval mythology. But it's an indiscriminate incontinence, sweeping practicioners of Wicca, Halloween decorations, and a simply stunning array of sci-fi / fantasy titles (HT: University of Delaware library) along in its tide.
And in those books live some of our culture's most beloved characters -- Dorothy Gale and her friends in Oz; Harry Potter and all his friends, enemies, magicals and muggles; Meg Murry, the heroine for many young geek girls reading A Wrinkle In Time and its sequels; and not only the beloved works of Tolkien but those of his Inklings confederate, CS Lewis. That's right -- not only do Frodo and Bilbo Baggins come under attack by would-be censors, The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe gets its share too.
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