Post by account_disabled on Nov 25, 2023 5:37:04 GMT 1
Because he will adopt behaviors that are foreign to him, to adapt to other ways of thinking and communicating. Writing is art, but like all arts it is strictly personal, it comes from within us, it cannot receive obligations, forces, it cannot be channeled but needs to find its own spaces on which to flow. Forbidding the use of words and expressions damages writing, because it places limits, vetoes, which should not exist in any art. Towards restrictive language In 2011 the publishing house NewSouth Books decided to censor Mark Twain's two novels about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, changing the words "injun" and "nigger" with "Indian" and "slave". The reason? Because of the various African American students in the schools, who would have heard that racist term repeatedly.
Would it have been too difficult to explain to students the historical and geographical context of Twain's two works? At that time those were the terms used to indicate those people: whether it's wrong, it doesn't matter, that's history. That was the reality of the time. Changing those words means not only disrespecting the author - who he can no longer even contest - but disrespecting History itself and giving a false image of the events narrated. If we were to write a novel set in 19th century United States today, should we perhaps self-censor so as Phone Number Data not to be taken for racist? It seems ridiculous to me. I'll give an example with a current work I'm reading: World Without End by Ken Follett.
For those who don't know it, it is set in England in the 14th century, therefore in the Middle Ages. I continually read about class differences between citizens, a clear example of discrimination based on specific social classes, which still exist today. Not being a knight, nor a nobleman, nor a priest, I should resent how my "class" is defined in the novel. The College of Respectable Writers If we want to create a hypocritical world, politically correct writing will pave the way. In the long run all of us writers – and in this category I include fiction and non-fiction authors, bloggers and copywriters – will be forced to follow standards in communication, standards decided from above.
Would it have been too difficult to explain to students the historical and geographical context of Twain's two works? At that time those were the terms used to indicate those people: whether it's wrong, it doesn't matter, that's history. That was the reality of the time. Changing those words means not only disrespecting the author - who he can no longer even contest - but disrespecting History itself and giving a false image of the events narrated. If we were to write a novel set in 19th century United States today, should we perhaps self-censor so as Phone Number Data not to be taken for racist? It seems ridiculous to me. I'll give an example with a current work I'm reading: World Without End by Ken Follett.
For those who don't know it, it is set in England in the 14th century, therefore in the Middle Ages. I continually read about class differences between citizens, a clear example of discrimination based on specific social classes, which still exist today. Not being a knight, nor a nobleman, nor a priest, I should resent how my "class" is defined in the novel. The College of Respectable Writers If we want to create a hypocritical world, politically correct writing will pave the way. In the long run all of us writers – and in this category I include fiction and non-fiction authors, bloggers and copywriters – will be forced to follow standards in communication, standards decided from above.