Last year, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an education bill giving parents the right to “veto erotic textbooks”. Recently, the school board of Madison County, Florida, asked the school library to remove 21 books, including Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Sula, Stephen King’s It, The Bone Bag and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Story.
The Handmaid’s Story describes a dystopian world in which women lose their reproductive freedom, and it is one of the most frequently banned literary works in the United States. Atwood, the author, responded by publishing an article entitled “Go ahead and ban my book” in Atlantic Monthly, expressing his incomprehension and anger.
According to reports, Madison County High School was influenced by the conservative Christian organization Focus on Family, which made a list of “unacceptable books”. What puzzled Atwood was why the story of the maid was included. She believes that “the erotic description in the maid’s story is far worse than the Bible”, and the real reason for the ban may be that the school committee tries to “restrict the children’s reading content from a religious perspective” because they may think that the contents in the book violate Christian teachings. But Atwood said the story was inspired by the Bible. There is a description of maid surrogacy in Genesis, and the core value of the novel, opposing totalitarianism, is also influenced by early Bible manuscripts.
Atwood also believes that the school’s ban on books is meaningless. Because of the existence of streaming media and social media, it is “impossible” to fundamentally block this story. “Has anyone told Madison High School Board about the existence of BookTok? This is a section about Tik Tok, where young readers can recommend books to each other. My name and the topic of “The Handmaid’s Story” add up to about 400 million. I am really sorry. “
the handmaid’s tale
Margaret Atwood, translated by Chen Xiaowei.
Shanghai Translation Publishing House 2020-7
In Atwood’s view, although the audience of her works is indeed adults, it is “very difficult” to control the reading content of young people, “especially when you tell them that this book is not suitable for their age, too evil or too immoral.” Atwood recalled her experience of reading Warm and Cold when she was 16 years old. What really shocked her was not the description of incest or rape in the book-“These are not news to me, they are in the Bible.” -but “varicose veins” because “it is not mentioned in the Bible”.
At the end of the article, Atwood questioned the real purpose of banning books by the school board. She believes that the ostensible purpose of banning books is to protect students, but the real purpose may be to promote fertility. Atwood pointed out that the current fertility rate in the United States is declining year by year, and the survey shows that young people are “losing interest in sex” and “there will be no newborns without sex”. The best way to make them “interested in sex again” is undoubtedly “don’t talk about sex” and “don’t read anything related to sex! Forget it! Don’t look either! Don’t listen! ” At the end, Atwood quoted a biblical proverb, “Stolen water is sweet, and hidden cakes are beautiful.”
The director of the German ballet attacked the reporter with shit and was fired after being forced to apologize.
Marco Goecke is the director of the ballet of the National Opera House in Hanover, Germany, and won the German Dance Award in 2022. Recently, during the intermission of the ballet “Faith-Love-Hope”, Geke attacked Wibke Hurst, a 57-year-old cultural journalist of frankfurter allgemeine zeitung, with shit in front of the whole audience.
In an interview, Huester recalled that he was blocked by Geke in front of the hall. “He didn’t just throw shit at me. He opened the bag of shit and put it on my face with his mouth up to make sure the shit would stick to it. ” Huester said that when Geke approached her, he pretended to discuss her recent bad reviews of another dance drama, but began to accuse her of personally attacking herself in the comments, and threatened to blacklist her in the theater and then attack her.
Earlier this week, Gekko refused to apologize to Huester for this incident, because in his view, his behavior was a response to “years of devastating comments”. In an interview with the German media, he said that his practice was “not very good”, but “I can’t hold my breath”. “I don’t think from a social point of view, my practice will be recognized and respected … I have never done such a thing, but she has slandered me in the newspaper for more than 20 years … I don’t think anyone who works hard has the ability to endure it for such a long time.”
This incident soon became a hot topic in German literary and art circles this week. Many industry authorities have criticized Geke. Under pressure, Geke issued an apology statement. “I want to sincerely apologize to all the people concerned, especially Wibke Huester, for my indecent behavior,” Geke wrote in the statement, saying that he did it because “the first performance for two consecutive nights made me feel too stressed”. Geke also mentioned that Schustr’s comments were “often full of malice”, but the latter denied this statement, explaining that he had “written favorable comments” on many of Geke’s plays.
On January 16th, local time, Hanover National Opera House issued a statement in official website, saying that it had terminated its contract with Geke. “Mark Goke’s irresponsible behavior deeply hurt the audience and the public, violated the guidelines of the theater, and also caused serious damage to the reputation of the theater … Mark Goke also agreed. Therefore, after in-depth talks with him, with the consent of both parties, we decided to terminate his contract immediately. ” It is reported that the police have launched an investigation into this matter and may sue Geke for criminal assault.