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Study in Controversy - The "Banning" of Study in Scarlet
I haven't been on the main comm to see if there's discussion there, but the news is slowly leaking out in the US and England that a Virginia school system has "banned" A Study in Scarlet for its depiction of Mormonism. I keep putting "ban" in quotes, because in a true school or library banning, the book is removed or otherwise restricted so that non-adults can't access it. In this case, the book is being left in the school library (not to mention the Internet) with unrestricted access; the complaining parent wanted it removed from a class's required reading list for "inaccurate depiction of an American religion."
And... he's right. Hell, he's understating it.
The Mormon men are depicted universally as rapists, murderers, and hypocrites (note that the wilder Elder sons are drunkards), the women are hapless victims, and the whole thing is presented as a coercive cult. It is prejudicial for any Mormon students to have that assigned *in class* as a depiction of their beliefs or the past history of their religion. Furthermore, unlike the contentious issues such as language in Huck Finn or violence in Lord of the Flies, Study in Scarlet can't be defended on the basis of being a springboard to a discussion of social themes. No matter how classic it has become, Doyle was writing a potboiler (and IMO, writing it excitingly but badly; that smash cut from London detective story to American wild west survival story is really a lesson in "what not to do to make your story coherent.")
There is no mention in the articles of any further action taken by the school, although mention is made that the complaining parent suggests an alternative required reading: The Hound of the Baskervilles.
I think that's the perfect suggestion for a fistful of reasons. It's not only a Holmes classic that avoids religious and racial stereotypes, it's arguably a more popular novel than SiS, it's shorter (I was all about the short books when I was forced to read them on schedule for class), and it even ties in with the uber-popular supernatural genre.
So no, I'm not going to get up in arms about A Study in Scarlet being "banned." The parent hasn't asked for a total ban, he's asked that prejudicial material be removed from a required reading list and suggested a popular substitute *by the same author.* As far as I'm concerned, that's so far away from a book banning as to not even be in the same zip code.
And... he's right. Hell, he's understating it.
The Mormon men are depicted universally as rapists, murderers, and hypocrites (note that the wilder Elder sons are drunkards), the women are hapless victims, and the whole thing is presented as a coercive cult. It is prejudicial for any Mormon students to have that assigned *in class* as a depiction of their beliefs or the past history of their religion. Furthermore, unlike the contentious issues such as language in Huck Finn or violence in Lord of the Flies, Study in Scarlet can't be defended on the basis of being a springboard to a discussion of social themes. No matter how classic it has become, Doyle was writing a potboiler (and IMO, writing it excitingly but badly; that smash cut from London detective story to American wild west survival story is really a lesson in "what not to do to make your story coherent.")
There is no mention in the articles of any further action taken by the school, although mention is made that the complaining parent suggests an alternative required reading: The Hound of the Baskervilles.
I think that's the perfect suggestion for a fistful of reasons. It's not only a Holmes classic that avoids religious and racial stereotypes, it's arguably a more popular novel than SiS, it's shorter (I was all about the short books when I was forced to read them on schedule for class), and it even ties in with the uber-popular supernatural genre.
So no, I'm not going to get up in arms about A Study in Scarlet being "banned." The parent hasn't asked for a total ban, he's asked that prejudicial material be removed from a required reading list and suggested a popular substitute *by the same author.* As far as I'm concerned, that's so far away from a book banning as to not even be in the same zip code.