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It is to the eternal shame of many in the self-styled progressive community that they have turned against the library system for the crime of tolerating free expression

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If Dr. Seuss Enterprises did anything useful last week in taking six of the late doctors books out of print, surely it could have done something more useful by showing its work: Which hurtful and wrong depictions and descriptions of non-white people did its panel of experts consider beyond the pale, and which did it not, and why? Seuss Enterprises is free to publish and not publish whatever it wants, but its decisions will contribute to a much broader and important conversation about what to do with otherwise beloved or revered literature, especially childrens literature, that reflects unfortunate attitudes of its period.

Some of the culprits are clear: In If I Ran the Zoo, published in 1950, stereotypical caricatures of African and Asian men are depicted helping young Gerald McGrew collect his menagerie including from the mountains of Zomba-ma-Tant, where young Geralds aides all wear their eyes at a slant. But much of the other material is far less obviously problematic not just compared to the six delisted titles, but potentially also to Seusss most famous and beloved works, which his executors presumably wish to continue selling for profit.

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The Grinch is thought of by some as a Jewish stereotype, taking diabolical glee in subverting societal norms and desecrating Christian traditions, as University of Michigan literature professor Ryan Szpiech wrote in 2019. In 2014, Kansas State University childrens literature scholar Philip Nel argued the Grinch also echoes 19th-century caricatures of the Irish and that The Cat In the Hat is about a conflict between white children and a black cat whose character and costume borrow from blackface performance.

These were academic analyses, not denunciations. Neither was calling for any of Seusss work to be unpublished. But in the court of public opinion nowadays, things can spin out of control awfully fast. No ones setting these (books) on fire. No ones saying you cannot read them, Nel told Esquire last week, arguing the controversy was overblown. No ones saying they must be removed from libraries. No ones saying they must be removed from your home.

I can report from Toronto that this is not the case. Now looms a larger question, Toronto Star journalist Evy Kwong intoned last week on the papers TikTok account: What happens to the books that are still in the bookstore or at the library?

Its unclear on (sic) whether Dr. Seuss Enterprises will be mandating that the six books be removed from circulation across the globe, the paper reported.

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In a follow-up article on Monday, another Star reporter found and interviewed a woman who was offering for sale her personal copy of one of the cancelled Seuss books. The reporter explained that the womanbelieves she should maintain freedom to have or sell the titles, despite the conclusion of others or positions of companies much in the way she might believe the Earth orbits the sun and not vice versa.

Does it really need explaining that books are private property? That libraries have something much closer to an obligation to retain out-of-print or unpopular books than an obligation to get rid of them for historians sake, if no one elses?

The Chicago Tribune reports the citys public library system will allow the copies currently on loan to remain with their borrowers, and honour existing holds, and thereafter temporarily keep the books as reference copies while it assesses long-term options. If one of those options is not keeping at least one copy each as a reference item, then we have wandered into a very dark place. I trust that wont be the case in Chicago.

The Star, meanwhile, managed to find a Toronto bookstore proprietor who objected even to library staff taking the time to review the books content before deciding what to do. If the people who produce the book say theres an original culture concern why are you questioning it? Miguel San Vincente demanded to know.

Libraries have something much closer to an obligation to retain out-of-print or unpopular books than an obligation to get rid of them

Its mind-boggling. The Toronto Public Library keeps copies of discredited memoirs, preludes to genocide, inspirations to terrorists, anti-Islamic and anti-Christian and anti-Semitic and anti-atheist screeds, pulp non-fiction from Ann Coulter and Naomi Klein alike, and everything in between and beyond. Because thats what a library is for.

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It is to the eternal shame of many in Torontos self-styled progressive community that they have turned against the library system for the crime of tolerating free expression a grotesque phenomenon that reached its nadir when it dared unapologetically to rent a room to a feminist (but allegedly transphobic) activist in 2019 to deliver a really quite anodyne speech.

And it is bewildering that they cant see the truth lying just beyond their own noses: that if they ever manage to win these battles to silence unpopular voices of the moment, they will inevitably wind up ruing the day.Every year the American Library Associations Office for Intellectual Freedom publishes a list of the most challenged books in American libraries. In 2019, eight of the top 10 were on the list because of LGBTQIA+ content. The other two were Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale and the Harry Potter series.

When culture warriors on any side lose the plot, dispassionate librarians in Toronto and many other cities are there to help them find it again. They just have to let them do their jobs. Assuming (confidently) that Torontos chief librarians dont decide to send the troublesome Seuss titles to the woodchipper, or alternatively to put them front and centre in their branches childrens sections, I suggest we defer to their wisdom.

Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter: cselley

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Originally posted here:
Chris Selley: For the love of Seuss, leave libraries alone - National Post