LETHAL BOOKS?

For centuries, books about suicide have been banned for fear that they encourage or increase suicide. Censorship and banning is a well-discussed topic, but what is the research behind it?  Parents, schools, or other individuals that seek to ban or censor a book, base it off of what?  Is there research to support the banning or is it personal opinion?  How does banning affect the reader?  This website explores several books that have been banned or censored because of their suicide content.

 

For a final project in a master's course, The Book, at IUPUI I have chosen to expand upon my apex on censorship or banning of books with suicide content.  In that apex I focused on the history of such censorship and explored 5 books.  I will include some of that information and all of the books in this webpage.  However, instead of just looking at the history, I want to look at the reasoning behind censoring books on suicide.  This is my choice not because it’s easy to just expand on research I’ve already done, instead I choose this because it is a fascinating topic and is actually quite a challenge. Books about suicide are often banned because people believe they put people at risk of actually committing suicide.  I'm led to wonder, what do the people most at risk have to say about this?  What is the basis of banning books?  Are these books banned or censored because there is scientific research that shows they will increase suicide rates?  Who are at risk of committing suicide once they’ve read a book about it?

 

I have a personal investment in all things related to Suicide because of personal struggles and I became a survivor of suicide (term for loved ones left behind) when my dad committed suicide in 2003.  So I come from a rather unique perspective and one that I think needs to be heard.  The answers to the questions above need answered by someone like me and not just by people with little to no experience with this tough issue.  

 

My approach to this was to find books that have been banned or challenged with reasoning of suicide content and to explore those books in depth.  I looked into the authors, what the book was about, what the intention of the book was, the history of censoring, reasoning for censoring, how it may or may not affect suicide, and my view on it.  By researching book by book, I was able to get more information on the thought process of everyone involved (author, reader, parents, publishers, schools, libraries, etc.).  Simply trying to find a general overview of books banned on suicide is very difficult because the research is minimal.  There is a great deal of research and information on how the media impacts suicides, but books are not nearly as popular of a study.

 

I have been working on this final project for a couple weeks now and have really been trying to think about each book and each censorship issue as a reader.  I wondered if my views would be biased because of my personal experience, but I tried to be very objective and look at both sides. I also tried to keep my focus less on whether censorship is right or wrong, and more on what it is founded on.  My primary sources vary from decade to decade because I did not study one particular time period.  I tried to find primary sources for research with each book and when possible, I would compare that with secondary or more current perspectives on the book.  With each book though, the controversy of banning has not changed since the time period the books were published.  My final project product is this website and the top menu will help you navigate the site.  The Overview page expands on my research questions, perspective, and gives a general overview of the topic.  The Main Book Studies page takes a more in-depth look at the topic book by book, 16 books in total.  You can find a list of more books on the More Censored Books page and also a Reference page with all sources used during this research.