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Penguin's withdrawal of The Hindus causes international outcry
Source: The Guardian
Penguin's withdrawal of The Hindus causes international outcry
Major writers including Arundhati Roy and Neil Gaiman condemn
'egregious' suppression of Wendy Doniger's book under pressure
from Hindu nationalists
Alison Flood
theguardian.com, Thursday 13 February 2014 12.55 GMT
Major authors from Arundhati Roy to William Dalrymple and Neil Gaiman have condemned Penguin's controversial removal of Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus from circulation in India, a withdrawal which has been described as an "egregious violation of free speech" and "deplorable" by the international literary community.
The decision is "shocking, appalling, dreadful and entirely negative," Dalrymple told the Guardian, while Roy, the Booker prize-winning author of The God of Small Things, has called on Penguin to explain why it "caved in". Doniger's widely praised book was pulled from India following a lawsuit from the Hindu group Shiksha Bachao Andolan accusing the University of Chicago professor of "hurt(ing) the religious feelings of millions of Hindus" – a violation of the Indian penal code which prohibits "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs". The lawsuit, which also says Doniger's book is "a shallow, distorted and non-serious presentation of Hinduism" which is "riddled with heresies and factual inaccuracies", has been played out over the last four years, and according to the petitioner's lawyer, earlier this week publisher Penguin agreed to withdraw the book, and to pulp copies.
The move immediately triggered an avalanche of protest. The Indian branch of writers' organisation PEN said that "choosing to settle the matter out of court, instead of challenging an adverse judgment, narrows India's intellectual discourse and significantly undermines freedom of expression", adding: "The removal of books from our bookshops, bookshelves, and libraries, whether through state-sanctioned censorship, private vigilante action, or publisher capitulation are all egregious violations of free speech that we shall oppose in all forms at all times."
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Major writers including Arundhati Roy and Neil Gaiman condemn
'egregious' suppression of Wendy Doniger's book under pressure
from Hindu nationalists
Alison Flood
theguardian.com, Thursday 13 February 2014 12.55 GMT
Major authors from Arundhati Roy to William Dalrymple and Neil Gaiman have condemned Penguin's controversial removal of Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus from circulation in India, a withdrawal which has been described as an "egregious violation of free speech" and "deplorable" by the international literary community.
The decision is "shocking, appalling, dreadful and entirely negative," Dalrymple told the Guardian, while Roy, the Booker prize-winning author of The God of Small Things, has called on Penguin to explain why it "caved in". Doniger's widely praised book was pulled from India following a lawsuit from the Hindu group Shiksha Bachao Andolan accusing the University of Chicago professor of "hurt(ing) the religious feelings of millions of Hindus" – a violation of the Indian penal code which prohibits "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs". The lawsuit, which also says Doniger's book is "a shallow, distorted and non-serious presentation of Hinduism" which is "riddled with heresies and factual inaccuracies", has been played out over the last four years, and according to the petitioner's lawyer, earlier this week publisher Penguin agreed to withdraw the book, and to pulp copies.
The move immediately triggered an avalanche of protest. The Indian branch of writers' organisation PEN said that "choosing to settle the matter out of court, instead of challenging an adverse judgment, narrows India's intellectual discourse and significantly undermines freedom of expression", adding: "The removal of books from our bookshops, bookshelves, and libraries, whether through state-sanctioned censorship, private vigilante action, or publisher capitulation are all egregious violations of free speech that we shall oppose in all forms at all times."
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/13/penguin-withdrawal-hindus-arundhati-roy-neil-gaiman
