THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 29, 1996 TAG: 9609280049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY ANN G. SJOERDSMA
LENGTH: 88 lines
THE JEWISH innkeeper cheats the simpleton three times.
``The Jew'' bilks the simpleton out of a magic tablecloth that serves endless food and drink. ``The Jew'' steals a mystical loaf of bread that replenishes itself when sliced. ``The Jew'' absconds with a magical lamb that drops ducats and francs on command.
But on his fourth attempt at cheating the simpleton, the Jew gets his comeuppance. He and his wife are beaten and their two sons killed by a magical cudgel.
The simpleton and his wife live happily ever after.
This is the tale of ``The Lucky Simpleton,'' replete with anti-Semitic references. Not exactly recommended bedtime material for children, but a part of 19th century East European folklore.
It's also a part of ``Gypsy Folk Tales,'' one of thousands of volumes reprinted by Barnes & Noble Booksellers in its program to reissue out-of-print books.
And a part of controversy.
The Jewish American Congress, a national civil liberties group, doesn't like this anti-Semitic tale and has called upon Barnes & Noble to pull the book from its stores.
Citing an across-the-board policy against ``censorship'' of any books, regardless of their ``sensitive references,'' Leonard Riggio, CEO for the bookseller, has refused to remove ``Gypsy Folk Tales.''
The issue couldn't be more timely. National ``Banned Books Week'' began yesterday, and Old Dominion University's 19th annual literary festival, whose theme is censorship, is Oct. 10-13.
My fear whenever I read about ``banned books'' - usually books removed from public schools because of parents' complaints - is that we are getting ``dumb'' in the face of cultural, racial and ethnic diversity. That we're not smart enough to confront negative stereotypes without divisiveness and that we cry ``censorship'' when none exists.
``The Lucky Simpleton'' illustrates how like simpletons we have become.
No question, the story is offensive.
But in advocating the book's removal, the Jewish American Congress also offends. It assumes that readers are too ``dumb'' - uncritical, uneducated, perhaps racist - to read the folk tale within its historical context and to learn from it.
Sadly, the JAC doesn't trust us to think. Or else it fears what we do think.
Barnes and Noble, on the other hand, offends with its ``heroic'' stand on ``censorship.''
Censorship, in the legal sense (the only sense that really matters), can occur only when government action is involved. The decision to reprint ``Gypsy Folk Tales'' is private, not subject to First Amendment purview.
Barnes and Noble's Riggio assumes - perhaps correctly - that we are too ``dumb'' to understand that his company is freely choosing to publish an offensive story, not exercising a protected constitutional right.
The simpleton's tale, I learned upon purchasing ``Gypsy Folk Tales'' at Barnes & Noble in Virginia Beach, is one of only three selected by editor Dora Yates from among 30 Polish tales originally published in 1948.
``Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from responsibility,'' argues JAC legal director Marc Stern, even though he knows the First Amendment has no relevance to this dispute.
Responsibility is indeed implicated here. But ultimately, the issue is one of harm. Who is hurt by publication of ``The Lucky Simpleton''? Who is hurt by its retraction?
``Gypsy Folk Tales,'' Stern says, ``is not a book on history or sociology, and to describe a Jewish person this way is harmful.''
Strikes me that it's pretty unflattering to Polish Gypsies, too.
While I agree that anti-Semitism is harmful, I don't accept that reading about it is. To read is to think, to learn, to question.
The book may not be about history or sociology, but I, and other readers, know something about both, and bring that knowledge to our reading of ``The Lucky Simpleton.'' I am now curious to know more about relations between the Gypsies and the Jews.
When we assume a lack of critical thinking, or deprive people of the opportunity for it, we go ``dumb.'' Enough already.
The truth is, simpletons don't really live happily ever after. MEMO: Ann G. Sjoerdsma is a lawyer and book editor for The
Virginian-Pilot. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Barnes & Nobles' reissue of ``Gypsy Folk Tales'' has sparked
controversy.
Graphic
COLUMN MOVING
Ann Sjoerdsma's column will appear Mondays in the editorial pages
of The Virginian-Pilot as of Oct. 14. by CNB