Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 18

B6 THE HARTFORD COURANT: Wednesday, September 29, 1993 Mark Twain symposium to sound dangers against book banning -Continued from Page Bl libraries account for three-quarters censorship attempts in schools by conservative groups are on the rise. "What they're deeming an increase in attacks on textbooks, we would instead say is a measure of increased involvement by parents," Parshall says. Robert Cormier, a symposium participant whose book "The Chocolate War" has been the subject of banning attempts since it was published in 1974, sees such parental challenges in a different light. "These are good people who are trying to protect their children," Cormier says of parents who think "The Chocolate War" could "corrupt" their kids. "My wife and I brought up our children the same years, including a well-publicized case in Cheshire last year.

Janet Vaill Day, president-elect of the Connecticut Library Association, says complaints about books in Connecticut have decreased since Bill Clinton became president. "We view any instance where a book is asked to be removed as censorship," says Day, who will speak at the symposium on her experiences (positive and negative) mounting a gay-rights exhibit at the Woodbridge Public Library, where she is director. But Day admits that the question of censorship isn't always cut and dried. Even libraries practice a form of censorship when they decide way, but we didn't go out and tell our neighbors what to do, and that's what these people are doing." "The Chocolate War," a novel about peer pressure and corruption in a parochial school, has been chal-. lenged because of profanity, sexual references and failure to promote positive "role models." It was the subject of a parental complaint last year in the New Milford public schools.

After review by the school board, "The Chocolate War" remains in New Milford's eighth-grade curriculum. Challenges in Connecticut Connecticut has seen its share of public-school challenges in recent be part of a national organized effort and are more apt to be than in the past. Those findings are echoed by a recent report from People for the American Way, a civil liberties Igroup, which said that increasing grass-roots activism by the religious right and conservative groups is resulting in more attempts to ban school books and materials (according to the group, 41 percent of these challenges succeed). Books that have recently been challenged in either nublic libraries or schools uiiiuue lwauuima oca, raaiga- ret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," Judy Blume's "Blubber," The Bible (challenged by an atheist to "turn the tables on the religious Nikki Giovanni's "My House," and Mark Twain's tures of Huckleberry Finn," a traditional tnrcfpt i iA i 1 1 "Huck Finn" is the driving force behind the Mark Twain Memorial's most ambitious symposium. On Friday, Hentoff will talk about "Huck Finn's" storied history as a cen-- sored book, most recently for 1 fTwain's use of the word "nigger." Finn' controversy Hentoff says black parents who don't want their children to read Finn" are robbing them of an 'American classic that in fact op- iposes racism and slavery.

But Hen-. has come to believe that teach- lers should prepare students before "Huck Finn" is taught, to spare possible embarrassment or offense to black students. Hentoff ODDOses anv threat to 12 oz. Cans 1 2 pack merit Water oz. Bottle Reg.

Limit 6 Poffo 3M PREMIUM freedom of speech. Nonetheless, he is impressed that John Wallace, a black educator, is attending the symposium, because it is "important for people to hear somebody who is that hurt and that angered by" the language in "Huckleberry Finn." Wallace, who has made headlines by calling "Huck Finn" trash" and attempting to have it removed from school curric- Sale Reg. 3.99 Vitamins Seminar lineup to include Styron, Hentoff, Plimpton GRAM T-120 niiiirrimmiiirwiiiMKif anMUPitiir 8 pound bag which books to buy, and not every book (Madonna's "Sex" being one example) makes the grade at every library, If the Mark Twain Memorial's symposium accomplishes what it -hopes to, such paradoxes will come to light. Styron says a symposium on book banning can "alert people to the fact that censorship is still very much a danger not a catastrophic I danger, but an ever-present danger. People should be on the alert for it.

It helps to refresh people's minds that it can come from all directions and it wears many masks. I think it could be a very valuable sympo- sium." ice Vi Gallon 17 Sale 2.19 Limit 4 Limit 4 Plastic Reg. 1.00 Limit 12 (01(0) mine 5J 7.83 1U8 BH BMP Mmm eotor prim Mm prtKiutng: C-41. 0m nt apply onginw nm only, no nMwranm, ranofimw, Om-Hoik lata at Kodttui. Instant thermometer B900 Reg.

1 1 9.99 Limit 1 Processing $1L1! JH31 Sale Reg. 2.59 ulums, has published his own "non-racist" version of "Huck Finn" called "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Adapted." Like "Huck Finn," Styron's Pulitzer prize-winning novel "The Confessions of Nat Turner," a fictional account of an actual slave revolt, has upset some blacks who claim it is racist. In a new afterword to a recent Vintage paperback 25th anniversary edition, Styron writes that in "Nat Turner" he "unwittingly created one of the first politically incorrect texts of our time." In a telephone interview, Styron, who will speak at the symposium Saturday about his experiences with "Nat Turner," had harsh words for his critics. "It's important to show that there is another side to censorship," said Styron, whose new book is "A Tidewater Morning: Three Tales From Youth." "It doesn't just come from ignorant, puritanical bigots. It comes from doctrinaire political zealots on the other side, that is the black community.

My book is not racist by any manner or means. And to have it still tarred with that slogan these many years later by blacks, to the point where it causes black people not to read the book, is a kind of insidious form of censorship." Different perspectives John Vincent Boyer, executive director of the Mark Twain Memorial, says the symposium is attempting to provide a variety of perspectives on censorship. But he acknowledged that the Memorial had greater success lining up speakers who represent the "traditional liberal agenda." Conservative groups such as the Christian Coalition, Phyllis Schlaf-ly's Eagle Forum and the Concerned Women for America were invited but declined to attend because of scheduling conflicts and cost factors, Boyer said. Janet Parshall of Concerned Women for America, a conservative group that is unable to attend because its national convention is the same weekend, disputed the People for the American Way's claim that Besides panel discussions on book banning, individual talks will include John MacArthur, publisher of Harper's magazine, on the banning of Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic John F. Baker, editorial director of Publishers Weekly, on book banning and publishing houses; and Noble and Gene Lanier (head of library graduate studies at East Carolina University) in separate lectures on the history or book banning.

The symposium will be held Friday and Saturday at the Aetna Life Casualty Co. Home Office auditorium, 151 Farmington Hartford. Registration is at 9 a.m. both days, but pre-regis-tration is required by calling the Memorial at 247-0998. (No registrations will be taken at the door.) Cost is $90 for both days or $45 for one day; or $80 and $40 for Memorial members and students.

It includes lunch and refreshments (and a free tour of the Mark Twain House at participants' convenience). Space is limited to 300 registrants. Even though "biweekly" means every two weeks, and "bimonthly" means every two months, "biannual" means twice a year. As for planting "biennial" in the i i i nuwer dcu, inai sowing seemea so so to Bob Smith of Southington who wrote to rennrt that blossoms everywhere, including the Federal Aviation Administration, where the pilot proficiency test required every two years is called "biennial flight review" (and is pre sumaoiy conducted in a biplane.) But I did fly semi-straieht on "semiweekly," "semimonthly" and "semiannual." They mean "twice a week," "twice a month" and "twice a year," respectively. Use them this way, and you'll be treated respect- Gkh, My pilot project on "biannual may have encountered heavy turbulence, but as biennial gardeners and defeated candidates tor Congress always say, "wait'll rwo years trom now.

Rob Kyff is a teacher and writer in West Hartford. Write to him in care of The Lourant, teatures Department, 285 Broad Hartford. CT 06115. 1 Sale Reg. 59' Limit 6 30 Free MlrOOSE romsason Sale Reg.

1.39 Limit 3 Magna Crjmm Vision Sale Reg. 11.99 Limit 3 EneircjSzQB' 8 Pack Sale lJ Reg. 5.99 Limit liiil 6 In its two days, the Mark Twain Fall Symposium, "Book-banning in America," will attract a number of prominent speakers to Hartford. William Styron, Arthur Miller, Nat Hentoff, George Plimpton, Kenneth Clark and Robert Cormier will be joined by many others, including: Richard Eder, Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for the Los Angeles Times and Newsday; Christopher Hitchens, contributing editor, Vanity Fair; William Olds, executive director of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union; William Noble, author of "Bookbanning in Siobhan Dowd, executive director of PEN, an international writ- ers' organization; James Cox, professor emeritus of English at Dartmouth College and a Twain scholar; Joan DelFattore, author of "What Johnny Shouldn't Read: Textbook Censorship in Leanne Katz, execu- tive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship; and John Wallace, author of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Adapted." 100 mm Sale Reg. 7.99 Sale LU Reg.

7.99 Limit 3 Presffone 1 Gal. Sale Reg. 5.99 Limit 3 1UMMicaB 1 Writer buried under bales of mail on biannualbiennial Limit 3 Bubble Path ffif-ffis Assorted Colors Sale Reg. 59 lodaHi 135-24 200 ASA Sale 4 Reg. 4.39 Limit 3 71 ,1 r.

1 1 1 -i By ROB KYFF I was recently reminded why I only write about the "biannual" vs. "biennial" controversy every two years. Letters dissecting my recent biopsy of this bilateral dispute have been piling up on my desk semi-weekly "You should bite Word vour tongue." writes Bev Stebbins of Mon-. VVStCn roe, presumably with her own tongue at least partly in cheek. "In your very first sentence you used biannual' to mean every two years.

We seem to disagree I feel 'bian- nual' should continue to mean 'twice a and of course, means 'every two Ooooowwww! (I'm glad we got that tongue-biting part out of the way.) Bev and the bevy of others who wrote to complain about my incorrect definition of "biannual" were how can I say this diplomat-i ically so I don't hurt my own feel-, ings? "in a more accuracy-specif-, ic modality than I was." Appropriately enough, my error on the "biannual" matter was twofold: I folded "biannual," which means happening twice a year, into the same category with "bimonthly' and "biweekly," and folded "biennial," which means every two years, into the "refers-to-flowers-only" category. Needless to say, everything didn't come up roses, or even biennial hollyhocks. Even though "biweekly" means every two weeks, and "bimonthly" means every two months, "biannual" means twice a year, just as "semiannual" doti VJcilcjf cens VJgIcoexigs All Cigna ISgoISIi Plan COSH'OOCE'S We Will Be Happy To rill Your Prescription Needs 1200 PARK ST. OPEN 24 HOURS Pharmacist Always On Duty.