2018 School Spending Survey Report
>It was an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny . . .
>Galleycat reports on the news that Boyds Mills Press has backed out of negotiations to publish a picture book series by German artist Rotraut Susanne Berner after the author refused to change two pictures that displayed nudity, both small representations of artwork displayed in a museum.
But if I were running Boyds Mills Press, I would have made the exact same call, although I might have spared myself the embarrassment of expressing interest in the first place. Selling picture books is difficult, selling foreign-born picture books is almost impossible, add some boobs and a little dick to the mix and you might as well just climb up to the roof and throw your money over the side. It's not censorship, as there is no private obligation to publish. It's stupid parents. Again.
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Bobby Byrd
>Dear Roger,Belatedly a friend sent me the link to your July 13 post “It was an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny . . .” Cinco Puntos Press, wandering always into the publishing landscape of folly, will be publishing this season Little Zizi, originally titled Le Petite Zizi. We bought the rights from French Canadian publisher Les 400 Coups. Catherine Germaine, the rights person for Les 400 Coup, told us she’s sold the rights all over the world, but nobody in the U.S. would touch it.
Oh, well. Enter Cinco Puntos.
The story, about the little boy Martin who worries about the size of his zizi, is by Thierry Lenain, and Stéphane Poulin created the hilarious and whimsical illustrations. The story is replete with a pissing contest between the bully and Martin. Our hero loses. But not to worry. The story ends happily because “Because love isn’t a question of a zizi—large or small.”
We’ll keep you posted.
Bobby Byrd
Co-Publisher
http://www.cincopuntos.com
Posted : Aug 06, 2007 10:27
Roger Sutton
>To ASK an artist to change, for fear of offence, a work of art might be craven, ballsy, obnoxious, foolhardy . . .but it isn't censorship. The reason I operate with a fairly tight definition of censorship (roughly, government restrictions on the publication or dissemination of information) is that by throwing it around too wildly we often smack another person's freedom of speech right in the face. Is Boyds Mills obliged to publish Rotraut Susanne Berner? Of course not. Can they change her work without permission? Certainly not. Are they allowed to ask her to change it? Absolutely. To call Boyds Mills' decision "censorship" is to ignore the various discrete interests that have a stake here, and avoid the much larger and realer problems of American parochialism and sexual hypocrisy.Posted : Jul 17, 2007 06:35
Gloria
>It's NOT censorship. Boyds Mills Press never said that no one could publish it, just that they declined to do so. They're not outlawing the book or yanking it off the library or bookstore or classroom shelves. They're not moronic or cowardly in any way. They are publishers of children's books. Getting quality books into the hands of kids is what they do. By being discerning about what they publish, they make sure that they can continue to publish more good books. That benefits the young reader -- and the teachers and librarians and parents and reviewers and all the other grown-ups with in interert in good books too.Posted : Jul 17, 2007 06:14
Anonymous
>1. as a snarky aside: evidently being in favor of censorship severely ages a person prematurely...2. censorship STINKS, period; redefining it as some moronic business decision just masks the problem...
3. the TOTALLY bizarre and sick minds who find offense, disgust, or WHATEVER from this picture are not to be believed...
4. once again, the least common denominator wins out; cowardly publishers, infotainment media, and priggish scolds out to childproof the world, instead, make it a much colder and stupider place...
come the revolution, there will be NO censorship...
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
Posted : Jul 17, 2007 04:13
Anonymous
>I think you missunderstand what the fuss is about, it's not about accusations of censorship, but a (for europeans) rather absurd definition of what is deemed inappropiate for children in the US.Body Mills Press had every right to deny publishing the book, that is out of the question and nobody argues about that. German publishers would do the same in issues they think they would have to take some heat for.
But here in Europe we have a hard time to understand why a lot of americans think of the human body as downright dirty when at the same time one has serious problems finding a movie with a female main cast that doesn't look like a Pin-up (you know like "average looking"?). I'm not even starting on violence here...
The post about "WildWildWest" might give you an idea.
Again, although it IS censorship (it doesn't just start with a court order, "you can't publish this, CHANGE it" will do nicely) the article is just about having a big laugh at a weird moral code. I'm sure you will find plenty similar "weird" conventions in Europe ;-)
Posted : Jul 17, 2007 09:34