The Woke Reich is adding childish, offensive, condescending trigger warnings to books written by Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel Prize winner.
“The publisher’s decision to present it as it was originally published is not intended as an endorsement of cultural representations or language contained herein,” warns Penguin Random House about two Hemingway books: the short story collection Men Without Women and The Sun Also Rises, which is widely considered one of the great novels of the 20th Century.
Hemingway biographer Richard Bradford told the Telegraph:
The publisher’s comments would be hilarious, were they not also alarming. They state that despite reprinting the book unaltered they do not wish to endorse the ‘cultural representations or language contained herein’. This would be understandable had they brought out a new translation of Mein Kampf. They seem to imply that, because it’s a literary classic, they’re willing to take a deep breath and warn readers with delicate sensibilities that something in it might unsettle them. Scrutinize any novel or poem written at any time, and search for a passage that could create unease for persons who are obsessed with themselves, and you’ll find one. And then every publication will need to carry a warning like this, the verbal equivalent of photos of cancer ridden lungs which now decorate cigarette packets.
He concludes: “Publishers and the literary establishment as a whole now seem to be informed by a blend of stupidity and bullying regarding what readers should be allowed to think.”
Bradford’s quote about covers it, but I’m also troubled by a population that embraces being treated and coddled like over-sensitive babies with these kinds of warnings. This is a very different label than, say, the G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 ratings given to movies. While plenty of people complain about that rating system, there’s no judgment attached. We are merely being told what kind of content to expect, not what to think of that content or what the Motion Picture Association thinks of that content. When Penguin Random House smugly distances itself with a “not intended as an endorsement of cultural representations or language” virtue signal, that’s a judgment; that’s a fascist, multinational corporation telling us what to think. Worse, we are being shamed should we disagree.
Not having read either book, I can’t say whether I agree or disagree, but whether one agrees or disagrees is not the point. Reviewers, scholars, critics, etc., are supposed to judge books; publishers are not. That pathetic and childish warning is a slap in the author’s and readers’ faces.
Sadly, many readers will appreciate that warning without realizing what that appreciation says about them.
And, of course, this is a form of censorship. The warning basically says, Don’t read this. This is bad. This is racist. And if you enjoy it, you are bad. You are racist. It’s outrageous behavior from the one industry that should be standing tallest against such things: the publishing industry.
These types of warnings also take away the reader’s enjoyment of the work in question. By telling the reader how to interpret and judge these books, the thinking is done for them. As I’ve already explained a hundred times and will another hundred times, grappling with complex emotions not only matures us but is also one of the great joys of art. I loved this book, but the author expressed some terrible ideas. So why did I love this book? Was the author expressing those ideas or the characters? Why did I admire a character who believed such things? What does it mean? What was the author trying to say? What does all this say about me?
The world is a complicated place filled with flaws, contradictions, and complexities. The best art makes demands of us that help us emotionally navigate this flawed world. Hemingway isn’t only a giant because he told great stories. Lots of people tell great stories. Hemingway is a giant because you think about what he wrote long after you close the book. Decades ago, I read The Old Man and The Sea and whenever it comes up, I remember and think about it. I should read it again, the version without this trigger warning.
One of the biggest problems with “woke” is that it spoon-feeds the answers. We’re told what’s good, what’s bad… What we should think about this or that… Where’s the fun in that? There is no fun, which is why woke entertainment never fails to fail. People enjoy engaging in critical thinking even if they don’t know that’s what they are doing.
Like something straight out of Orwell, Penguin Random House is rewriting Hemingway. The rewrites might not be literal, but adding moral instruction to classic books is just as bad.