: John Sutherland
: Triggered Literature Triggered Literature: Cancellation, Stealth Censorship and Cultural Warfare
: Biteback Publishing
: 9781785908378
: 1
: CHF 15.10
:
: Essays, Feuilleton, Literaturkritik, Interviews
: English
: 352
: Wasserzeichen
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: ePUB
Amid the flames of the culture wars, politicians have taken up arms over controls on literary culture, spurred on in part by universities 'triggering' canonical texts. Jonathan Swift's 'Battle of the Books' has flared up again. But is 'triggering' utter wokery or responsible pedagogic practice? Through dozens of case studies of triggered works, from Romeo and Juliet to Gender Queer, John Sutherland explores the recent phenomenon of triggering and its consequences for university English departments and literature itself. He maintains that what is routinely overlooked in the heat of polemic is that triggering is categorically different from traditional institutional (religious, educational, dictatorial) controls on literature. Triggering is in essence an alert. Done responsibly it does not erase or meddle; it stimulates curiosity and thought. It honours the fact that great literature is great because it is, as Franz Kafka says, powerful. In this characteristically nuanced and calmly objective study, the witty literary critic guides us through the increasingly rocky terrain of triggering. His advice rings clear: literature matters, to us and what we make of our world, and it must be handled with critical care.

Amid the flames of the culture wars, politicians have taken up arms over controls on literary culture, spurred on in part by universities 'triggering' canonical texts. Jonathan Swift's 'Battle of the Books' has flared up again. But is 'triggering' utter wokery or responsible pedagogic practice? Through dozens of case studies of triggered works, from Romeo and Juliet to Gender Queer, John Sutherland explores the recent phenomenon of triggering and its future consequences for university English departments and literature itself. He maintains that what is routinely overlooked in the heat of polemic is that triggering is categorically different from traditional institutional (religious, educational, dictatorial) controls on literature. Triggering is in essence an alert. Done responsibly it does not erase or meddle; it stimulates curiosity and thought. It honours the fact that great literature is great because it is, as Franz Kafka says, powerful. In this characteristically nuanced and calmly objective study, the witty literary critic guides us through the increasingly rocky terrain of triggering. His advice rings clear: literature matters, to us and what we make of our world, and it must be handled with critical care. John Sutherland is a British academic, newspaper columnist and author. He is currently Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He has published more books than he cares to count, including Is Heathcliff a Murderer?Puzzles in Nineteenth-Century Fiction;The Boy Who Loved Books: A Memoir; and The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction.

All in a Day


The day was 31 January 2023. That morning theDaily Telegraph carried an editorial noting, with wry distaste, that the University of Greenwich – having the previous year triggered Coleridge’s ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ on the grounds of ‘animal death’ and ‘supernatural possession’ – had triggered Jane Austen’sNorthanger Abbey on the grounds of ‘toxic relations and friendships’. On the same day,The Guardian carried a front-page story headlined ‘One in 10 children “have watched pornography by the time they are nine”’.

According to a report by the Children’s Commissioner for England, the figure had risen to a quarter of the cohort by the time they left primary school. And ‘four out of five of those surveyed have seen pornography involving violence by the age of 18 … Nearly half of the male 16- to 21-year-olds who took part in the survey assumed girls either “expect” or “enjoy” sex which involves physical aggression, such as airway restriction.’

‘Airway restriction’ means erotic strangulation.

On the same day,The Times reported the fact that ‘Kevin Anderson& Associates, a company that supplies sensitivity readers, says its “cultural accuracy editing” will “ensure your manuscript isn’t offensive, inaccurate or perpetuating harmful stereotypes”’.

Hamlet: The Andrew Tate Version*


On 15 April 2023, theDaily Mail warned its readers that a forthcoming BBC programme ‘has been commissioned to mark 400 years since the publication of the Bard’s First Folio’. Well and good. The Folio was being touted as the most important British book since the King James Bible. Anything but good was that a