![]() “I still like Dr Seuss, so I decided to read Green Eggs and Ham,” McCarthy said, inviting viewers to respond “if you still like him too!” On Friday, the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, went so far as to share a video of himself reading from Green Eggs and Ham, a perennial strong seller. It’s just a decision to no longer sell them Philip NelĪfter this week’s announcement, amid uproar eagerly stoked by conservatives in the media and Congress, Dr Seuss books swiftly dominated sales charts. Dr Seuss books have sold 700m copies globally. The titles in question are And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super! and The Cat’s Quizzer. “Dr Seuss Enterprises has made a moral decision of choosing not to profit from work with racist caricature in it and they have taken responsibility for the art they are putting into the world and I would support that,” Nel said. He told the Guardian the six titles by Theodor Geisel, who wrote under the pen name Dr Seuss, published between 19, which Dr Seuss Enterprises said it would cease printing, contained stereotypes of a clearly racist nature. Want more from The Detail? Find past episodes here.Philip Nel, a professor of English at Kansas State University, is the author of Was The Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature and the Need for Diverse Books. ![]() We should each person - each adult - look at the book and decide.” “I would hate to see any of their work lost, and not performed or not published. “These are major works of art from major artists,” she says. Is there a point where this hyper-academic, layered analysis wears a bit thin?Īs well as being a lawyer and contributor to The Spectator, Moses is a spokesperson for the Jewish Council of New Zealand and regularly speaks about anti-semitism in everyday life, as well as in media.Īsked whether she would support the estate of William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens if they decided to stop publishing The Merchant of Venice or Oliver Twist - two great works with Jewish characters often seen as anti-semitic - Moses is unequivocal. These problematic aspects of the Seussian canon have been discussed in academia for decades, but now that critical lens is being applied to his children's books too serious articles, published in academic journals, argue that Horton Hears a Who is a white saviour parable that The Cat in the Hat is a metaphor for a dehumanised black man. ![]() Pro-America, of course, meant anti-Japanese - and some of Seuss's work in that period is tough to look at now: undeniably racist, portraying characters with grotesque facial features, mocking their accents, with dark themes of ingrained cowardice. You'd be hard-pressed to find many people who grew up in the early 20th century in America who hadn't internalised what we'd now consider pretty unhealthy views on race, gender roles, and so on.īut it's hard to defend some of Seuss's work, particularly during his career as a political cartoonist during the World War II when he essentially produced pro-America propaganda. crestfallen."īut, as is often the case, digging under the surface reveals a more nuanced picture.ĭr Seuss was born in the United States in 1904 - by just about any metric, a less enlightened time than today. I have this nostalgia associated with him, as I'm sure most people do. "My immediate reaction was, 'Oh God - another victim of cancel culture'. "I saw a headline", she says, explaining how she first came across the story. Today on The Detail, Emile Donovan speaks to lawyer and writer Juliet Moses about viewing old literature through a modern lens, and separating the artist from the art. So, was there any justification to this decision? Is it, as they say, PC Gone Mad? Or is our emotional connection to these works blinkering the very real fact that what was suitable for children to read in the past may contain messaging which is harmful in 2021? ![]() Immediately, there was an outcry: many observers bemoaned what they saw as "cancel culture" extending to a figure many people hold dear in their hearts. Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr Seuss Enterprises's catalogue represents and supports all communities and families". While it didn't explain exactly what was objectionable, the estate issued a statement saying "these books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong. Is the move to stop publishing six Dr Seuss books another example of cancel culture - or an acknowledgement that we've moved on from a more insensitive past?Įarlier this month Dr Seuss's estate announced six of the legendary children's cartoonist's lesser-known books would no longer be published, ostensibly due to their outdated, stereotypical portrayals of ethnic minorities. ![]() Podcast: The Detail The Detail: The problematic pictures of Dr Seuss ![]()
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