We then worked with a panel of experts, including educators, to review our catalogue of titles,” it said. Seuss Enterprises listened and took feedback from our audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of our review process. The decision to cease publication and sales of the books was made last year after months of discussion, the company, which was founded by Seuss’ family, told AP.
The other books affected are “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!,” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.” Seuss Enterprises’ catalogue represents and supports all communities and families,” it said. “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises told The Associated Press in a statement that coincided with the late author and illustrator’s birthday. “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” Dr. Seuss books - including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” - will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy said Tuesday. We should each person – each adult – look at the book and decide.BOSTON - Six Dr. “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, Juliet 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 Second World War 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.
#Dr seuss racist on beyond zebra Pc#
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 who 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.
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