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levite---first, i didn't realize that expurgation and bowdlerization were synonymous; i thought the latter applied more to taking out sections, altering endings or otherwise mangling a text in the name of some fiction of decency---whence my response about the texts---but once i looked up the term you used, i guess you're right. it feels wrong to me still, though...but it isn't.
truth be told, in my own teaching i typically have confronted problematic language directly and often assigned controversial or problematic material deliberately for many of the reasons you adduce above.
i was trying to present a version of the argument from the forward of the newsouth edition because i thought that it is at least articulate in laying out it's position and that it assumes and goes beyond the simple objections that were running throughout the thread before i happened on it (all full of novacaine from a dentist's appointment i might add).
as for my own teaching--you don't assign burroughs or j.g. ballard's atrocity exhibition (in a european history survey) if this sort of problem makes you squeamish, or if you think the delicate sensibilities of young reactionaries are worth respecting.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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