What is Book Burning?
“Every book burned enlightens the world.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series, 1841
Book burning is the intentional destruction of books and other written materials through the use of fire (Lamb, n.d.). A straightforward definition yet the reasons behind such an act are what is important for our understanding of how book burning impacts and shapes society.
A form of censorship, what makes book burning unique is that individual cases are a reflection of a community, of society, at a particular point in time. Indeed, no two book burnings are alike because causes for such destruction are as varied as the works themselves. Baez (2004) asserts, “There has never been a single cause for the destruction of a book or a library: there are dozens…at the root of book destruction is the intent to induce historical amnesia that facilitates control of an individual or a society” (p. 12). To concur with Baez is to accept the book as a symbol of a society’s collective beliefs and memories. Only when these memories are eradicated, burned, can new ones be supplanted.
Book burning is a cleansing of ideas through the use of fire. Why fire? As Baez (2004) points out, “it reduces the spirit of a work to matter… There is also a visual element. Anyone who’s seen something burned recognizes its undeniably black color. That which is light becomes dark” (p. 17). Furthermore, fire is viewed as an element of salvation in many religions; biblioclasts, particularly those who burn books for religious reasons, view destroying books by fire as a way to “save” their communities from immoral works.
A form of censorship, what makes book burning unique is that individual cases are a reflection of a community, of society, at a particular point in time. Indeed, no two book burnings are alike because causes for such destruction are as varied as the works themselves. Baez (2004) asserts, “There has never been a single cause for the destruction of a book or a library: there are dozens…at the root of book destruction is the intent to induce historical amnesia that facilitates control of an individual or a society” (p. 12). To concur with Baez is to accept the book as a symbol of a society’s collective beliefs and memories. Only when these memories are eradicated, burned, can new ones be supplanted.
Book burning is a cleansing of ideas through the use of fire. Why fire? As Baez (2004) points out, “it reduces the spirit of a work to matter… There is also a visual element. Anyone who’s seen something burned recognizes its undeniably black color. That which is light becomes dark” (p. 17). Furthermore, fire is viewed as an element of salvation in many religions; biblioclasts, particularly those who burn books for religious reasons, view destroying books by fire as a way to “save” their communities from immoral works.