Book burning (also biblioclasm or libricide) is the practice of destroying, often ceremoniously, books or other written material. In modern times, other forms of media, such as phonograph records, video tapes, and CDs have also been ceremoniously burned or shredded. Book burning is usually carried out in public, and is generally motivated by moral, religious, or political objections to the material.
Book burning can be emblematic of a harsh and oppressive regime which is seeking to censor or silence an aspect of a nation's culture. In some cases the works destroyed are irreplaceable and their burning constitutes a severe loss to cultural heritage. Examples include obliteration of the Library of Baghdad, the burning of books and burying of scholars under China's Qin Dynasty, the destruction of Aztec codices by Itzcoatl, and the Nazi book burnings.
Book burning can be an act of contempt for the book's contents or author, and the act is intended to draw wider public attention to this opinion. Examples include the destruction of the Sarajevo National Library, the burning of Wilhelm Reich's books by the FBI, the 2010 Qur'an-burning controversy, and the burning of Beatles records after a remark from John Lennon concerning Jesus Christ.
Read more about Book Burning: Historical Background, Burnings By Authors, Books Saved From Burning, Burning For Other Reasons, In Literature, Film and Television
Famous quotes containing the words book and/or burning:
“Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“The host is rushing ‘twixt night and day,
And where is there hope or deed as fair?
Caoilte tossing his burning hair,
And Niamh calling Away, come away.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)