Why Don Quixote Was Once a Banned Book – And It Wasn’t Alone
In 1640, nearly 35 years after its publication, Don Quixote found its way onto Spain’s index of prohibited books. The reason? A single sentence in the novel:
“Charity that is not heartfelt is worth nothing.”
To the Catholic authorities of the time, this simple line was seen as subversive and disrespectful to the religious institutions that emphasized acts of charity. Thus, the book was censored—not for its comedic take on chivalry or its satire, but for a philosophical statement tucked among its many pages.
But Don Quixote wasn’t alone.
A Long History of Banned Great Books
Throughout history, some of the greatest thinkers, authors, and artists have faced censorship. Even the following icons were not spared:
- The Bible, Talmud, Homer, Socrates, Confucius, Roger Bacon
- Dante, Boccaccio, Erasmus, Virgil, Martin Luther, Michelangelo
- John Calvin, Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare
In modern times, literary censorship continued across countries and cultures:
- Anatole France, the French Nobel laureate, was blacklisted by the Pope in 1922.
- George Bernard Shaw’s works were removed from New York libraries in 1905.
- Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy was banned by Boston’s Supreme Court in 1930—even as it became required reading at Harvard, just across the Charles River.
- Sherwood Anderson’s Dark Laughter and Upton Sinclair’s Oil! were banned in Boston during the same era.
- In 1918, the U.S. Post Office banned James Joyce’s Ulysses from being mailed.
- In 1949, Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead was prohibited from entering Canada.
- In 1964, James Baldwin’s Another Country was ruled obscene in New Zealand.
- In 1954, James Jones’ From Here to Eternity was deemed unfit for mail by U.S. postal services.