Condemned books
October 28, 2005 5:44 PM

Besides The Da Vinci code, are there any other fiction books that the Vatican has condemned?
posted by my sock puppet account to Religion & Philosophy (7 answers total)
In the past, many books were banned by inclusion on the "Index of Forbidden Books". Here is a shortened list:

Heinrick Heine - works
Gustave Flaubert - "Madame Bovary"
Victor Hugo - "Les Misérables" "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"
Stendhal - all love stories
Honoré Balzac - all love stories
Amantine Lucille Aurore Dudevant (George Sand) - all love stories
Alexandre Dumas (father and son) - all love stories
Jean de Lafontaine - tales, fables, verses, etc.
Gabriel Rosetti - four works

from this site. And a complete listt, which is quite long, doesn't separate fiction from historical/theological, and in Latin.
posted by ontic at 5:49 PM on October 28, 2005


According to this, they don't condemn books any more:
The Vatican has refrained from formally criticizing Brown for fear of contributing to his success. "We've done away with the index of forbidden books," says Foley, noting that Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of Christ" became all the more popular when the Anti-Defamation League condemned it as anti-Semitic.
Given that, the article is about another book by the author of The Da Vinci Code that is just as harsh on the Catholic Church. The general details are spelled out if you're not worried about spoiling it. If they did condemn books, they would condemn that one too.
posted by smackfu at 5:54 PM on October 28, 2005


The Index Librorum Prohibitorum is no longer in use, as of 1966. You can read a bit about it. Pretty much every famous novelist who wrote anything having to do with religion (and to a much lesser extent, sex) got themselves listed.
posted by jellicle at 7:39 PM on October 28, 2005


ontic: and in Latin

Well, it's true that the heading on each column is in Latin, but beyond that, the titles are in whatever language the book was written in. In about 30 seconds of glancing, I saw French, Italian, German, and English.
posted by cactus at 7:59 PM on October 28, 2005


The Index Librorum Prohibitorum tells Catholics what they weren't supposed to have watched, read or thought about in the past year. So, as long as Catholics wait tweleve months for condemnations, they can be assured of keeping pure.

/actually this is a mischaracterization. They only prohibit good or popular "evil" books and movies?. FYI, they prohibit A LOT / Not that I really care.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 8:00 PM on October 28, 2005


BRAIN CONTROL
IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL.
/guitar riff.

It sounds to me that they aughor of the Da Vinci Code is just hyping himself some more. Perhaps they will ban the Da Vinci Code Diet as well.
posted by delmoi at 8:23 PM on October 28, 2005


Well, it's true that the heading on each column is in Latin, but beyond that, the titles are in whatever language the book was written in. In about 30 seconds of glancing, I saw French, Italian, German, and English.

Ah, right. Pretty obvious even. My bad.
posted by ontic at 8:33 PM on October 28, 2005


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