11 July 18

Today is a special day to think about books and censorship. Thomas Bowdler (1754-1825) was born on this date, and some calendars list today as "Bowdler's Day." He was an English physician, but is most famous for publishing "The Family Shakespeare" in 1807. This was a cleaned-up edition of Shakespeare's plays, "in which nothing is added to the original Text: but those words and expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a Family." The idea of censoring literature by expurgating (deleting or paraphrasing) “bad language” has come to be called bowdlerization! To celebrate the day you can think about the powerful effects of censorship. You might also de-bowdlerize your own speech by employing some Shakespearean insults!