Blasphemy as art

Der Spiegel, which I've taken to reading lately, has an interesting article about a drawing used as an advertisement for a show in the city's caricature museum. Christians are not pleased by the imagery. I have to agree it's a bit over the top, but it's also funny. I'm sure Germany's version of Bill Donohue is having a great time denouncing it.

Der Spiegel has an appealing cosmopolitan flair. I enjoy it. And they have no silly compunctions about nudity. There was a delightful photo of nude Spanish firemen there the other day. (They were protesting in the nude.) You never see anything like that in our prudish country. But to Germans (and most Europeans) nudity isn't a big deal. I've heard they think Americans are childish about sexual matters. Sounds right to me.

Nudity? In a text-only book?

In a list of the top banned books of 2011, put out by the American Library Association, "nudity" is stated to be one of the reasons why books were banned.

In a non-graphic, text-only book, nudity is a concern?! So if a character takes a shower, it's all over and no sensitive soul can read the book? This seems like craziness writ large.

I only hope one of my books is banned some day. What a joy that would be!