Self-Censorship and Outside Authority

This collection highlights Robert Cormier's ethical and authorial choices in his work.

Often Cormier painted censorship as an exercise of fear – of reality, of truth – and of distrust. Distrust in the author’s self-censorship or editorial prowess; distrust in the intelligence of children or of the populace. To Cormier, censorship is a vote of no confidence in the author, the reader, and the thought process that encourages the relationship between the two.

Artifacts in this section of the exhibit chronicle Cormier’s feelings on the writer’s and reader’s roles and the threat censors play to those roles. These documents include letters with students and teachers, typescripts of some of Cormier’s speaking events, magazine and journal articles, as well as draft material from The Chocolate War.

Credits

Elise Takehana and Anna Consalvo