Immoral Books?

[Faith1960]

Is it considered to be immoral to read horror books by Stephen King, his son Joe Hill or other authors? Many years ago I used to read Stephen King’s books but most of them were less scary to me and more gross than anything else, so I quit reading them, all the while wondering what in the world is going on with the mind of Stephen King.

About two years ago I decided to give King’s son (and then-new author) Joe Hill’s book Heart Shaped Box a try. I’d heard so many raves about the story, that I wanted to read it for myself. I got about half way through, probably even less than that and gave up. It was violent, smutty and downright disgusting to me.

Who here enjoys these books?

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

Oscar Wilde said “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written”, which I would have to say is an untrue statement. It depends on how one is spiritually disposed as whether one should read a particular book or not, but that doesn’t make a good out of trash.

Just as Pope Benedict’s statement on condom use by a prostitute where a degenerate sinner may be opened to the possibility of a greater good even with the use of something inherently immoral, a spiritually disposed person who has been elevated to a higher union with God could be opened to the possibility of a lesser good via created works that fail at spiritual truth. “Rose Madder” is not a book for spiritual reading prior to Mass nor is it elevating anyone to the truth of God. Someone who may read this book and is opened to thinking of the spiritual possibilities beyond this world could come to the Goodness that is God, but not due to any inherent goodness of the book, because there is none.

In our democratic mindset that elevates the peasant and denigrated the nobility to a one singular level, we misapply that to the hierarchy of being and truth and completely fail to see the elevated spiritual goods and the evils that are opposed to them. It’s a worldliness that we should recognize, avoid, and announce for the error it is. Saying that there is nothing wrong with reading junk is to denigrate the noble while elevating the inane.

 

[puzzleannie]

Is it considered to be immoral to read horror books by Stephen King, his son Joe Hill or other authors?

it depends on the book and the author. It is not immoral to read a book because it is a horror story. If it presents a temptation to sin for you it could be immoral to read a book that is smutty or violent. I never heard of Joe Hill. I only read a couple of early Stephen King’s but don’t recall anything objectionable. Dean Koontz writes horror and thriller stories that have a Catholic world view and voice. I don’t care for the genre myself and prefer classic whodunit mysteries, but the range of authors I read has shrunk since I don’t do tecs who are vampires, G/L or more interested in strutting their stuff than solving crimes. I am thinking about a moratorium on stories about restaurant owners who have people die in their premises.

I agree that a badly written book is usually a bigger crime than a “dirty” book as more people will read it. I can take Dan Brown’s complete rejection of western history as a discipline I can’t take is trite uninspired writing.

 

[Faith1960]

it depends on the book and the author. It is not immoral to read a book because it is a horror story. If it presents a temptation to sin for you it could be immoral to read a book that is smutty or violent. I never heard of Joe Hill. I only read a couple of early Stephen King’s but don’t recall anything objectionable. Dean Koontz writes horror and thriller stories that have a Catholic world view and voice. I don’t care for the genre myself and prefer classic whodunit mysteries, but the range of authors I read has shrunk since I don’t do tecs who are vampires, G/L or more interested in strutting their stuff than solving crimes. I am thinking about a moratorium on stories about restaurant owners who have people die in their premises.

I agree that a badly written book is usually a bigger crime than a “dirty” book as more people will read it. I can take Dan Brown’s complete rejection of western history as a discipline I can’t take is trite uninspired writing.

When it comes to fiction, I prefer cozy mysteries or women’s fiction, particularly books about friendship.