Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 145, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 June 1910 — Literary Censorship in Russia. [ARTICLE]

Literary Censorship in Russia.

In an article on the literary censorship in Russia a writer in the Frankfurter Zeitung says that some of the queer examples of this work on the part of the czar’s government are worthy of note. In a poem the line “Under strange skies we may be happy” was canceled, with the remark that “no sky can be more conducive to happiness than that which spreads over Russia.” A biography of Sumarokow mentions the novel “Korew” as his first “creation.” The sentence was blotted out because “God alone creates. Man may write, work, compose, etc., but he does not ‘create.’ ” When the names of the gods of Greek mythology are written capital letters must not be used “except in the case of Mars. Our gracious czar has had so many wars that he owes Mars this compliment." A poem was suppressed because it contained the line, “To solitude devoted, I despise the world.” The censor said: “Despising so generally Includes also the czar. Thank me, writer, for saving you from Siberia.”