Surely you remember our post on how Barnes and Noble cancelled an event for Paws and Reflect: Exploring the Bond Between Gay Men and Their Dogs by Sharon Sakson over a risque “sexual reference”.
Well, we received a last night from Sakson herself bringing the matter to our attention (not a big reader, we gather). After informing her that we had already posted it, we asked more about what exactly had transpired. Sakson, an NBC news producer, journalist and dog show judge, told us that the manager of the Princeton Barnes & Noble had cut the reading because of a line involving Alexander the Great and Aristotle.
Needless to say, we were intrigued. What sort of sick, depraved passage could lead an internationally-renowned store to cancel an event: a cancellation they must have suspected would raise some eyebrows? A mensch through and through, Sakson provided us with the text:
When sixteen-year-old Alexander the Great would make love to his teacher Aristotle, he would do so roughly, forcing his way in with only a bit of saliva. He liked to hear rationality yelping like a dog.
It goes on to describe how Aristotle dreamt of being a Alexander’s dog…
How about we take this to the next level?
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Seriously? That’s it? That’s the passage that led the aforementioned manager to write an email entitled, “sodomy and the crossover market”? We’ve read worse things in Madeline Crabb’s columns! We expected a full-on dog orgy or something.
It seems the prudish manager, however, wasn’t having it. Sakson writes:
In subsequent conversations, she told us, “there aren’t many gays in Princeton” “no one will come because they won’t want to be identified as gay” and finally, “I cannot recommend this book to our customers.”
Of course, this begs the question: how many homos does a city have to have in order to officially declare, “We have many homos”?
Cullan
What a fascist, hateful company! It outrages me! And it also mitigates what little guilt I may have felt when I stole from them – repeatedly.
ptolemy
i’m not too surprised at this. generations of scholars have tried to expunge any reference to “greek love” from the record.
Jonathon
I think that the manager is the problem, not B&N as a whole.
No gays in Princeton? COME. ON. You’re kidding me.
And who cares if YOU, Mr. Manager Person, can’t recommend the book to customers. In the many, many years that I have shopped in bookstores (and especially B&N) I have NEVER requested the opinion or recommendation of the store’s manager on what book(s) I should buy.
Put the damn book on the shelf and let people who are interested in it buy it. Have the damn reading and let people who are interested in it come and listen.
What’s so damn hard about that?
C. Smith
I’m gay and I live just outside of Princeton.
Seems like there are a lot of us here.
I just might have to swing by and request it.
🙂
Jase
Great idea! I think all the gays in Princeton should go in and request it.
nilla4me
Apparently, this store manager has never heard of the PRINCETON RUB? I mean, come on.
And I agree with Cullan. Hee. Brothers in Arms?
Noah
I think the truth lies in the fact the manager finds the passage arousing…and fears an erection while “on the clock”
Cosmokid
I lived in the center of Princeton for seven years. When my gay friend would come down to visit from New York, he’d leave me festering in my grubby apartment for hours while he walked around cruising. He always came back with a huge smile on his face. He called Princeton a “Gaytopia.” Guess the B&N manager didn’t get the memo.
Kevin
Frankly I don’t like the connection between gay men and dogs. Once again someone is trying to connect gay people with beastiality. I’m really offended! The book is supposed to be about gay men and dogs yet she tries to make it look like Aristotle is a dog and Alexander the Great is having sex with a dog (Aristotle). Very offensive!
Neil Plakcy
Just to clarify a couple of things: the manager at the B&N in Princeton who cancelled the event is a woman. The author of the essay she didn’t like is a man. The author wasn’t trying to say that either Aristotle or Alexander the Great were dogs or had sex with dogs; it was simply a reference to having sex “doggy-style.”
There is NO bestiality in Paws and Reflect; this book is about the love gay men have for their canine companions.
Dizzy Spins
if the book is about gay men and their dogs, then why in Gods name is there a passage about Alexander the Great fucking Aristotle???!!! Its like looking through an Anne Geddes calendar and finding out July is a John Wayne Gacy painting.