Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock was published in 1714.
After more than 250 years of being acknowledged as a classic, a review conducted by the Punjab University in Lahore finds the title itself 'vulgar'.
And Pope isn't the only one to have raised the hackles of Dr Shahbaz Arif, who headed the review committee. Poems by Indian author Vikram Seth and W H Auden, and even an all-time favourite of kids -- Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels -- were panned in one go as 'vulgar and containing sexual connotations', Guardian has reported.
The review appears to have been triggered by complaints made about the syllabus by the wife of a retired army general.
She criticised the inclusion of two poems, including one by Auden, which she said promoted Jews, and a poem by Vikram Seth, who she said was too pro-Indian. She also said the poems of Adrienne Rich were unsuitable for study because she is a lesbian.
The general's wife passed her criticism on to the wife of Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, who in turn asked the retired army officers who run the university to take up the case, according to the newspaper.
Academics from the English departments have fiercely resisted the proposed culling of the syllabus and warn of other moves to curtail liberal and critical opinion in favour of Islamist thinking.
"Ordinary, professional liberals feel that there is no space for us in our own town now," said a senior academic. "I feel increasingly that Lahore is polarised and the threshold of tolerance is falling," the academic told the daily.
But the general's wife has a different take on the issue. "We have been tolerant for too long," she said in a meeting with academics from the department.
Dr Arif, in an interview to the Guardian, staunchly defended his proposal to rule out dozens of texts studied around the world.
He said the books he had singled out used 'vulgar words' and left students who came from conservative backgrounds and had poor spoken English 'shy' and 'embarrassed'.
"Limitations should be there, it is required," said Dr Arif, while adding that he himself was westernised, citing his PhD in linguistics from Essex University.
"The majority of students come from a background where literature is not available. Sex is a taboo. It is very difficult to teach these things in the classroom. We have to be very careful in the selection of texts," he said.
Perhaps the most bizarre criticism is of a Sean O'Casey play, The End of the Beginning. The committee quoted a portion from the play: "When the song ended, Darry cocks his ear and listens." Dr Arif underlined the word 'cocks', the daily said.
Dr Arif said his proposals would go before the next meeting of the university's board of studies, which has the final say on the syllabus. Many on the board say his suggestions will be shot down immediately.
Professors in the English department, who have now been ordered not to speak to the press, have been incensed by the proposals, the report said.
Agencies
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