What’s a book that we were never supposed to be able to read?

kfwyre
2025-02-25T15:40:15Z

I’m jumping off of the controversy about the release of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman mentioned here.

Regarding the question: it means that something stood in the way of that particular book “getting out” but, for better or for worse, it did. This could be the author’s direct wishes, government or publisher censorship, it being found or leaked, etc.

What are some of those books?

Are they worth looking into?

Does the fact that we weren’t “supposed” to read them change how we understand or appreciate them?

If the author themself didn’t want their works published (such as Kafka), what do we have to take into account when deciding to go against those wishes?

What do we gain/lose by respecting/ignoring those wishes?

Also, I’m open to answers that involve parts of books rather than the whole books themselves, since I know there are many books out there that were partially censored or edited and have since been restored.

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