[DCRM-L] literature of prejudice vs. polemical
Deborah J. Leslie
DJLeslie at FOLGER.edu
Fri Jun 19 14:41:07 MDT 2009
And is invective always prejudged?
There is something to calling it "Controversial literature," since all
of these NT's but one are anti- something . The only problem is that
"controversial" in general usage doesn't necessarily mean "against."
Also, keep in mind that this is not a genre term but a gathering term;
one would still be applying an NT, so we only need a term that's
accurate and non-derogatory.
. Anti-Catholic literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th110.htm>
. Anti-clerical literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th112.htm>
. Anti-communist literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th113.htm>
. Anti-homosexual literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th114.htm>
. Anti-immigrant literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th115.htm>
. Anti-Masonic literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th116.htm>
. Anti-Semitic literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th117.htm>
. White supremacist literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th601.htm>
. Xenophobic literature
<http://www.rbms.info/committees/bibliographic_standards/controlled_voca
bularies/genre/th602.htm>
. SN: Use for works which exhibit fear, dislike or hatred of
. foreigners, foreign customs, etc.
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Sara Piasecki
Sent: Friday, 19 June, 2009 13:50
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] literature of prejudice vs. polemical
Is prejudice always unreasoned? I think we may be confusing this with
invective. There are some remarkably reasoned pieces of "literature of
prejudice" out there. I think that "polemical" in some ways addresses
this broad spectrum of tone in hate literature.
Sara
Sara J. Piasecki, Head, Historical Collections & Archives
Oregon Health & Science University Library
3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road
Mailcode LIB
Portland, OR 97239-3098
503-418-2287 (phone) | 503-418-0235 (fax)
piasecki at ohsu.edu
http://www.ohsu.edu/library/hom/ | http://ohsu-hca.blogspot.com/
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Eduardo Tenenbaum
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 10:29 AM
To: 'DCRM Revision Group List'
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] literature of prejudice vs. polemical
I think we are doing ourselves a disservice by not making a clear
distinction between "prejudice" and "polemic." The two are clearly
different. Our thesaurus has NTs under "Literature of prejudice" that
could easily belong under "Polemical literature", for example
"Anti-clerical." The distinction between "prejuduce" and "polemic" is
between unreasoned opinion/hostility and reasoned argument (however
strongly worded).
>From the OED:
prejudice, n.
I. Prejudgement.
1. a. Preconceived opinion not based on reason or actual experience;
bias, partiality; (now) spec. unreasoned dislike, hostility, or
antagonism towards, or discrimination against, a race, sex, or other
class of people.
------------------------------
hate, n.1
1. a. An emotion of extreme dislike or aversion; detestation,
abhorrence, hatred. Now chiefly poet.
b. The object of hatred. poetic.
2. b. Used attrib. or as quasi-adj.: designed to stir up hate, e.g. hate
campaign; marked or characterized by hate; hate mail, letters (often
anonymous) in which the senders express their hostility towards the
recipient.
DRAFT ADDITIONS JUNE 2002
hate, n.1
hate crime n. orig. U.S. a crime, usually violent, motivated by
hatred or intolerance of another social group, esp. on the basis of race
or sexuality; crime of this type; freq. attrib. (occas. in pl.),
designating legislation, etc., framed to address such crime.
---------------------------------
polemic, adj. and n.
A. adj. Of the nature of, exhibiting, given to, or relating to
dispute or controversy; contentious, disputatious, combative
B. n.
1. A controversial argument; a strong verbal or written attack on a
person, opinion, doctrine, etc.; (as a mass noun) writing or opinion of
this kind. Also: (in sing. and pl.) aggressive debate or controversy;
the practice of engaging in such debate.
________________________________
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Schneider, Nina
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 12:57 PM
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] literature of prejudice vs. polemical
I've been searching LCSH for some ideas. There's a subject heading
"Attitudes (Psychology)" in LCSH. There are also variations on
"opinions." If we feel it's necessary to change the genre term, we may
want to look at these.
Nina
+-------
Nina Schneider
Head Cataloger
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
2520 Cimarron Street
Los Angeles, CA 90018
323-731-8529
nschneider at humnet.ucla.edu
________________________________
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Holly Phelps
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 8:19 AM
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] literature of prejudice vs. polemical
Interesting discussion.
I use the NTs but not the broader term. Does anyone? Would it be useful
to remove the term from the list, and just use something (Controversial
literature?) in brackets under [Content of work] - [Political works] in
the hierarchical list? I'd like to see the NTs stay grouped somehow.
H.A. Phelps
hphelps at librarycompany.org
________________________________
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Dooley,Jackie
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 11:16 AM
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] literature of prejudice vs. polemical
Yes, I get it. My point is that it's so soft as to be relatively
meaningless. How about "hate literature"? :) After all, our society
calls them "hate groups," not "polemical groups." Good literary warrant.
On 6/19/09 7:39 AM, "Deborah Leslie" <djleslie at folger.edu> wrote:
One of the things that came up in conversation was that we knew it when
we saw it, but couldn't find a non-derogatory name for it. "Polemical"
isn't necessarily derogatory, while "Prejudice" is.
From: dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu [mailto:dcrm-l-bounces at lib.byu.edu] On
Behalf Of Dooley,Jackie
Sent: Friday, 19 June, 2009 10:29
To: DCRM Revision Group List
Subject: Re: [DCRM-L] literature of prejudice vs. polemical
Strikes me as equally subjective-not to mention vague, since it could
include stuff with a much softer point of view than e.g. a John Birch or
KKK pub that is patently prejudicial to a particular group. -Jackie
On 6/19/09 7:16 AM, "Deborah Leslie" <djleslie at folger.edu> wrote:
I just had an epiphany. Some of you remember discussions held a few
years ago about the problem with the genre term "Literature of
prejudice," which violates the cataloger's ethic of labelling (works,
people) in a way they would not name themselves. But it is useful to
have a term in the hierarchy to collocate this kind of literature.
How about "Polemical literature"?
___________________________________________
Deborah J. Leslie, M.A., M.L.S.
Head of Cataloging, Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol St., s.E., Washington, D.C. 20003
202.675-0369 (phone) 202.675-0328 (fax)
djleslie at folger.edu www.folger.edu
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