India, March 12 -- 'Cursed' books, particularly in the realm of literature, are often condemned not by formal institutional mechanisms but by the covert actions of society's most pernicious and influential factions. The force of social pressure frequently proves far more potent and enduring than the imposition of an executive decree or a judicial verdict. This unceremonious ostracism pushes such works to the margins, in effect silencing them by obviating the route of official censure.

On the other side of the coin, books that are officially banned or publicly burnt often achieve a paradoxical immortality. Such atrocities on the written word have the reverse effect of giving them notoriety, which renders these works relevant across time, ...