Do you mean how can I "equate"? And I take it that you mean how can I equate Of Human Bondage with this "sexy vampire making young teens swoon"? That is not what I am equating, I quoted what I was equating:
"She has said numerous times that she would simply 'die' if Edward ever left her. It's like her entire life revolves around him. What are you trying to tell young women, Ms. Meyer . . . don't girls have enough self-esteem problems already? Should they really be reading books about a girl who has no life outside of her boyfriend, a girl who readily admits that she would die if he were to ever leave her?"
I don't know anything about the book in question except the little bit that can be gleaned from these quotes. But that much tells me that the subject matter is the stuff of very great literature such as OF HUMAN BONDAGE.
Incidentally, I am not sure that the era at the turn of the last century that Maugham portrays is all that much more moral. After all, the male is morbidly obsessed with a prostitute who is incapable of staying off the street. This is pretty rough stuff but I think the issues are timeless and have to do with man's eschatological condition.
My objection first, is that I have an instinctive reaction against book burning of any sort. Let the young teenagers read these things and let them sort them out themselves. This is not, after all, a textbook forced upon children in school, it is a book freely obtainable or easily eschewed in the open marketplace.
Second, these censors do not object so much about this description that you put forth, they object to be portrayal of the female as not being dominant and fully in charge of her life. Sorry, but that equates to both characters in Maugham's work, both male and female, and has nothing to do with how the author handles the issue. The author may handle it well or poorly but that is quite different from painting the description. Maugham handles it brilliantly. The objection has to do with political correctness.
And that is my third objection, political correctness is a deadly poison which is killing our young people. I devote some of my about page to the subject.
