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Areopagitica

Name: Areopagitica
Author: John Milton
ISBN: 9781595474711

by John Milton

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Overview

In 1644 the English poet and man of letters, John Milton, published the Areopagitica as an appeal to Parliament to rescind their Licensing Order of June 16th, 1643. This order was designed to bring publishing under government control by creating a number of official censors to whom authors would submit their work for approval prior to having it published. Milton's argument, in brief, was that precensorship of authors was little more than an excuse for state control of thought. Recognizing that some means of accountability was necessary to ensure that libellous or other illegal works were kept under control, Milton felt this could be achieved by ensuring the legal responsibility of printers and authors for the content of what they published.

Synopsis

Animado por la constante molestia que le causaba el estricto control del Parlamento sobre la prensa y por la censura sobre su propia obra, Milton escribió este libro como un ejercicio de vigor prosístico que es hoy uno de los más antiguos y vigentes discursos en torno a la libertad de imprenta. Milton dedicó su alegato a la institución que, en el Reino Unido, sería la correspondiente del Areópago, el tribunal ateniense, para cuestionar las medidas de regulación y control oficiales de los medios. El poeta sufrió cárcel y estuvo cerca de ser ejecutado por sus actividades propagandísticas, pero expuso, en el siglo XVII, una polémica que sigue vigente.