Censored With Mother

Penguin Books has ordered the destruction of a parody Ladybird book. Miriam Elia, an artist and comedian, combined collages from old Ladybirds with her own work to produce We Go to the Gallery, in which Mummy introduces Peter and Jane to the formal and philosophical rigours of modern art. Penguin Books has told Elia that the book breaches their copyright and have given her a month to cover her publishing costs, after which all remaining copies will have to be destroyed. Despite our continuing adherence to the capitalist delusion, it is difficult to imagine the mystical glamour which Wagner claimed for the Gesamtkunstwerk ever being accorded to the sorry practical jokes of a Koons or a Hirst; accordingly, this time at least, Penguin's urge to pulp does not appear to have been motivated by a need for religious pandering. We progress, do we not?