Makes me think that if this list was still published it would have a sort of Father Ted effect[1] and act as a list of books you’d definitely want to read.
Umberto Eco once jokingly lamented the deprecation of the Index, writing that it was a "very handy canon of books one ought to read to call oneself an educated person".
> Makes me think that if this list was still published it would have a sort of Father Ted effect and act as a list of books you’d definitely want to read.
The Wikipedia article on the Index note that a related list (the _Index Expurgatorius_, which was at the time published separately but later had its function incorporated within the _Index Librorum Prohibitum_, and listed books subject to similar restrictions as the main index but only conditionally pending correction of specified errors) was called out for something like that use -- in 1627.
Being added to "the index" (Liste der jugendgefährdenden Medien, list of media harmful for youths) was (probably still is) a great marketing vehicle in Germany. While the complete list isn't easy to view (there's secret parts and no official online publication), you would hear about it one way or another.
Perhaps the notion of ‘engineering’ ones legitimacy as a ruler was seen as a challenge to the established notion of legitimacy by divine right. (Esp. the role of the church in conferring that right).
Makes me think that if this list was still published it would have a sort of Father Ted effect[1] and act as a list of books you’d definitely want to read.
1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passion_of_Saint_Tibulus