Old stories and a question

I was goofing around, finding fun tid-bits for the myth class I may be teaching in the Fall, and I remembered a line by one of my favorite authors, Terry Pratchett: "But it was much earlier even than that when most people forgot that the very oldest stories are, sooner or later, about blood." Comes from the opening page of his book Hogfather, a send-up of Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, etc. I do love satire.

But here's the rub, how do I teach that? Right now, I'm in the middle of a great book, The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by NC native son Steven Sherrill. It's good, although dense, and not a book I could recommend to a student... Under eighteen. It has sexuality, cursing and a slew of check-marks that would get an "R" rating slapped on the movie.

... But how is that any different from teaching Saturn lying in wait for Uranus and dismembering him? Or Jupiter's cavalcade of conquests (read: rapes)? I mean, I'm not about to throw out decorum or good taste here, but where is the line? For this blog, for me as a teacher? I am curious what you all think. I am especially interested in parental input, since (after all), it's your children's minds I'm corrupting.

Citation:

Terry Pratchett, Hogfather, New York: HarperTorch, 1996, p. 1.