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Tag: Queer literature

Posted on February 12, 2021

S4 E6 Too critical: O’Brien ‘The Land of Spices’ (1941)

A censor told Seanad Éireann that this book was ‘unwholesome’ because of one sentence that mentioned ‘sodomy’. But I think he was fibbing. O’Brien questioned the validity of Irish nationalism in this book, a daring move that must have offended the censors.

First edition, US imprint
Posted on December 3, 2020

S3 Bonus Republican Love Triangle: Broderick ‘The Fugitives’ (1962)

Another bonus on another uncensored book. It’s a classic Irish noir, full of rainy weather and angsty sex. I have no idea why it wasn’t banned – it’s full of queer plotlines and transgressive sex – but I try to work it out.

The cover of the Pan edition – quirky, just like the book itself
Posted on October 29, 2020January 8, 2021

S3 E7 Queer, with cocktails: Moore, ‘Chocolates for Breakfast’ (1956)

A candid, haunting novel about the coming-of-age of a teenage girl. Full of decadent sexuality that would have given the censors a fit of the vapours.

2013 Harper Perennial Classics Edition
Posted on September 23, 2020November 22, 2020

S3 E1 Voluptuous Jazzing: McKay, ‘Home to Harlem’ (1928

A love letter to Harlem and it’s music, this book offended all kinds of people. McKay’s honesty about sex was brave and inflammatory.

Cover of 1987 edition
Posted on August 5, 2020December 13, 2020

S2 E8 Queer Ireland: Broderick, ‘The Pilgrimage’ (1961)

Is it a book about a promiscuous wife, a pilgrimage or queer life in 1960s Ireland? Banned for indecency and blasphemy, Broderick’s novel is a multi-layered text.

Pan Books, 1975 cover art
Posted on July 15, 2020December 13, 2020

S2 E5: Lesbionic Lit: Highsmith, ‘Carol’ (1952)

Is it a subversive lesbian romance or a psychological thriller? The hetronormative censor saw a dangerous text with a ‘general tendency to deprave’.

Bantam Press cover, 1953

Recent Posts

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  • S4 E7 Sexual inversion: Hall ‘The Well of Loneliness’ (1928)
  • S4 E6 Too critical: O’Brien ‘The Land of Spices’ (1941)
  • S4 E5 Original Sin: Spark ‘The Bachelors’ (1960)

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