Moore is a new discovery for me and I’m hooked. A short, remarkably poignant novel that should be better known.
S6 E7 Blasphemy: Moore, ‘The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne’ (1955)
S6 E6 Oh, James: Fleming ‘Diamonds are Forever’ (1956)
I really didn’t like this novel, but millions of James Bond can’t be wrong, can they?
S6 E5 Dirty Foreigners: O’Brien ‘The Lonely Girl’ (1962)
This novel is the further adventures of Caithleen and her sidekick Baba in the big city, as they search for fun, love and a free meal. A sequel to ‘The Country Girls’ (1960) it was automatically banned by a board who hated its author.
S6 E4 Obscene knowledge: Irish Family Planning Association ‘Family Planning’ (1976)
What happens when contraception is technically illegal but voluntary groups provide it anyway? Family planning information began to circulate widely during the 1970s and the censors did not like it. My guest, Dr Laura Kelly, helps me unravel a tale of blind eyes turned and court challenges.
S6 E3 Wanton: Powys ‘Mr Weston’s Good Wine’ (1927)
I haven’t read many novels like this – it’s a Christian allegory stuffed with Gothic sex. TF Powys was banned a numbers of times by the censors, who objected to his unique combination of sacred and profane.
S6 E2 Bottom wriggling: Anon ‘The memoirs of Dolly Morton’ (1899)
Banning antique erotica was a strange feature of the late censorship regime. Full of whipping and racism, this was not a book I enjoyed even if its history was fascinating.
S6 E1 Dirty Irish Colleens: O’Brien ‘The Country Girls’ (1960)
A novel surrounded by myths and outrage, I waited a long time to read this particular banned book. Part one of an infamous trilogy, its author soon became the focus of official Ireland’s outrage machine. I will explore books 2 and 3 later on in the season but I was joined for book 1 by guest Dr Maureen O’Connor.
S5 E8 All Cork: O’Faoláin ‘Bird Alone’ (1932)
When Seán O’Faoláin tried to do for Cork what Joyce had done for Dublin. He was disgusted when this love letter to his native city was banned and spent years agitating against censorship.
S5 E6 Revolutionary: Hansen and Jensen ‘The Little Red Schoolbook’ (1969)
A guide to school life that was so radical the Pope declared it sacrilegious. For once, the Irish were not the only ones over-reacting to this tiny little book. It was 2014 before a full, uncensored version was published in Britain.
S5 E4 Girls, girls: Mead ‘Growing up in Samoa’ (1928)
This short popular anthropology book made Margaret Mead into a prominent public intellectual. It’s full of radical ideas about family formation, gender roles and sexual expression. Written by a woman who believed in polygamy, it’s a wonder it took nearly 20 years for the Irish censors to ban it.
