The scandal over Roer Casement’s diaries is huge. It’s past time I read the smut and examined the censure of the man and his writings.
S7 E7 Roger Casement’s Diaries Part 1
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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’.
