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Censored: A Literary History of Subversion and Control
When Henry Vizetelly was imprisoned in 1889 for publishing the novels of Émile Zola in English, the problem was not just Zola’s French candour about sex – it was that Vizetelly’s books were cheap, and ordinary people could read them. Censored exposes the role that power plays in censorship. In twenty-five chapters focusing on a wide range of texts, including the Bible, slave narratives, modernist classics, comic books, and Chicana/o literature, Matthew Fellion and Katherine Inglis chart the forces that have driven censorship in the United Kingdom and the United States for over six hundred years, from fears of civil unrest and corruptible youth to the oppression of various groups – religious and political dissidents, same-sex lovers, the working class, immigrants, women, racialized people, and those who have been incarcerated or enslaved. The authors also consider the weight of speech, and when restraints might be justified. Rich with illustrations that bring to life the personalities and the books that feature in its stories, Censored takes readers behind the scenes into the courtroom battles, legislative debates, public campaigns, and private exchanges that have shaped the course of literature. A vital reminder that the freedom of speech has always been fragile and never enjoyed equally by all, Censored offers lessons from the past to guard against threats to literature in a new political era.
408 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 11, 2020
A look at censorship outrages that reminds us of the absurdity wrought on such scandals by time. And it’s all about timing, being ahead of the curve of acceptance. When everyone obeyed the church even different versions of the Bible were dangerous. Zola, all grubby proletarian sex and violence, was quite beyond the pale, but poshos Oscar Wilde and Radclyffe Hall did not escape uncut.
Here are the stories behind Lolita, Fanny Hill, banned horror comics and even an irresponsible technical manual for hit men. The biggest fear is that books will corrupt and deprave the vulnerable, and perhaps in the case of say, ‘The Anarchist’s Cookbook’ they’re right. Does the printed word corrupt? Is a vulnerable reader likely to see a blueprint for evil in what he reads, or is he just as likely to be influenced by looking at the stars? In 1955’s ‘Weird Fantasy No.18 the comic book story ‘Judgement Day’ was openly anti-racist, and the put-upon hero is revealed to be black. ‘You can’t have a Negro,’ warned the magistrate. ‘F*ck you,’ said the publisher, Bill Gaines, and went ahead. It was his last comic.
This is a fascinating reminder that when you put something in the public arena, you exposed your ideas to censure.
Here are the stories behind Lolita, Fanny Hill, banned horror comics and even an irresponsible technical manual for hit men. The biggest fear is that books will corrupt and deprave the vulnerable, and perhaps in the case of say, ‘The Anarchist’s Cookbook’ they’re right. Does the printed word corrupt? Is a vulnerable reader likely to see a blueprint for evil in what he reads, or is he just as likely to be influenced by looking at the stars? In 1955’s ‘Weird Fantasy No.18 the comic book story ‘Judgement Day’ was openly anti-racist, and the put-upon hero is revealed to be black. ‘You can’t have a Negro,’ warned the magistrate. ‘F*ck you,’ said the publisher, Bill Gaines, and went ahead. It was his last comic.
This is a fascinating reminder that when you put something in the public arena, you exposed your ideas to censure.
January 17, 2018
This is a chronological historical view on censorship, what it is, how it has changed over centuries, and where it currently is, in quite some civilisations. The book spans not only "Western society", which is naturally good. Over all geographies and times, the recurring themes are moral panic, xenophobia, and the need to keep the population in check.
From the introduction:
From the dawn of Milton's "Aeropagitica" which was published in 1644 in an attempt to persuade Parliament to reject censorship, to Amazon (accidentally, over trademark issues) deleting George Orwell books from their online shop, the book picks up on different ways that governments, individuals, religious groups, kings, artists, and even creators themselves have tried to restrict access to material in a variety of ways, and problematises this throughout in very interesting ways, mainly morally and philosophically.
The problematic ways that one can see censorship are highlighted:
As Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Queen Mab" opened a Pandora's Box of potential issues for book vendors and publishers, the success of that book led to over twenty-six pirated editions of his poetry being flogged. This is known as the Streisand effect:
This is not entirely uncommon, as this book shows; over centuries, many different kinds of censored literature has not only been pirated and smuggled, but also rewritten to make the new versions legally sound, at least for a moment. This is not unlike how drugs are today changed on the molecular level to make them legal.
There are many instances, from Émile Zola to Oscar Wilde, where authors even evaded their home country, but also when their publishers were attacked; in Wilde's case, the popular franchise W.H. Smith stopped selling his writings entirely, and theaters vacated his plays.
This book is great at explaining how censorship has snaked its way to what it is today, in different places. Different tests of morality have been devised, on different media: the written word has been treated differently than comics, but the effects are always similar.
When the Australian magazine "OZ" was prosecuted for obscenity in the 1960s and 1970s, the effects were at times inadvertedly and simultaneously hilarious and frightening:
Prisons censor what prisoners are allowed to read, Christian western countries censor Muslim literature (while Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" led to ayatollah Khomeini of Iran request the death of Rushdie, moral-panic persons such as Mary Whitehouse made homosexuality out to be The Devil in the UK during the 1980s... It's all very well written.
The book also contains a small part on how corporations censor:
All in all, this is a highly recommendable book, which opened my eyes to censorship, what it has actually been and how it appears today.
From the introduction:
There are many instances of injustice and the abuse of power in this book, as well as cases that are more difficult to call. Hit Man, for instance, presents itself as a handbook for would-be assassins. When its instructions were used to commit a murder, an appeals court found that the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of speech, did not protect Hit Man’s publisher from a civil lawsuit. Given that the publisher admitted that he intended the book to be used to commit crimes, was this a reasonable limitation of his liberties or a slippery slope leading to the censorship of crime novels and films? We invite you to consider the perspectives we present, and to think about where you would draw your own lines.
From the dawn of Milton's "Aeropagitica" which was published in 1644 in an attempt to persuade Parliament to reject censorship, to Amazon (accidentally, over trademark issues) deleting George Orwell books from their online shop, the book picks up on different ways that governments, individuals, religious groups, kings, artists, and even creators themselves have tried to restrict access to material in a variety of ways, and problematises this throughout in very interesting ways, mainly morally and philosophically.
The problematic ways that one can see censorship are highlighted:
The effects of censorship, however, are not always easy to see. In 1988, following a moral panic about Susanne Bösche’s children’s book Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin, the UK government passed Section 28 of the Local Government Act. Section 28 declared that local authorities, such as town and city councils, could not ‘promote homosexuality’ or ‘promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’. This patently homophobic law was vague and remained unenforced, but it successfully hampered discussions of same-sex relationships in schools, because teachers avoided the topic out of fear of violating a law that was difficult to understand.
As Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Queen Mab" opened a Pandora's Box of potential issues for book vendors and publishers, the success of that book led to over twenty-six pirated editions of his poetry being flogged. This is known as the Streisand effect:
Censorship can even backfire, calling further attention to the object being censored. This phenomenon is known as the ‘Streisand effect’, after Barbra Streisand, who popularized photographs of her California home by attempting to suppress them. Sometimes communication is less like a chain and more like a river: block the flow here, and it bursts its banks over there.
This is not entirely uncommon, as this book shows; over centuries, many different kinds of censored literature has not only been pirated and smuggled, but also rewritten to make the new versions legally sound, at least for a moment. This is not unlike how drugs are today changed on the molecular level to make them legal.
There are many instances, from Émile Zola to Oscar Wilde, where authors even evaded their home country, but also when their publishers were attacked; in Wilde's case, the popular franchise W.H. Smith stopped selling his writings entirely, and theaters vacated his plays.
This book is great at explaining how censorship has snaked its way to what it is today, in different places. Different tests of morality have been devised, on different media: the written word has been treated differently than comics, but the effects are always similar.
When the Australian magazine "OZ" was prosecuted for obscenity in the 1960s and 1970s, the effects were at times inadvertedly and simultaneously hilarious and frightening:
When John Peel, who had once had a sexually transmitted infection, suggested that it was a common affliction and that many people in the courtroom might have had one, Argyle took umbrage at the ‘very great accusation’ and later had Peel’s water glass destroyed.
Prisons censor what prisoners are allowed to read, Christian western countries censor Muslim literature (while Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" led to ayatollah Khomeini of Iran request the death of Rushdie, moral-panic persons such as Mary Whitehouse made homosexuality out to be The Devil in the UK during the 1980s... It's all very well written.
The book also contains a small part on how corporations censor:
The internet also makes especially clear the role that large technology corporations now play in channelling speech. Google and Facebook’s algorithms, in addition to censoring content, select what users see in web searches or on their Facebook feeds. While bookshops have always been able to exercise or defy censorship, online retailers can do so on a vast scale. Electronic books, or e-books, are especially vulnerable to censorship. In 2009 Amazon deleted George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm from users’ e-book readers without warning. Though the reason for this intervention had to do with a copyright error, it was an apt illustration of how, in a totalitarian state like the ones Orwell describes, governments or corporations can deprive the public of access to digital information.
All in all, this is a highly recommendable book, which opened my eyes to censorship, what it has actually been and how it appears today.
January 9, 2018
Does a book about censorship sound interesting to you? Do you think it would be a dull, sententious, pedagogical work? Would you be curious?
I was curious, but had few expectations. Maybe I did expect certain books to discussed, but I had no idea whether or not the discussions would be interesting or tedious. As a life-time lover of books and reading, however, censorship and book banning have always been on the periphery of my life. And I know from the frequent discussions about banned books, that the topic is of interest to most of you.
Censored presents an eminently readable, well-documented, and well-researched examination of the role of censorship in literature.
The introduction asks, "What harm can words do? This reasoning can lead to the conclusion that speech should never be restricted because it cannot actually hurt anyone, and that those who believe they have been harmed by speech simply need to grow a thicker skin."
It then proceeds to acknowledge that speech can have "tangible effects, though these are rarely easy to predict or control. The same power that exposes a corrupt government can incite mob violence against a vulnerable person."
And furthermore, "Because speech is powerful, our freedom to speak must be defended from unjust restrictions. Because speech is powerful, however, that freedom cannot be absolute. Like action, speech will always raise ethical and legal questions." That pretty much sums things up: freedom of speech must be defended and that freedom cannot be absolute. Yelling fire in a theater doesn't qualify.
And, as we often discover, censoring a work can call more attention to it. The very act of banning or restricting access tends to make people curious and can backfire on the very concerns trying to suppress it.
The introduction makes clear that the subject of censorship is a complicated one, and that even the threat of censorship may cause an author to self-censor (a chilling effect that may not even be visible) and this may mean that some books are never written at all.
An interesting example is given in Frances Burney, whose plays were stifled by her father and her mentor, who didn't consider writing for the stage appropriate for a woman. Burney gets an entire chapter later.
Chapter 1 discusses the English Bibles. The first translations to English were attempts to make the Bible available to the common people, but doing so could and did lead to charges of heresy and burning at the stake. From Wycliff to Tyndale, this chapter is engrossing and the battle took many lives. Even when an English translation was accepted, "people of the 'lower sort' were forbidden to read the Bible altogether."
Each chapter discusses a particular book and the efforts made to suppress it, and each chapter contains fascinating and often alarming information about the how and why of the process.
Chapter 2 discusses Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill) by John Cleland. It begins by relating that--while state prohibitions against topics considered heretical, blasphemous, or seditious--are problems because they "directly challenge religious or secular authority." But what about writing about sex? Yep. Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure first provoked the obscenity law in 1748 and continued to be a problem for more than 200 years. This chapter is intriguing not only for the challenges to Memoirs, but for the changes in how obscene material has been defined and how the law has been administered in regard to many other books.
Chapter after Chapter proved interesting and informative. I've read many, but not all of the books discussed, and reading about both the books I've read and the ones I'm only familiar with because of their having been banned at one time or another proved immensely educational.
Chapter 21 about Salmon Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Riveting. I thought I was familiar with that case, but learned I only glimpsed the fringes of the impact.
The Afterword begins with a quote from Hilary Mantel: "Oppressors don't just want to do their deed, they want to take a bow: they want their victims to sing their praises." She adds that the struggles continue, repeating themselves.
The Afterword also reiterates that thought and provides information concerning current efforts at censorship and restriction.
I can recommend Censored: A Literary History of Subversion & Control without reservation. Informative, illuminating, significant, and fascinating.
NetGalley/McGill-Queen's University Press
Nonfiction. 2017. Print length: 432 pages
I was curious, but had few expectations. Maybe I did expect certain books to discussed, but I had no idea whether or not the discussions would be interesting or tedious. As a life-time lover of books and reading, however, censorship and book banning have always been on the periphery of my life. And I know from the frequent discussions about banned books, that the topic is of interest to most of you.
Censored presents an eminently readable, well-documented, and well-researched examination of the role of censorship in literature.
The introduction asks, "What harm can words do? This reasoning can lead to the conclusion that speech should never be restricted because it cannot actually hurt anyone, and that those who believe they have been harmed by speech simply need to grow a thicker skin."
It then proceeds to acknowledge that speech can have "tangible effects, though these are rarely easy to predict or control. The same power that exposes a corrupt government can incite mob violence against a vulnerable person."
And furthermore, "Because speech is powerful, our freedom to speak must be defended from unjust restrictions. Because speech is powerful, however, that freedom cannot be absolute. Like action, speech will always raise ethical and legal questions." That pretty much sums things up: freedom of speech must be defended and that freedom cannot be absolute. Yelling fire in a theater doesn't qualify.
And, as we often discover, censoring a work can call more attention to it. The very act of banning or restricting access tends to make people curious and can backfire on the very concerns trying to suppress it.
The introduction makes clear that the subject of censorship is a complicated one, and that even the threat of censorship may cause an author to self-censor (a chilling effect that may not even be visible) and this may mean that some books are never written at all.
An interesting example is given in Frances Burney, whose plays were stifled by her father and her mentor, who didn't consider writing for the stage appropriate for a woman. Burney gets an entire chapter later.
Chapter 1 discusses the English Bibles. The first translations to English were attempts to make the Bible available to the common people, but doing so could and did lead to charges of heresy and burning at the stake. From Wycliff to Tyndale, this chapter is engrossing and the battle took many lives. Even when an English translation was accepted, "people of the 'lower sort' were forbidden to read the Bible altogether."
Each chapter discusses a particular book and the efforts made to suppress it, and each chapter contains fascinating and often alarming information about the how and why of the process.
Chapter 2 discusses Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (Fanny Hill) by John Cleland. It begins by relating that--while state prohibitions against topics considered heretical, blasphemous, or seditious--are problems because they "directly challenge religious or secular authority." But what about writing about sex? Yep. Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure first provoked the obscenity law in 1748 and continued to be a problem for more than 200 years. This chapter is intriguing not only for the challenges to Memoirs, but for the changes in how obscene material has been defined and how the law has been administered in regard to many other books.
Chapter after Chapter proved interesting and informative. I've read many, but not all of the books discussed, and reading about both the books I've read and the ones I'm only familiar with because of their having been banned at one time or another proved immensely educational.
Chapter 21 about Salmon Rushdie's Satanic Verses. Riveting. I thought I was familiar with that case, but learned I only glimpsed the fringes of the impact.
The Afterword begins with a quote from Hilary Mantel: "Oppressors don't just want to do their deed, they want to take a bow: they want their victims to sing their praises." She adds that the struggles continue, repeating themselves.
The Afterword also reiterates that thought and provides information concerning current efforts at censorship and restriction.
I can recommend Censored: A Literary History of Subversion & Control without reservation. Informative, illuminating, significant, and fascinating.
NetGalley/McGill-Queen's University Press
Nonfiction. 2017. Print length: 432 pages
September 15, 2018
Censorship is the act of power perpetuating itself. Whether it's practiced by the Catholic Church, the Chinese government, the Texas penal system, or a gaggle of pearl-clutchers with a very specific view of middle class morality, it's invariably committed against those who might somehow threaten the upheaval or overturn of the very institutions that enact it. In Censored: A Literary History of Subversion and Control, Fellion and Inglis use an exploration of contentious book bannings and the people and social mores behind them to explain how this particular exercise of power has evolved over time.
First, some caveats, which the authors are themselves quick to throw out in their introduction: Censored deals almost exclusively with instances of censorship in the United States and Great Britain, and almost a third of its examples round up the usual suspects (Ulysses, The Satanic Verses, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn). That said, most of the material was new to me (Queen Mab, The Well of Loneliness) and even the cases I was familiar with were recreated and presented with such skillfully meticulous detail and historical context that it made for a fresh experience and understanding. (Censored: come for the nuanced historical overview of book banning, stay for the carefully documented legal literary shade thrown at James Joyce!)
Censored is designed so that readers can tackle it piecemeal or as a whole, and that decision by the authors affects some of the book's structure. Even reading it at a go I was grateful for the placement of notes at the end of each chapter to ease the checking of references, but I was less pleased with the need for authors to (even briefly) recover ground they'd just addressed in a previous chapter to contextualize events and cases for spot-readers. Still, a bit of repetition is a small price to pay for such a well-researched and thoughtfully put together history (which - did I mention? - includes huge amounts of legal shade-throwing).
Fellion and Inglis end their book with a brief look forward at the future of censorship in the Internet Age, when it's possible to repossess purchased ebooks from digital devices, and a word of caution about assuming we're living in a world that guarantees liberality of speech. I suppose that if power's gonna power, then it's at least reassuring to know that talented writers like these are around to chronicle the efforts of those who fight to keep it in check.
First, some caveats, which the authors are themselves quick to throw out in their introduction: Censored deals almost exclusively with instances of censorship in the United States and Great Britain, and almost a third of its examples round up the usual suspects (Ulysses, The Satanic Verses, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn). That said, most of the material was new to me (Queen Mab, The Well of Loneliness) and even the cases I was familiar with were recreated and presented with such skillfully meticulous detail and historical context that it made for a fresh experience and understanding. (Censored: come for the nuanced historical overview of book banning, stay for the carefully documented legal literary shade thrown at James Joyce!)
Censored is designed so that readers can tackle it piecemeal or as a whole, and that decision by the authors affects some of the book's structure. Even reading it at a go I was grateful for the placement of notes at the end of each chapter to ease the checking of references, but I was less pleased with the need for authors to (even briefly) recover ground they'd just addressed in a previous chapter to contextualize events and cases for spot-readers. Still, a bit of repetition is a small price to pay for such a well-researched and thoughtfully put together history (which - did I mention? - includes huge amounts of legal shade-throwing).
Fellion and Inglis end their book with a brief look forward at the future of censorship in the Internet Age, when it's possible to repossess purchased ebooks from digital devices, and a word of caution about assuming we're living in a world that guarantees liberality of speech. I suppose that if power's gonna power, then it's at least reassuring to know that talented writers like these are around to chronicle the efforts of those who fight to keep it in check.
September 16, 2021
This book provides an interesting look at the history of literary censorship, focusing on censorship in the US and United Kingdom, but also with some discussion of censorship in France, China and other non-English countries. Some of the books and objections to the books were familiar to me, but there was also discussion of books I had never heard of and discussion of books that I did not realize were considered controversial. The authors provide lots of details about the books in question, the aspects of the books that were controversial, and the attitudes and the state of the law at the time. When the challenges resulted in legal cases, the authors discuss the legal proceedings and how the outcomes of the cases either conformed to existing laws or changed the state of the law. One of the things I found particularly interesting was the amount of self-censorship by certain authors in order to conform to expectations or avoid controversy, not always successfully. It was also interesting to read about the different ways authors and publishers reacted to challenges to the books they had written or published. Each chapter ends with citations to the sources of the information discussed so that readers who want to learn more about a particular book or controversy can do so.
I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.
July 14, 2019
Censored examines twenty-five examples of historical censorship from English translations of the Bible to the contemporary clash between advocates of Mexican American studies and state governments in the U.S. The majority of the cases are from the twentieth century including classics (Ulysses, Lolita, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, etc.) as well as controversial publications like Hit Man, a ‘technical manual’ for homicide, and Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses, so well written that the Ayatollah Khomeini called for his assassination. The emphasis finds justification in Amazon’s sudden removal in 2009 of 1984 from e-book readers; the issue was copyright but the irony is obvious.
April 12, 2024
Maybe it is me, but I found the later chapters quite dull compared to the earlier ones.
November 19, 2017
Censored is a well-researched and documented look at the history and development of censorship. The book is organized by a wide range of titles (everything from Nabokov to the Bible), and do works as a way of becoming familiar with new literature.
Positionally, the text starts with a definition and explanation of censorship and then takes the reader on a kind of literary tour. As an avid reader, I found this informative and interesting. As a person interested in research, I appreciated the detail and thought that undergirds the book, as well.
Positionally, the text starts with a definition and explanation of censorship and then takes the reader on a kind of literary tour. As an avid reader, I found this informative and interesting. As a person interested in research, I appreciated the detail and thought that undergirds the book, as well.
January 26, 2018
Censorship is not a new phenomenon. However, the depth of proof that Censored give is enlightening and sometimes hard to stomach. Matthew Fellion and Katherine Inglis show that Censorship is about power, closing ranks on free thought and not giving enough credit to the consumer of whatever is going censored. This book was sometimes hard to swallow, as I have no understanding of why people feel things need to be censored or kept from others. I was reminded of a scene from Footloose while reading this book, of the people of that small Kansas town burning what they considered books that should be banned. Censorship at its worst. I can't stomach that kind of ignorance.
Censorship is the antonym of Transparency and in this time of our lives, isn't that what we are seeing the struggle between transparency and what should be unveiled?
My only struggle with this book was how detailed it could get, although I loved that, as a reviewer, I am not sure all readers will, so I gave this book 3 stars instead of 4.
I appreciate the authors for writing this book. It's a great read if you are into "truth" and why other's don't feel you should have it.
Censorship is the antonym of Transparency and in this time of our lives, isn't that what we are seeing the struggle between transparency and what should be unveiled?
My only struggle with this book was how detailed it could get, although I loved that, as a reviewer, I am not sure all readers will, so I gave this book 3 stars instead of 4.
I appreciate the authors for writing this book. It's a great read if you are into "truth" and why other's don't feel you should have it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews