Censored

By Aoife BhreatnachSociety & Culture Arts Books History

Censored episodes

October 29, 2020 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.
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42 min
October 22, 2020 War is hell: Boell, 'And where were you, Adam?' (1951)
How did this subtle, refined war novel earn a ban? Perhaps faeces or war crimes were more offensive than barely-there sex.
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34 min
October 15, 2020 Unzipped!: Collins, 'The Stud' (1969)
The Stud is more silly than sexy and it's not the finest example of a bonkbuster. Why on earth would such a trashy, ridiculous book be banned when the censor ignored serious literary sex?
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32 min
October 08, 2020 Perverty Stuff: Salinger, 'The Catcher in the Rye' (1951)
Holden Caulfield's swearing and sex talk has offended many since 1951. Now a modern classic, what explains the enduring appeal of this poor little rich kid story?
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44 min
October 01, 2020 Such Badness: Hoult, 'There were no windows' (1944)
Hoult was banned more often than any other Irish woman writer. Only a censor's beady eye can find filth in a novel about loneliness and dementia
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28 min
September 24, 2020 Voluptuous Jazzing: McKay, 'Home to Harlem' (1928)
A love letter to Harlem and its music, this book offended all kinds of people. McKay's honesty about sex was brave and inflammatory
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26 min
September 17, 2020 Low and vulgar: Cross, 'The Tailor and Ansty' (1942)
A little book of folklore that became infamous. It was debated in parliament where nationalists denounced the elderly couple who were the subject of the book. But was the bull/cow story really that rude?
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51 min
August 27, 2020 There's something about Mary: Donleavy 'The Ginger Man' (1954)
I need to rant about Mary, one of many wronged women in 'The Ginger Man'. A confident woman with her own coalshed brought down by an abusive man.
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18 min
August 20, 2020 Filth and Faeces: Beckett, 'More Pricks than Kicks' (1934)
Even if the censors didn’t understand Beckett’s high-class smut, the lewd title was enough to get it banned. This short-story collection is stuffed with shit puns and blasphemy.
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52 min
August 13, 2020 Rapey Noir: Keene, 'Sleep with the Devil' (1954)
The censor hated Keene’s pulp noir, banning his work many times. This taut thriller was full of violence but it was also a morality tale.
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28 min