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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inform...
27 Aug 202017min
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. Hosted on Acast. See a...
20 Aug 202051min
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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
13 Aug 202027min
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 short novel is a multi-layered text. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/...
6 Aug 202049min
Bestial Behaviour: Endore, 'The Werewolf of Paris' (1933)
Endore combined violence and blasphemy in this classic of the werewolf genre. It’s hard to know whether the radical politics or freaky sex most offended the censor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priv...
30 Juli 202021min
Love, not sex: Wallace, 'The Chapman Report' (1961)
America was horrified when the Kinsey report proved that women were sexually transgressive. Wallace’s book trashed Kinsey but it still too sexy for the Irish censor. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...
23 Juli 202030min
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'. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inf...
16 Juli 202034min
Evil Contraception: Stopes, 'Married Love' (1918)
Marie Stopes' sex manual was banned for 50 years. Her promotion of contraception was radical in 1918 but it remained too controversial for the Irish state until 1980. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pr...
9 Juli 202042min
