If high school summer reading lists consisted of these books more students would pass. I’m talking about books that were so sexually explicit and controversial when they were first released that they were, either, banned or written off as straight up pornography with no redeeming qualities. Of course, now, those original critics are probably rolling in their graves as many of these works are hailed as literary masterpieces today. It is ironic, though, that despite the fact that these works have been exonerated, you still wouldn’t find many of them as assigned reading. Then again, maybe this is wise as high school boys everywhere just breathed a sigh of relief; no doubt some of these books would cause them to have another embarrassing boner story to add to their repertoire.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Compared to the trashy romance novels of today, Madame Bovary might actually seem relatively tame, especially to someone who is not used to reading the dense language in which it was written in so long ago. In fact, reading certain passages one might not even realize that they are smutty or in any way inappropriate. That being said, sex is one of the most prominent themes in this novel as the title character embarks on a path filled with numerous adulterous affairs. So racy and controversial was Flaubert’s first novel that it was not only banned, but the author was tried in a court of law for immorality. Perhaps what scared critics most was that Emma Bovary was a woman entirely in charge of her own sexuality. Of course, this was in 1856 when censorship was way more rampant than it is today.
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Laurence
By 1928 little had changed and D.H. Laurence’s infamous work was censored in both the United States and England due its highly sexually explicit nature. This is simultaneously surprising and unsurprising – remember Prohibition? The 1920′s, however, also saw the emergence of the flappers; a new type of women who wore shorter skirts, engaged in casually sex, drinking, and notoriously breaking the social norms that were practically written in stone. This new attitude was fueling a sexual revolution of sorts but it didn’t tone down any of the objection to book; in particular, there were heavy objections to this novel for its frequent use of the words ‘fuck’ and ‘cunt.’
The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
That same year, another American novel met its doom and was sentenced to be destroyed (no really, literally destroyed). It’s crime? The Well marks what is probably the first lesbian protagonist in American literature and openly discussed early 1900′s attitudes of sexuality and homosexuality. It was the fact that the protagonist of the story was a lesbian that caused a public outcry that resulted in the book being shunned.
The Tropic of Cancer/Capricorn by Henry Miller
A couple decades later, these works didn’t fare much better when they were released. These novels are a relatively autobiographical retelling of Miller’s life as a poor expatriate living in France. There isn’t too much plot beyond the various daily exploits of the author, including his sexual encounters with women which were recounted with startling clarity and detail; it was this detail when it came to his sexual liaisons that drew attention to the novel.
The passages containing the sexually explicit content in The Tropic of Cancer recounted the woman, their bodies, what Miller did to them and what he wanted to do to them. Occasionally, he even made references to their ‘cunts.’ The public, however, isn’t any more comfortable with reading about a man who challenges sexual norms than they are with a women and the US government banned all of Miller’s works.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita is another classic work of literature from 1955 that has endured despite the depiction of sexual relationship between a grown man and a very young girl; obviously this is where people had a problem with the novel. Reading about a sexual relationship between a pedophile and the object of his affection made plenty of people squeamish. The initial negative reception of this novel might be due to the fact that it was blatantly misunderstood. While Lolita contains themes of sexuality, it is not, by any means, a romance novel and does not try to explain away the pedophilia in a fashion that vindicates it.
The Bible by um, somebody.
Even the most widely published book that ever passed through the pages of a printing press has had to wage plenty of battles. The Bible does contain elements of sexuality, although maybe not in the way you might expect. Religious fundamentalists have actually used the Bible in an attempt to back up their opposition to gay marriage and other LGBT rights. If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. (Leviticus 20:13) Passages like this one continue to fuel the debate and are dangerous to the human rights movement as a whole as they are viewed by many in a frighteningly literal perspective.
Are you there God? It’s me Margaret, and Forever by Judy Blume
Contrary to popular belief, censoring sexuality in literature is not merely a forgotten aspect of the past. Nobody knows the battle against censorship like children’s author Judy Blume. Her books are some of the most ardently fought novels in present day despite the fact that they were written in the 1970s. School libraries across the country are working to keep Blume’s books out of their library due to the light hearted way she incorporates discovering your sexuality as a young adult. Libraries that carry these books find they are some of the most checked out books in the school. Blume incorporates milestones of sexuality like the first time you get your period, first love, first sexual experience, and first heartbreak. It was the first time I saw the word ‘come’ used in a sexual fashion, although I didn’t know what it meant at the time. Young girls come of age reading these books, and it’s a shame that there are some who will not have the privilege of reading them because their school’s libraries banned these books from their shelves.
Images Via:
http://bookchronicle.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/madame-bovary-by-gustave-flaubert/
http://lasikportal.ru/index.php?key=Emilia+Fox
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/radclyffe-hall/well-of-loneliness.htm
http://www.housmans.com/booklists/CultFiction.php
http://www.audiobooks.net/audiobooks_buy.php
http://www.fellowshipchurch.ca/?PageID=bce43da0-4cdf-4a2a-b67f-acc8a299300b
http://disorganizedthoughtsfortheday.blogspot.com/2009/09/do-you-remember.html
http://readerbookreviews.blogspot.com/2008/01/forever-by-judy-blume.html
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