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The History of Obscene Books
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John Cleland - Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
This book has the distinction of being the longest banned book in U.S. history. Although published in 1749, it was declared obscene in 1821 and was not overturned until 1966 by the US Supreme Court. -
Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary
In 1856, excerpts of Flaubert's book were released in France which stirred the French government due to the scenes of an adulterous wife. The government attempted to block the publishing of the full book which prompted a lawsuit that Flaubert won. -
Charles Baudelaire - The Flowers of Evil
Baudelaire's poems caused the French government to declare that the author was depraved and suppressed six of the poems from being released. The poems were released 9 years later to critical acclaim. -
James Joyce - Ulysses
Due to it's content about masturbation, the New York Society for the Supression of VIce blocked the U.S. publication of Joyce's novel. In 1921, the book was taken to trial where it was determined as pornographic. The decision was overturned in 1934 and published 12 years later. -
Radclyffe Hall - The Well of Loneliness
The Well of Loneliness features one of the first modern lesbian protagonists. All copies of the book were destroyed after its 1928 U.S. obscenity trial but publication started again years later and the book was rediscovered by readers. -
Allen Ginsberg - Howl and Other Poems
Due to its explicent content of drug use and homosexual situations, Ginsberg and his publisher were brought against obscenity charges in 1957. After winning the trial, the book became essential in the Beatnik movement. -
D.H. Lawrence - Lady Chatterley's Lover
Although this book was printed privately two years after the author's death, the book was not noticed by either the US or British government until 1959 and 1960 when both countries had high-profile obscenity trials. The book was deemed as obscene due to the tale of adultry between a rich woman and her husband's servant. Both publishers won the obscenity trials. -
Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer
Following the U.S. publication of Miller's book, an obscenity trial began in 1961 due to the book's explicit sexual content. The author and his publisher won the trial and could continue the publication. -
Hubert Selby Jr. - Last Exit to Brooklyn
Selby's stream of consciousness short stories told tales of murder, gang rape, poverty, underground gay community, and the sex trade industry. The book was deemed as obscene in England and was on trial for 4 years before it was released once again to the public. -
Arundhati Roy - The God of Small Things
Published in 1996, the author was summoned to India's Supreme Court in 1997 due to the author's use of occasional sex scenes involving a Christian woman and a low-caste Hindu servant. She won the trial but has not yet published a second book.
