e popular term, refers to a fictional book of between 20,000 and 50,000 words? Novella Who wrote the famous 1855 poem The Charge of the Light Brigade?... Sign up View the step-by-step solution to: e popular term, refers to a fictional book of between 20,000 and 50,000 words? Novella Who wrote the famous 1855 poem The Charge of the Light Brigade?... Part 1 What word, extended from a more popular term, refers to a fictional book of between 20,000 and 50,000 words? Novella Who wrote the famous 1855 poem The Charge of the Light Brigade? Lord Alfred Tennyson (1809-92) In 1960 the UK publishing ban was lifted on what 1928 book? Lady Chatterley's Lover (by D H Lawrence) In bookmaking how many times would an quarto sheet be folded? Twice (to create four leaves) Who wrote the seminal 1936 self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People?

Dale Carnegie Who in 1450 invented movable type, thus revolutionising printing? Johannes Gutenberg Which Polish-born naturalised British novelist's real surname was Korzeniowski? Joseph Conrad (1857-1924, full name Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) Which short-lived dramatist is regarded as the first great exponent of blank verse? Christopher Marlowe (1564-93 - Blank verse traditionally is unrhymed, comprising ten syllables per line, stressing every second syllable.) Who wrote the maxim 'Cogito, ergo sum' (I think, therefore I am)? René Descartes (1596-1650, French philosopher and mathematician, in his work Discours de la Méthode, 1637.) Who was the youngest of the three Brontë writing sisters? Anne Brontë (1820-49 - other sisters were Emily, 1818-48, and Charlotte, 1816-55, plus a brother, Branwell, 1817-48.

The two oldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth died in childhood.) What is the Old English heroic poem, surviving in a single copy dated around the year 1000, featuring its eponymous 6th century warrior from Geatland in Sweden? Beowulf What relatively modern school of philosophy, popular in literature since the mid 1900s, broadly embodies the notion of individual freedom of choice within a disorded and inexplicable universe? Existentialism What was the pen-name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson? Lewis Carroll (1832-98) Who wrote Dr Zhivago? Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960) What term and type of comedy is derived from the French word for stuffing? Farce or farcical (from the French farcir, to stuff, based on analogy between stuffing in cookery and the insertion of frivolous material into medieval plays.) What term originally meaning 'storehouse' referred, and still refers, to a periodical of various content and imaginative writing? Magazine Who wrote the significant scientific book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, published in 1687?

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) What 16th century establishment in London's Bread Street was a notable writers' haunt? The Mermaid Tavern Who wrote the 1845 poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin? Robert Browning (1812-89) Which American poet and humanist wrote and continually revised a collection of poems called Leaves of Grass? Walt Whitman (1819-92 - the title is apparently a self-effacing pun, since grass was publishing slang for work of little value, and leaves are pages.) kiakarosiyahtera44 posted a question · Apr 22, 2015 at 1:28pm Banned Books: A Complete List Of 144 Books And The Reasons Why They Were Outlawed on PostDesk 2 Badges Ulysses.

James Joyce (Irish, 1882-1941) Instalments of Ulysses appeared in the US magazine The Little Review in 1918 and a trial of the book based on one chapter from the magazine took place in 1921.The book was published in Paris in 1922. US Customs refused to handle it on the grounds of obscenity and the work was burned in the USA, Canada, England and Ireland. Ulysses was eventually published in the USA in 1933 and in the UK in 1936. The Arabian Nights or The Thousand and One Nights. These stories have been frequently banned in Arab countries, most recently Egypt in 1989 who declared they posed a threat to the nation’s moral fabric. The Arabian Nights was having problems in the USA back in the 1920s. It could not be handled by the US mail because of the Comstock Law of 1873, which prohibited the distribution of publications considered obscene. Tropic of Cancer.

Henry Miller (American, 1891-1980) Tropic of Cancer was first published in Paris in 1934 and was banned in both the USA and the UK because of its explicit sexual nature. When the US ban was eventually lifted in 1961 an obscenity trial followed publication and only in 1964 did the US Supreme Court find in the book’s favour. It is now considered a classic. The Dark. John McGahern (Irish, 1934-2008) The Dark, McGahern’s second novel, concerns clerical child abuse and was banned by the Irish board of censorship for its alleged pornographic content and implications of sexual abuse. He was told to resign his teaching post and, when he defied the instruction, was dismissed on the instruction of the Archbishop of Dublin. The Satanic Verses. Salman Rushdie (Indian, 1947- ) The Satanic Verses has been banned in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Qatar, Indonesia, South Africa and India for blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed and insulting Islam.

In 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa calling on all good Muslim’s to kill the author; as a result Rushdie had to go into hiding. Madame Bovary. Gustave Flaubert (French, 1821-1880) The publication of Madame Bovary resulted, in 1857, in Flaubert being taken to court in Paris for offending public morality. Even though he was acquitted, the book remained controversial. In 1864 it was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum by the Vatican, the English publisher, Vizitelly, was imprisoned in 1889 for publishing ‘obscene libels’ and as late as 1954 it was blacklisted in the USA by the National Organisation of Decent Literature. Heart of Darkness. Joseph Conrad (Polish, 1867-1924) In the past Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness, was proscribed in Poland, Germany and the USSR for reasons of political censorship. More recently it has been banned in parts of the USA for its use of the word ‘nigger’.

Interestingly, in 1975 Chinua Achebe, whose own book is banned, branded Conrad ‘a bloody racist’ for this book. Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe (Nigerian, 1830- ) Achebe’s work was banned in Western Nigeria when, in 1988, the author suggested that the veteran politician Obafeni Awolowo didn’t deserve a state funeral. Although Things Fall Apart has been translated into more than 50 languages, has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and is included on Time magazine’s 2005 list of 100 best novels, its sale has recently been ‘restricted’ in Malaysia. The Origin of Species. Charles Darwin (English, 1809-1882) The publication of The Origin of Species in 1859 unleashed one of the most dramatic controversies of the Victorian era. Darwin was accused of ‘dethroning God’ and clergy railed against him from pulpits all over Britain. The work was promptly banned from the library of Trinity College, Cambridge even though he was a graduate.

In 1925 the State of Tennessee banned the teaching of evolutionary theory, the law remaining in force till 1967. The book was also banned in Yugoslavia in 1935 and Greece in 1937. Peyton Place. Grace Metalious (American, 1924-1964) Peyton Place was publishing’s first ‘blockbuster’, and though it was denounced by the Church and dismissed by most critics as ‘trash, it sold 3 million copies in 1957 and more than 10 million by 1967. Peyton Place was banned in Ireland in 1958 for being ‘obscene’ and ‘indecent’; it was also banned in several US cities; declared ‘indecent’ in Canada and a ‘complete debasement of taste’ in New Hampshire, where it is set. Go Tell it on the Mountain. James Baldwin (American, 1924-1987) Go Tell it on the Mountain is a semi-autobiographical novel which is included on Time magazine’s 2005 list of 100 best novels.

However it has frequently been condemned for ‘social obscenity’ in the USA: in 1988 it was challenged as required reading in Prince William County, Virginia, for being ‘rife with profanity and explicit sex’ and in 1994 in Hudson Falls, New York, for its recurring themes of ‘rape, masturbation, violence and degrading treatment of women.’ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll (English, 1832-1898) The enduring classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, originally published in 1865 and which has never subsequently been out of print, was banned in 1931 by the governor of Hunan Province, China on the grounds that ‘animals should not use human language and that it was ‘disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level’. Steal this book. Abbie Hoffman (American, 1936-1989) An underworld survival guide sometimes described as a combination of Boy Scout manual and anarchists’ bible, this book was rejected 30 times before finally being published. It was immediately banned in Canada and many bookshops in the USA refused to stock it, fearing that the title would be taken literally.

The book rapidly leapt onto the best-seller lists. Lolita. Vladimir Nabokov (Russian, 1899-1977) Lolita initially failed to find a US publisher and appeared instead in France, but was banned as obscene in 1955. British Customs also banned the book in 1955, Argentina in 1959 claiming it reflected moral disintegration, New Zealand banned its import in 1960 and South Africa instituted a ban in 1974 because of the ‘perversion theme’. It is now on Time magazine’s 2005 list of best 100 novels. Stick Out Your Tongue. Ma Jian (Chinese, 1953- ) Stick Out Your Tongue is a collection of five short stories set in Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion. It was banned in China as ‘vulgar and obscene’, defaming ‘the image of our Tibetan compatriots’. In 1986 Ma Jian left China moving first to Hong Kong and then to England. All his works are now banned in China. Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (American, 1811-1896) Banned on publication in the Southern states as anti-slavery propaganda and for its negative depiction of slave-owners, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was then banned in Illinois in 1984 for the use of the word ‘nigger’. It was banned in tsarist Russia in 1852, and in Italy and all papal states in 1855 for ‘spreading the Protestant poison’. The Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx (German, 1818-1883) & Frederick Engels (German, 1820-1895) Since it was published in1848, The Manifesto has been translated into more languages than any other modern text. An obvious target for any government ideologically opposed to Communism it has been banned, censored, burned and declared dead.

It was banned in Germany in 1878 following attempts on Kaiser Wilhelm’s life, the Nationalists in China attempted to stop its circulation in 1929, the Nazis burned it in 1930 and Senator McCarthy encouraged a ban in the USA in 1950-53. Spycatcher. Peter Wright (English, 1916-1995) After 20 years’ service with MI5, Peter Wright moved to Australia where he wrote Spycatcher. It was published in 1987 being part memoir and part expose of what he considered the institutional failings of Britain’s security services. The book, an international best-seller, was banned in Britain. The British government, under Margaret Thatcher waged a lengthy, expensive and ultimately unsuccessful legal battle to prevent its publication. The Da Vinci Code. Dan Brown (American, 1964- ) The Da Vinci Code, which has sold over 80 million copies and been translated into 44 languages, is based on the premise that the Catholic Church actively conspires to conceal the true history of Jesus.

Rather than being banned by the Church, however, its sale has been prohibited in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, and various Indian states, on the grounds that the book is offensive to Christianity. Les Fleurs du Mal. Charles Baudelaire (French, 1821-1867) Les Fleurs du Mal (often translated as The Flowers of Evil) is a volume of poetry first published in 1857 causing both the author and the publisher to be prosecuted for offending public decency. Six of the poems suppressed as too radical for publication were published in Brussels in a small volume as Les Epaves in Belgium in 1866. The ban in France was not lifted until 1949. We. Yevgeny Zamyatin (Russian, 1884-1937) Written in 1921 and seen as a critique of the totalitarianism that was starting to take shape after the Russian Revolution, We was the first book suppressed by the Soviet Glavit censorship administration. Having been smuggled abroad its publication in the West caused all Zamyatin’s writings to be banned in Russia and life became very difficult for the author.

Only in 1931 was he allowed to leave the USSR when he settled in Paris. We was not published in the USSR until 1988. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Russian, 1918-2008) With his first novel, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, based on Solzhenitsyn’s own experiences in a Siberian labour camp, Solzhenitsyn emerged as an eloquent opponent of government repression. Initially banned, the book was published when Khruschev intervened. In 1976 complaints about ‘objectionable language’ meant the book was removed from a school library in New Hampshire, USA. July’s People. Nadine Gordimer (South African, 1923- ) July’s People was banned in South Africa soon after its publication in 1981 because of the poor light in which it showed the apartheid regime. The ban was later lifted, but ironically, in 2001, the new regime attempted to ban it from schools on the grounds that it was ‘racist, sexist, patronising and outdated’. The proposal was rejected. American Psycho.

Bret Eastern Ellis (American, 1964- ) American Psycho caused a furore before it even appeared the graphic depictions of sexual violence causing the original publisher to withdraw. The New York Times review was titled ‘Don’t Buy This Book’ and the National Organisation for Women urged a boycott. Germany censored it as harmful to minors restricting sales and marketing; in Australia and New Zealand it was sold shrink-wrapped only to over-18s. Wild Swans. Jung Chang (Chinese, 1952- ) Chang’s family memoir spanning three generations has sold 10 million copies and been translated into 30 languages. Yet Wild Swans has never been allowed in mainland China. A Chinese translation that Chang herself worked on is published in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and many copies have been smuggled into China, but the ban there still holds. The Master and Margarita. Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian, 1891-1940) Bulgakov published a number of works in the 1920s but, after being criticised as anti-Soviet, his career was effectively ruined by 1929.

He continued to write The Master and Margarita, which was completed just before his death. The hidden manuscript finally appeared, heavily censored, in the magazine Moskva in 1966 and 1967. It was finally published worldwide in its unexpurgated form in 1973 and remains a bestseller to this day. Brave New World. Aldous Huxley (English, 1894-1963) Brave New World has been charged with being sordid, immoral and obscene. It has been condemned for vilifying the family, for giving too much attention to sex and for encouraging illegal drug use. Many cite the sexual promiscuity of the Utopians, as did the Board of Censors in Ireland when it banned the novel in 1932. It is also considered to be ‘depressing, fatalistic and negative’ and has been frequently challenged in schools throughout the USA. Germinal. Emile Zola (French, 1840-1902) Germinal, the first major work on a strike, was based on Zola’s painstaking, first-hand research into conditions in the coal mines.

Published in 1885 it was attacked by governments and right-wing political groups as a call to revolution. Between 1894 and 1898 all Zola’s work was added to the Vatican’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the list of books Catholics were forbidden to read. The Poet in New York and other poems. Federico Garcia Lorca (Spanish, 1899-1936) On 19 August 1936 Falangist soldiers dragged the eminent poet and playwright into a field, where they murdered him. The soldiers accused him of having ‘done more damage with his pen than others had with their guns’. Having accused Lorca of ‘subversive activity’, Franco’s government then tried to obliterate his memory. His entire body of work remained banned until Franco’s death in 1975. Black Beauty. Anna Sewell (English, 1820-1878) With a view to upholding the apartheid regime in South Africa, the government implemented an elaborate system of banning literature considered objectionable.

Consequently, in 1955, this children’s book about a horse, and set wholly in England, was banned because of the word ‘black’ in the title. Lady Chatterley’s Lover. D.H.Lawrence (English, 1885-1930) Lady Chatterley’s Lover was originally privately printed in Florence in 1928 to avoid the censors – a move that lost the author substantial income. Considered obscene, it was banned in the UK, Ireland, Australia, the USA, Canada, Japan and China. Penguin Books successfully challenged the UK ban in 1960, on the grounds of ‘redeeming social merit’. The book sold over 2 million copies in its first year of publication. Blowing up Russia.

Alexander Litvinenko (Russian, 1962-2006) and Yuri Felshtinsky (Russian, 1956-) In Blowing up Russia, former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko (who died in London, poisoned by a lethal dose of polonium-210) and historian Yuri Felshtinsky alleged that fellow agents coordinated the Moscow apartment bombings blamed on Chechen separatists and used to justify the second Chechen war. The book is subtitled The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror. On 29 December 2003 the Russian authorities confiscated over 5,000 copies of the book on their way to Moscow from the publishers in Latvia. Doctor Zhivago. Boris Pasternak (Russian, 1890-1960) Dr Zhivago, Pasternak’s first novel, was written at a time of seeming political thaw but was promptly banned in the USSR for alleged criticism of the Bolshevik abuse of power after the Russian Revolution. Pasternak was expelled from the Soviet Writers’ Union and forced to refuse the 1958 Nobel Prize for Literature.

Dr Zhivago was finally published in Russia in 1988. Candide. Voltaire (French, 1694-1778) First published in 1759 this critically acclaimed satire was declared obscene in 1929 by US customs who, in 1930, seized copies bound for Harvard, where the book was a set text. Since Voltaire was a nihilist who disliked organised religion, his book had already been placed on the Catholic Church’s list of banned books, the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The Rights of Man. Thomas Paine (English, 1737-1809) Paine was indicted for treason in England in 1792 for the seditious content of The Rights of Man, which condoned the French Revolution and advocated the overthrow of the British monarchy. It became illegal to own a copy of the book and Paine was forced to flee to France, where he became a French citizen. He finally settled in America. The Rights of Man is identified on the list of works ‘most often’ censored in the Encyclopaedia of Censorship. The Call of the Wild.

Jack London (American, 1876-1916) London’s works were censored in several European dictatorships during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1929 all his books were banned in Yugoslavia for being ’too radical’ while Italy was banning all cheap editions of The Call of the Wild’. His works were also burned by the Nazis, presumably because they disliked his socialist attitudes. Animal Farm. George Orwell (Eric Blair, English, 1903-1950) Animal Farm was banned in the USSR until perestroika for being anti-communist. It was also banned in the USA for Communist material in its introduction. In 1963 the John Birch Society in Wisconson challenged the use of the phrase ‘masses will revolt’. The novel was banned in 2002 from schools in the United Arab Emirates. The book is on Time magazine’s 2005 list of best 100 novels. Amores.

Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman, 43 BC-AD 17) Two thousand years ago Emperor Augustus banned Ovid’s work from public libraries and Ovid was banished to Tomis, an obscure and barbarous outpost of the empire. All Ovid’s works were banned by Savonarola in Florence in 1487. The Amores (love poems) were translated by Christopher Marlowe and printed abroad c1600, but the edition was banned, called in, and copies burned. Ovid prophesied that, in spite of the ban on it, his work would live on. All Quiet on the Western Front. Erich Maria Remarque (German, 1898-1970) All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful account of World War I. Written by Erich Maria Remarque, a veteran of the first World War, the book was banned in Nazi Germany for being defeatist and demoralizing and insulting the Wehrmacht (German military forces). By 1933 the book was being publicly burned in Berlin. As I Lay Dying.

William Faulkner (American, 1897-1962) In 1986, Graves County, Kentucky, the school board banned As I Lay Dying, a book about a poor white family in the midst of crisis, from its high school English reading list because of seven passages which made reference to God or abortion and used curse words such as “bastard,” “goddam,” and “son of a bitch.” None of the board members had actually read the book. The Diary of a Young Girl. Anne Frank (German, 1929-1945) The Diary of a Young Girl (Diary of Anne Frank) is banned in Lebanon for ‘portraying Jews, Israel or Zionism’ favourably. In 1983 members of the Alabama State Textbook Committee called for the rejection of The Diary of Anne Frank because it was ‘a real downer’. It was also challenged for offensive sexual references. Fanny Hill. John Cleland (English, 1709-1789) Now considered to be the first erotic novel, the publication of Fanny Hill resulted in the arrest of the author and publisher for ‘corrupting the King’s subjects’.

The book was banned for obscenity. It was banned in the USA in 1821 and remained so until 1966. Fanny Hill, the story of a country girl who makes a fortune selling sex in the brothels that abounded in London in the 18th century was pornography-literally so, because ‘pornography’ was a word made up at exactly that time, from Greek roots, meaning ‘writing about prostitutes’. Fight Club. Chuck Palahniuk (American, 1962- ) Fight Club was published in 1996. It follows the experiences of an anonymous protagonist struggling with his way of life and changes in American pop-culture masculinity. To overcome this he forms a bond with a mysterious anarchist and establishes an underground fighting club. The book was banned in China in 1999 for giving instructions on how to make various explosive devices. Frankenstein. Mary W. Shelley (British, 1792-1851) Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus, to give it its full title, was published, anonymously, in London in 1818.

The novel is generally considered to be a landmark work of Romantic and Gothic literature as well as the first fully realised Science Fiction. It was banned in South Africa in 1955 for being indecent and obscene. Gulliver’s Travels. Jonathon Swift (Anglo-Irish, 1667-1745) Gulliver’s Travels was published anonymously to avoid persecution. It was censored in England and banned in Ireland-for being wicked and obscene-but has never been out of print. William Makepiece Thackeray branded parts of the work as ‘gibbering shrieks, and gnashing imprecations against mankind-tearing down all shreds of modesty, past all sense of manliness and shame; filthy in word, filthy in thought, furious, raging, obscene’. Not Without My Daughter. Betty Mahmoody (American, 1945- ) Banned in Iran Not Without My Daughter is the real life story of an American citizen’s escape, along with her daughter, from the clutches of her husband in Iran. It created a furore in Iran for showing the general conditions there in a bad light as well as for being critical of Islamic customs.

Catcher in the Rye. J. D. Salinger (American, 1919- ) This is a perennial favourite of censors and has been banned in the USA and Australia. In 1960, a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma was fired for putting the book on the 11th grade reading list. The teacher was later reinstated, but the book was permanently removed from teaching programmes. A Minnesota high school administration was attacked for allowing the book in the school library. Putin’s Russia. Anna Politkovskaya (Russian, 1958-2006) Anna Politkovskaya was a Russian investigative journalist, an author and a human rights activist. Her last book before her death, Putin’s Russia, could not be published in her home country and became the first book to be honoured with an English PEN Writers in Translation award. Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in an elevator in her Moscow apartment building on Saturday 7th October 2006. Maurice. E. M.

Forster (English, 1879-1970) More self-censored by the author than banned; Forster finished Maurice in 1914 but refused to allow publication until after his death. To bring out a frankly homosexual novel that did not, as he put it, end ‘with a lad dangling from a noose or with a suicide pact’ would have made him vulnerable. The book has been banned in a regional high school in USA, copies being seized from students as they read them in class. Personal attacks on the teacher, Penny Culliton, who introduced the book, have been so vehement that her job has been put in jeopardy. Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury (American, 1920-) First published in 1953 Fahrenheit 451 describes a world where reading is outlawed and critical thought destroyed through hedonistic living. In 1998 the book was removed from the reading list of the West Marion High School, Foxworth, Missippi following a complaint of the use of the words ‘God Damn’. Bradbury discovered that editors at Ballantyne Books had, bit by bit, censored some 75 separate sections from the novel.

An exquisite irony for a book dealing with censorship and book-burning.. To Kill a Mocking Bird. Harper Lee (American, 1926-) To Kill a Mocking Bird, a Pulitzer Prize winning novel published in 1960, was instantly successful and became a classic of modern American literature. The novel is renowned for its warmth and humour despite dealing with serious issues of rape and racial equality. It has also been a source of significant controversy across America and Canada since being the subject of a classroom study in 1963. The American Library Association reported that To Kill a Mocking Bird was 23rd of the 100 most challenged books of 2000-2007. Lord of the Flies. William Golding (British, 1911-1993) Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. It has become one of the most frequently challenged books in the USA and considered ‘demoralising inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal’.

The Toronto School Board banned this classic from all schools, claiming it was racist for use of the word ‘niggers’. Even Golding’s Nobel Prize in literature did not protect the book. Age of Reason. Thomas Paine (English, 1737-1809) One of America’s Founding Fathers, Paine wrote Age of Reason whilst imprisoned in revolutionary France in 1793. The book critiques Christianity and the Bible from Paine’s view as a Deist detailing numerous inconsistencies in both the Old and New Testaments. The book was banned in France because it was considered too religious and in England as too atheistic. The Grapes of Wrath. John Steinbeck (American, 1902-1968) The Grapes of Wrath has been one of the most vilified works since its publication in 1939. Burned at the St.

Louis (Missouri) Public Library immediately after publication, it also was banned from the Buffalo (New York) Public Library because of “vulgar words.” It was challenged in the Greenville (South Carolina) schools because it used the names of God and Jesus “in a vain and profane manner” and was banned in Kern County (California) where the story was set. It continues to be one of the most challenged books in schools and libraries in the USA. Slaughterhouse 5. Kurt Vonnegut (American, 1922-2007) Slaughterhouse 5 is an anti-war science fiction novel written 20 years after Vonnegut’s experience at Dresden in the 1940s. It can boast dozens of cases when students, parents, teachers, administrators, librarians and members of the clergy have called for its removal or destruction for one or many of the following reasons: obscenity, vulgar language, violence, inappropriateness, ‘bathroom language’, ungodliness, immoral subject matter, cruelty, language that is ‘too modern’ and an ‘unpatriotic’ portrayal of war. The Prince.

Nicolo Machiavelli (Italian, 1469-1527) The Prince was never published in Machiavelli’s lifetime. When printed copies became widely available after 1532, the Catholic Church banned it as an evil work. Others criticised it as a ‘handbook for tyrants’. By the early 1600s Shakespeare was using ‘Machiavel’ to refer to an unscrupulous and scheming person and today Machiavellian means acting in an evil, underhand way. Others, however, have applauded Machiavelli. Rousseau thought The Prince was a service to the people, putting them on guard against the secrets and methods of tyrants. Adam Bede. George Eliot (English, 1819-1880) Adam Bede was published in 1859 whereupon it was attacked in the United Kingdom as the “vile outpourings of a lewd woman’s mind” and withdrawn from British libraries. However by the end of her life George Eliot was recognised as the greatest living English novelist, particularly admired by Turgenev, Henry James and Queen Victoria. The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Beatrix Potter (English, 1866-1943) During its examination of school learning materials in the 1980s, the London County Council banned the use of Beatrix Potter’s children’s classics The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny from all London schools. The reason: the stories portrayed only ‘middle class rabbits’. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Dee Brown (American 1908-2002) This Native American history of how The West was really won was first published in 1970 and has since been translated into 17 languages. It was removed from Wild Rose School, Wisconsin in 1974 by a district administrator for being ‘slanted’ and ‘un-American’. He explained: ‘If there’s a possibility that something might be controversial then why not eliminate it?’. The Gulf Between Us. Geraldine Bedell (British, 1956-) The first International Festival of Literature held in February 2009 in Dubai, claiming to celebrate the ‘world of books in all its infinite variety’, banned The Gulf Between Us and told the author not to attend the festival because one of the (minor) characters is gay.

The book has since been banned in Dubai and the rest of the United Arab Emirates. Gulag Archipelago. Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Russian, 1918-2008) Completed in 1968, but hidden, publication was necessary in 1973 when the Leningrad woman hiding the manuscript revealed its hiding place after five days of KGB interrogation (on release, she hanged herself). In 1974 Solzhenitsyn was arrested, charged with treason, lost his Soviet citizenship and was deported. Gorbachev authorised the publication of extracts in 1989. Portnoy’s Complaint. Philip Roth (American, 1933-) Portnoy’s Complaint, Roth’s most popular novel, was published in 1969 when it was also declared a ‘prohibited import’ in Australia. The Australian publisher, Penguin Books, resisted the ban, had copies printed in secret and stored in fleets of moving trucks. Attempts to prosecute Penguin and booksellers carrying the book failed and the ban was lifted in 1974. Several libraries and librarians in the USA have been harassed and threatened for carrying this book Mein Kampf.

Adolf Hitler (German, 1889-1945) Mein Kampf had many challenges from the time of its publication to the height of World War II and beyond. Today it is banned or restricted in many countries including Austria, China, Mexico, Germany, Russia and The Netherlands. Some historians have speculated that a wider readership prior to Hitler’s rise to power, or at least to the outbreak of World War II, might have alerted the world to the dangers Hitler would pose to peace in Europe and to The Holocaust he would pursue. The Country Girls. Edna O’Brien (Irish, 1932-) O’Brien was living in England when she published her first novel, The Country Girls. It was a huge hit and critically well received around the world, but because of the sexual content of the story she was denounced in Ireland and the book, plus six of her subsequent works, was banned there. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens, American, 1835-1910) Banned from the children’s section of the Brooklyn Public Library in 1876 because of the ‘questionable character’ of Tom Sawyer, the book has been challenged more recently for its ‘racial language’. It was not allowed entry into the USSR in 1930 but in 1937 was banned by the Brazilian government in a crackdown on works considered Communist and subversive. The Sorrows of Young Werther. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German, 1749-1832) Published in 1774 and greeted with enthusiasm this classic story about suicide attained cult status in Europe. However when a number of copycat suicides occurred the book was condemned by the Lutheran Church and banned in Denmark, Germany and Italy. In 1939, 163 years after publication, Franco ordered libraries in Spain be purged of works by ‘such disgraceful writers as Goethe’. Justine.

Marqués de Sade (French, 1740-1814) Napoleon described Justine as ‘the most abominable book ever engendered by the most depraved imagination’, an opinion widely shared. The Marques’s works have been banned in many countries, including France, the UK and the USA, for their depictions of graphic sex and violence. The term ‘sadism’ is derived from his name. All his works were on the Vatican’s Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The Kingdom of God is Within You. Leo Tolstoy (Russian, 1828-1910) The Kingdom of God is Within You was first published in Germany in 1894, after being banned in Russia. The title is taken from the Bible, Luke 17:21. In the book Tolstoy espouses the principle of non-resistance in the face of violence, as taught by Jesus. The work influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Freedom from Fear.

Aung San Suu Kyi (Burmese, 1945-) The leader of her country’s opposition party, the National League for Democracy, and Nobel Peace Prize-winner, Aung San Suu Kyi was under house arrest in Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma), when this book was published in 1991 in London and New York. None of her works is published or distributed in Myanmar, where she still lives and is still under house arrest. Last Exit to Brooklyn. Hubert Selby Jr (American, 1928-2004) Banned in Italy, Last Exit to Brooklyn was tried under the Obscene Publications Act in the UK in 1966. The judge felt that women ‘might be embarrassed at having to read a book which dealt with homosexuality, prostitution, drug-taking and sexual perversion’ and it was ruled obscene. An appeal issued in 1968 by the lawyer and writer, John Mortimer, reversed the decision. The case marked a turning point in UK censorship laws. Naked Lunch.

William Burroughs (American, 1914-1997) Naked Lunch caused controversy as soon as it appeared in 1959 for its subject matter and its language. It was one of the last books to be tried in the USA for obscenity and was banned in 1965 in Boston as a result. The finding was reversed by the State Supreme Court the following year the judgement finding the book did not violate obscenity statutes as it was found to have some social value. On Time magazine’s 2005 list of best 100 novels. Mein Kampf. Adolf Hitler (German, 1889-1945) Mein Kampf had many challenges from the time of its publication to the height of World War II and beyond. Today it is banned or restricted in many countries including Austria, China, Mexico, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands. Some historians have speculated that a wider readership prior to Hitler’s rise to power, or at least to the outbreak of World War II, might have alerted the world to the dangers Hitler would pose to peace in Europe and to The Holocaust he would pursue. Cain’s Book.

Alexander Trocchi (Scottish, 1925-1984) Cain’s Book, a roman-à-clef that detailed the author’s adventures as a heroin addict living on a boat on the Hudson River, came out to considerable acclaim in the USA. However the book’s frank depiction of drug addiction and sex was the source of an obscenity trial, brought by Sheffield City Council, in 1963 and the book was banned in the UK. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Milan Kundera (Czech, 1929- ) Kundera published his first novel, The Joke, a satirical account of life under Communism, in 1967. A year later, when the Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia, he was blacklisted: his books were banned from libraries and then, in 1970, from publication altogether. He moved to France in 1975, from where he wrote An Unbearable Lightness of Being, but his books remained banned in Czechoslovakia until 1989.

Top 20 books they tried to ban - Telegraph Book news Top 20 books they tried to ban In October 1960, Penguin Books went on trial over the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover. Here are some other famous books they tried to ban Penguin Books went on trial in 1960 over the publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover Photo: PA By Felicity Capon and Catherine Scott 9:28AM BST 20 Oct 2014 Belle et Bête by Marcela Iacub Iacub’s book, which can be translated as ‘Beauty and Beast’ or ‘Beautiful and Stupid’, gives explicit details of her seven-month affair with Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Although he is not named in the book, Iacub told a French publication that the book’s protagonist is indeed the former IMF chief. A French judge rejected Strauss-Kahn’s attempts to ban the book, which describes its male lead as “king of the pigs” and “a poet of filth”, and it has now gone on sale. Iacub and her publisher have, however, been ordered to pay Strauss-Kahn €50, 000 in damages.

Related Articles The Spycatcher by Peter Wright Ex-MI5 agent Wright laid the British intelligence agency bare in this account of his time working as a ‘spycatcher’, revealing assassination plots, joint conspiracies with the CIA and unethical information-gathering techniques. The book was banned by the British government on its release in 1987, but remained available in Scotland and Australia and went on to sell 2 million copies. Wild Swans by Jung Chang Jung Chang’s family memoir told via three generations of women in her family gave many Western readers their first insight into life in China under the iron rule of Chairman Mao’s Communist party. With over 13 million copies sold, Wild Swans is reportedly the biggest selling non-fiction paperback of all time, but has remained banned in China since its release in 1991. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D H Lawrence Lawrence’s sexually explicit tale of an adulterous love affair was banned in the UK from its release in 1928 until 1960, after Penguin won its right to publish the book under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act.

After a trial in which the prosecution asked: “Is this a book you would wish your wife or servants to read?”, Penguin saw 200,000 copies of the book sell in its first day of publication. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque Written by a veteran of the First World War, this unflinching portrayal of the brutality of the conflict was banned by the Nazi government in 1933 for its apparently unfavourable portrayal of German military forces. It remains one of the most respected and renowned works of fiction on World War I. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak Pasternak’s depiction of Russian life after the Bolshevik Revolution was banned in the former Soviet Union until 1988. Such was the native hostility towards his book’s apparent criticisms of the Bolshevik party that Pasternak turned down the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 after being threatened with ejection from the USSR.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum Despite appearing to most of us as an inoffensive fairy tale, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) was banned in many US libraries and schools in the 1930s and again in the 1950s for promoting "unwholesome" values via its independent female protagonist and its "ungodly" characters such as witches and flying monkeys. 1984 by George Orwell George Orwell’s 1949 vision of a dystopian future, where all human activity is monitored and independent thought is entirely suppressed, was banned by the American Libraries Association for being a “bleak warning of totalitarian government and censorship”. Ironically, despite the book being labelled pro-Communist, it was also banned in the USSR for implicitly criticising the Soviet regime. Ulysses by James Joyce Joyce’s epic novel has long been considered one of the most important works of Modernist literature, but anti-vice forces in the US took issue with the book’s brief metaphorical reference to masturbation. After a 1921 trial in which it was declared obscene, Ulysses was banned in America until 1933.

Originally published in Paris, it also remained banned in the UK until the 1930s. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank Translated into 60 languages, the diary of the German teenager who narrated her life in hiding from the Nazis and later in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide since it was published in 1952. Yet the book is banned in Lebanon for depicting Jews positively; Schindler’s Ark and Sophie’s Choice are also banned. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie Rushdie's notorious book, inspired in part by the life of the Prophet Mohammed, famously resulted in Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini placing a fatwa (death sentence) on Rushdie for "insulting Islam". Violent demonstrations erupted against Rushdie around the world and several UK bookshops were firebombed for stocking the book. Most shockingly, Rushdie’s Japanese translator was murdered, his Italian translator wounded in a knife attack and his Norwegian publisher was shot and injured.

Going Clear by Lawrence Wright Although Lawrence Wright’s controversial tell-all about the inner workings of Scientology has not been banned outright, British publishers Transworld backed out of the agreement to publish in this country after taking legal advice. It seems likely that the threat of legal action from the notoriously litigious Scientology organisation is what spooked the publishers. Operation Dark Heart by Anthony Shaffer This 2010 memoir by US Army intelligence officer Lt. Col Anthony Shaffer has become notorious due to the extraordinary lengths the US Defence Department went to in order to prevent sensitive information from being revealed: the first printing of nearly 10,000 copies was purchased and destroyed by the Pentagon. The book is an account of Shaffer’s five months spent in Afghanistan. It includes operational details and describes the inner workings of America’s intelligence agencies. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown The phenomenal best-seller from Dan Brown, which contained a depiction of Christ marrying Mary Magdalene and fathering a child, was banned in Lebanon in 2004, with Catholic leaders condemning the “insulting” book.

In 2008, the Catholic Church prevented filming of the sequel to The Da Vinci Code film, Angels and Demons, from taking place inside Roman churches. A spokesman for the Vatican, Father Marco Fibbi, said of the decision: "Usually we read the script but in this case it wasn’t necessary. Just the name Dan Brown was enough.” Lolita by Vladimir Nabikov The infamous tale of a sexual relationship between a middle-aged man and a 12-year-old girl was published in 1955. Despite now being considered to be one of the finest novels written in the 20th century, the UK Home Office ordered British Customs officials to seize any copies entering the UK. The ban lasted until 1959. The eventual British publication by Weidenfeld and Nicolson caused a scandal and adversely affected the reputation of the British publisher and politician, Nigel Nicolson. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler Hitler’s autobiography/manifesto sold millions of copies throughout the Nazi regime but was banned in Germany in 1945.

In 2010, it was announced that an annotated version of the text would be published in 2015, when the copyright currently held by the Bavarian state government expires. Throughout the world, there have been numerous restrictions and outright bans on the book. For example, it was not published in Poland until 1992 and in Argentina its publication or import in significant numbers is illegal. Harry Potter (1997 - 2007) by J K Rowling Having sold over 450 million copies of the Harry Potter series, J K Rowling probably isn’t too concerned about missing out on readers. However, despite Harry Potter’s popularity with a worldwide audience, the first four books in the collection have the dubious honour of being the most banned books in America. Accused of promoting witchcraft and the occult, and labelled a "masterpiece of satanic deception", the books have been banned and burned across the US, although many schools have stood firm against parental requests to remove the books from their libraries.

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall First published in 1928, the tale of a wealthy young woman tormented by her love for another woman is now considered a thinly autobiographical account of Hall’s own struggle with her sexuality. Despite depicting nothing more incendiary than a kiss between the two women, the book was subject to an obscenity trial and banned on the grounds that it was likely to “deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences”. The book returned to print in 1949 and has gone on to sell millions; it is still considered a groundbreaking work in achieving visibility for lesbians. The Dark by John McGahern McGahern’s second novel, published in 1965, described parental and clerical abuse taking place in rural Ireland, and was almost immediately banned by the Irish state censors on grounds of obscenity. McGahern lost his job as a teacher due to the controversy and went into hiding, refusing to publish any new work for the next five years. Prominent writers such as Samuel Beckett spoke out in McGahern’s defence, and the ban on The Dark ended in 1972.

MacGahern went on to produce four more novels including the Booker Prize-nominated Amongst Women. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll For most readers, Carroll’s 1865 book is a beautifully rendered tale of discovery which has appealed to children’s imaginations across the generations. For the governor of a Chinese province, however, it was dangerously subversive. In 1931 the book was banned in Hunan province not for its allusion to mind-altering substances, but because it included talking animals. Governor Ho Chien said that it was “disastrous” to depict “animals and human beings on the same level”. BBC ON THIS DAY | 10 | 1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold out About This Site | Text Only 1960: Lady Chatterley's Lover sold out Bookshops all over England have sold out of Penguin's first run of the controversial novel Lady Chatterley's Lover - a total of 200,000 copies - on the first day of publication. DH Lawrence's sexually explicit novel was published in Italy in 1928 and in Paris the following year. It has been banned in the UK - until now.

Last month, after a dramatic and much-publicised trial, Penguin won the right to publish the book in its entirety. For those who can manage to find a copy, it is available in paperback for 3s 6d. Rush to buy London's largest bookstore, W&G Foyle Ltd, said its 300 copies had gone in just 15 minutes and it had taken orders for 3,000 more copies. When the shop opened this morning there were 400 people - mostly men - waiting to buy the unexpurgated version of the book. Hatchards in Piccadilly sold out in 40 minutes and also had hundreds of orders pending. Selfridges sold 250 copies in minutes. A spokesman told the Times newspaper, "It's bedlam here. We could have sold 10,000 copies if we had had them." Lady C, as it has become known, has also become a bestseller in the Midlands and the North where demand has been described as "terrific". Novel on trial The book tells of Lady Chatterley's passionate affair with Mellors, the family gamekeeper, and details their erotic meetings.

Last year the government introduced the Obscene Publications Act that said that any book considered obscene by some but that could be shown to have "redeeming social merit" might still published. This prompted Penguin to print off and store 200,000 copies with the aim of completing a set of works by DH Lawrence to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death this year. Penguin sent 12 copies to the Director of Public Prosecutions challenging him to prosecute, which he duly did. The six-day trial at the Old Bailey began on 27 October and gripped the nation. The defence produced 35 witnesses, including bishops and leading literary figures, such as Dame Rebecca West, EM Forster and Richard Hoggart.

The prosecution was unable to make a substantial case against the novel and at one point prosecution counsel Mervyn Griffith-Jones shocked the jury by asking: "Is it a book you would wish your wife or servants to read?" DH Lawrence Pansies poem collection shows censor battle - BBC News BBC News DH Lawrence Pansies poem collection shows censor battle 29 October 2015 Image copyright AP Image caption DH Lawrence was frustrated that his typescripts were confiscated A newly-discovered typescript of a collection of DH Lawrence poems has revealed further proof of the writer's determination to fight censorship. After Pansies was intercepted and confiscated by government officials in 1929 on the grounds it was "obscene", Lawrence produced another copy. It was smuggled in to the country and published for a select audience. The University of Nottingham has acquired one of the typescripts, annotated by DH Lawrence himself. Following the controversy surrounding Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1928, postal workers acting under instruction from Scotland Yard and the Home Office opened a parcel from Lawrence to his London literary agent Curtis Brown.

Image copyright University of Nottingham Image caption The typescript for DH Lawrence's Pansies has been bought by the University of Nottingham The package contained two typescripts of Pansies, the last book of poems Lawrence saw published in his lifetime. Abridged versions of the collection were published but outraged by the seizure of his typescripts, Lawrence set to work to produce a fuller version. He entrusted one of these to Welsh novelist Rhys Davies who smuggled the typescript through English customs before it was published privately in August 1929. Lawrence retyped it again over fears it, too, would be seized. Why was Lady Chatterley so controversial?

Bookshops sold out of copies of Lady Chatterley's Lover on the first day the ban was lifted in 1960 - three decades after Lawrence wrote it It told the story of Lady Chatterley's passionate affair with her husband's gamekeeper and included details of their erotic encounters and four-letter words It was banned in Britain in 1929 but the Obscene Publications Act of 1959 allowed publishers to escape conviction if they could show a work had literary merit During a sensational six-day trial at the Old Bailey the prosecution failed to make the case that it was obscene and within a year it had outsold the Bible, shifting two million copies A handful of screen adaptations of the book have been made, including on BBC TV in 1993 starring Sean Bean and Joely Richardson Mark Dorrington, the University of Nottingham's keeper of manuscripts and special collections, said although a few of the poems contained some "obscene phraseology", the confiscation was more to do with Lawrence's reputation.

Dr Andrew Harrison, director of the university's DH Lawrence research centre, said: "It is astonishing that the consumptive Lawrence, who hated the mechanical business of typing, could summon the energy to retype his longest book of poems so often, barely 12 months before his death. "But he was wholly committed to striking back at [the British government] and to fighting censorship." Lawrence died in March 1930 and Lady Chatterley's Lover was not published in the UK until 1960. Fifty Shades of Grey: Are children able to buy it? - BBC News BBC News Fifty Shades of Grey: Are children able to buy it? By Tom de Castella BBC News Magazine 31 August 2012 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Fifty Shades of Grey's success highlights the lack of age restriction on selling erotic fiction. Why are books freely available to children when other media are highly policed? Teenagers sneaking into 18-certificate movies featuring sex or violence - by pretending to be older than they are - has long been a rite of passage. Their efforts are attempts to avoid a long-established regulatory framework.

But for the same teenager to go into their local bookshop and buy Anais Nin's short stories, Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho or Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita - all of which involve either explicit sex or violence - is perfectly legal. The huge commercial success of Fifty Shades of Grey has brought erotic fiction into shops and supermarkets like never before. Last weekend eight of the top 10 on the Sunday Times bestseller list were erotic fiction. Unlike television - with its nine o'clock watershed - and the age classification of films and video games, and even the labelling of explicit lyrics on music, there is no age restriction on buying books in the UK. Find out more Catch up with the iPlayer And yet there is apparently little in the way of moral panic about children getting hold of Fifty Shades, a paean to sadomasochism. Children's author GP Taylor has been something of a lone voice, arguing that EL James's novel would leave children "with a view of sex which is warped" . A trip to Daunt's, the venerable bookshop in London's Marylebone, offers a good example of the apparent double standard afforded to literature.

Fifty Shades boom and backlash Trilogy details sadomasochistic relationship between businessman and student First instalment Fifty Shades of Grey has sold more than 5.3 million print and e-book copies in UK - the best-selling book in British history Clare Phillipson of Wearside Women in Need, a charity for abuse victims, condemned trilogy as "vile" and plans to burn copies in November The 'mummy porn' author and the suburban bookshop On a shelf behind the counter, nestling next to the latest John Banville novel, is the cellophane-wrapped Shades trilogy. It's not on the top shelf. Nor is there any sticker warning of "adult content". So does the bookshop have a policy on selling Fifty Shades to children? Ben Paynter, the bespectacled well-spoken bookseller on duty, says they would be "mad" not to promote Fifty Shades in this way - it's probably their top seller. But he would have qualms about children getting their hands on it. "I haven't seen any children buying it. I've sold it to girls in their mid teens, probably about 15 or 16. With children up to the age of 13 you have more of a responsibility.

And their parents might come back at you." In short, he would sell the book to teenagers but not younger children. Waterstones has issued guidance to staff on its intranet. "In the event a child tried to buy it, our booksellers would refuse to sell it," a spokesman says. But the age at which it becomes acceptable is not spelled out and readers are unlikely to be asked for ID. Psychologist's view "Broadcasting explicit depictions of sex leaves little to the imagination. Such portrayals are 'in your face' and once a child has been exposed to them, the experience cannot be taken back," says Barrie Gunter, professor of mass communication at the University of Leicester. "Books are different. Texts require us as readers to conjure up our own images of the events and people described. This means we are protected by our imaginations. Children's imaginations - because of their limited life experiences - accord them even more protection. "With books that are about sex, there may be concerns about the embarrassment factor. They might prompt kids to ask mum and dad awkward questions about sex.

But there is much less reason to be concerned about the harm factor because the younger the child the less they are likely to relate to adult themes." In contrast, the Foyles chain has no age policy on the sale of its books, a spokesman says. Tesco, which stocks bestsellers, refuses to comment on Fifty Shades of Grey. Books are subject to UK laws, such as the Obscene Publications Acts and the Protection of Children Act 1978. And there are laws governing incitement to hatred on racial, religious and sexual orientation grounds. In 1960 Penguin was prosecuted under the 1959 Obscene Publications Act for publishing the unexpurgated version of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover. The publisher won in what was a landmark ruling for freedom of expression. But today it is hard to imagine a book's publication being fought over in the Old Bailey. It's not just the law. Culturally, books are seen as benign in contrast to more invasive media like film, video games and the internet. "There's a difference to being presented with sexually explicit images and imagining what you're reading," says the children's literary critic Amanda Craig.

"So in that sense it's more of an elite pursuit." The anomaly has been highlighted by the success of Fifty Shades but goes wider. Booksellers may have an age policy on this individual bestseller but it is still possible for a curious child to walk into a bookshop and leave with a stack of violent or sex-heavy novels, with no questions asked. Perhaps these books should be labelled with 'not as racy as it sounds' Former children's laureate Michael Rosen Sven Hassel's war novels, Last Exit to Brooklyn, A Clockwork Orange, anything by James Herbert, Nancy Friday's The Secret Garden, Platform by Michel Houellebecq, Trainspotting, and The Story of O would raise eyebrows among many parents. Adult books are not badged to warn children or their parents. It is irrational, says Sam Leith, Evening Standard columnist and former literary editor of the Daily Telegraph. "There is a sort of implicit class assumption that you censor the mass media like films, that the weak-minded lower orders might have their minds twisted." Children stumbling across "dirty books" on a dusty bookcase, because of the more middle class association, is seen as okay.

"I don't think you should censor books but there is this strange anomaly - it's common sense that films can deprave and corrupt, and that books can't." Like a lot of "commonsense" ideas, it's totally wrong, Leith argues. Books which have caused a stir Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence (1928) - Obscene Publications Act used in 1960 against Penguin Books for publishing unexpurgated version. Penguin not guilty, ban lifted. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller (1934) - Publication in 1961 in United States led to obscenity trials, but US Supreme Court declared the book not obscene in 1964. Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr (1964) - subject of successful private prosecution for obscenity in Britain in 1967, brought by Tory MP Sir Cyril Black. Ruling overturned a year later. When the novel began in the 18th Century, there was a moral panic that women's imaginations would be "enflamed", says former children's laureate Michael Rosen. But more recently a view has taken hold that words are good and pictures bad.

In the 1940s and 50s the equivalent panic was over Marvel comics endangering British youth with their violent pictures. And yet literature has been given a fairly easy ride. "I suspect it's because people think words are quite difficult. And that children who read a book are somehow incorruptible," Rosen says. In one sense defenders of books are right, Rosen acknowledges. Children who pick up a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover or even Fifty Shades of Grey will have to turn a lot of pages concerned with suggestion and reflection before they get to the action. "It's all in the fluttering. Perhaps these books should be labelled with 'not as racy as it sounds'." Craig, who has teenage children, says any book seems pretty gentle these days compared with what's available elsewhere. She wouldn't leave Fifty Shades of Grey around the house. "I have read that pile of tosh. There are not many rude words. What's alarming is the conflation of sex and violence." And yet it is nothing in impact compared to what every teenager can get on the their mobile phone, she argues. "When you know anything about online porn, you know it's something you cannot control.

It's quite astonishing what gets passed around on an iPhone. That is so much more immediate and so much more worrying." Additional reporting by Simon Browning

Question: In 1960 the UK publishing ban was lifted on what 1928 book?
Answer: Lady Chatterley's Lover