BANNED BOOKS

In 1948 (the year of my birth) Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country was

published and went on to be rightly celebrated around the world. In the same year South Africa's National Party came to power, and the banning - and burning - of books began. Fear kept people silent - as it did 15 years earlier when Nazi-backed student groups began burning books that were seen as un-German. 

Yes, even Where the Wild Things Are...

The list of authors and books that were at one time or another vilified, condemned or banned in various countries goes on and on. Never mind the usual suspects - Lolita, Lady Chatterley, Ulysses, The Satanic Verses; the Orwells, O'Briens and O'Flahertys, and half the Russians you ever heard of - both The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales were banned from the U.S. Mail for containing 'filthy or inappropriate' material. Lysistrata was banned in Greece (in 1967) for its anti-war message, Alice in Wonderland forbidden in China. Even The Wizard of Oz was censured (for ungodliness and depicting women in leadership roles, apparently) and Harry Potter is still being challenged. They even banned 50 Shades of Grey in Malaysia. Mind you, if they'd banned it on literary grounds I might have had some sympathy...

Anyway, spare a thought for the authors (and publishers) of today, tiptoeing through the minefields of political correctness, where the chances of being drummed out of the local book club, dropped by your publisher, reviled, excommunicated, banned - if not actually shot - are higher than ever. And not because you're advocating anything criminal but because you are voicing an opinion at odds with the prevailing ethos. It takes courage to write from the heart, and for most writers it takes courage just to keep on writing. So many good books will never be published (while so much celebrity nonsense will be) but even if you do find a publisher, you can bet your last bookmark that someone, somewhere, will take offence at what you've written.

So here's to all my fellow writers who struggle on in the face of adversity, who
support and encourage each other; and to the independent bookshops, literary magazines and festivals that keep going despite rising costs, sinking expectations and ever more polarised viewpoints. (Never mind the looming threat of AI.) As for me, I'm about to do the one thing I swore I never would, and publish a novel online. I'm too old and out of sympathy with today's strictures to go on hunting for another traditional publisher, but this is a book I've worked on for so long that I don't think I can bear to let it sink without trace. Also, it made Professor Gloom cry. (Eminent astronomer says 'this novel made me weep' - although so, to be fair, does Southport Football Club.) 

Anyway, the great thing about online publishing is that I won't have to do any launches or public appearances. I can stay peaceably and anonymously at home, reading other people's books, while anyone who actually wants to read mine can do so on the quiet - and won't have to tell me whether they enjoyed it or not! 

PS The Horowitz is very good, and A Spool of Blue Thread was magnificent.