CENSORSHIP OF BOOKS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24820, 9 March 1946, Page 6

CENSORSHIP OF BOOKS

REPORT BY LIBRARIES’ ASSOCIATION

BAN ON “FOREVER AMBER” STILL IN FORCE

Because the book “does give undue prominence to sex,” the ban imposed last year on Kathleen Winsor’s American best-selling novel, “Forever Amber,” by the Customs Department remains in force. This advice has been received by the New-Zealand Booksellers’ Association, which recently made representations to the Comptroller of Customs (Mr E. D. Good) to have the English, expurgated edition of “Forever Amber” removed from the prohibited list. Mr Good says that the importation of the book cannot be permitted under licences which are endorsed to the effect that they do not cover the importation of literature which gives undue prominence to sex. “Forever Amber” is a 971-page novel dealing with the reign o f Charles 11. One American critic has described it as “not only bulky, but sexy, and both to excess.” and adds that the book’s heroine. Amber St. Clare, makes Scarlett O’Hara, heroine of “Gone With the Wind,” look “like a school inarm.’’ The book was banned in New Zealand when only a small number of copies, mainly introduced by visiting United States servicemen, were in the country- Later considerable stocks of the English edition were received by booksellers throughout the Dominion. The booksellers were unable to cancel their orders before the books left England. and the Customs Department’s decision, from which there is no right of appeal, means that these stocks, approximately 2000 copies, must be reshipned to England under customs supervision or else they will become “forfeit to His Majesty” and will be destroyed. Copies Circulate In spite of the Customs Department’s ban, some copies of “Forever Amber” have been circulating in the Dominion in recent months. They have been brought from England by returning servicemen, and a few have been sold at prices above the retail figure. One book club in Christchurch was offered a copy at 30s. “Nevertheless, we feel that there is cause for concern regarding the grounds on which the book was banned—‘prominence to sex.’ ” states an interim report on “Forever Amber." and the question of censorship generally. which has been prepared by the fiction committee of the New Zealand Libraries’ Association, and is published in the association’s journal, “New Zealand Libraries.” The report is signed by the convener of the committee. Miss Sadie Foote, of Dunedin.

The report states that all members of the committee are agreed that. “Forever Amber” is a trivial and naive work. Two of them characterise it as “monotonous.” It is considered that the book has not the importance which makes “Ulysses” and “The Well of Loneliness” justify a struggle against censorship.

After referring to the phrase “prominence to sex” the report states: “This phrase could apoly to serious wbrks which treat sex from the social or psychological standpoint, and to many a novel of literary distinction. A dangerous precedent is/ involved. Moreover, we doubt whether customs officials are in a position to decide the nice point of exactly what prominence may be given to the subject in a novel. Further, two of our number have pointed out that books infinitely more nomographic in intent have been allowed to circulate.” Censorship Question

Tfie operation of censorship in New 'Zealand is considered by the committee to be casual, arbitrary, and ill-in-formed. It thinks the New Zealand Libraries’ Association should challenge existing conditions, and suggests the setting up of a special committee. The committee also considers that the following matters need investigation:— (1) Has the Customs Department •) code to which it can refer? The American code embodies, with a definition, the word “obscene.” Judge Woolsey’s decision with regard to Joyce’s “Ulysses” is an illuminating instance of the operation of the code, and of the interpretation of the word. He stresses the fact that general censorship can concern itself only with the normally impressionable person, “I’homme sensuel moyen.” On such a being “Forever Amber” would have little effect. (2) Could a committee have access to the full list of banned books? On whose authority was this list drawn up? (3) What happened to the committee set un bv Sir Francis Dillon Bell to control censorship? (4) The timing of censorship. It shon’d act if at all. before books have circulated in the country.