Banned Books Week - Censored: A Literary History of Subversion and Control

Censorship. Whose morals and values does it seek to protect? Trace the blue pencil and its consequences through literary history, from Ulysses and Lolita to a book implicated in a murder case.

For some, such restrictions may seem sensible, while for others, they appear arbitrary at best, oppressive and dangerous at worst. The list of books suppressed in the English language features the  sacred and profane, poetic and pornographic, famous and infamous. A history of the censorship of literary texts is also a history of the authorities that have attempted to prevent their circulation: sovereigns, politicians, judges, prison officers, slaveholders, school governors, librarians, teachers, parents, students, editors and publishers.

Katherine Inglis and Matthew Fellion, authors of a fascinating new book on suppressed literature, explore the methods and consequences of censorship and some of the most contentious and fascinating cases.

Followed by a book signing

Katherine Inglis is Chancellor’s Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of English Literature, University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on censorship and 19th-century literature.

Matthew Fellion is a writer and independent scholar. His interests include the history of reading and the 19th-century realist novel.

This event is part of Banned Books Week, an international celebration of the freedom to read.

Enjoy food and drink purchased from the Knowledge Centre Bar from 18.00 and after the event until the Bar closes at 22.00.