The Well of Loneliness: Difference between revisions
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====Date: [[:Category: | ====Date: [[:Category:1929|1929]]==== | ||
====Region: [[:Category:North America|North America | ====Region: [[:Category:North America|North America]]==== | ||
====Subject: [[:Category:Sexual/Gender Orientation|Sexual/Gender Orientation | ====Subject: [[:Category:Sexual/Gender Orientation|Sexual/Gender Orientation]]==== | ||
====Medium: [[:Category:Literature|Literature | ====Medium: [[:Category:Literature|Literature]]==== | ||
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'''Artist:''' Radclyffe Hall | '''Artist:''' Radclyffe Hall | ||
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'''Location:''' New York City, New York, Great Britain | '''Location:''' New York City, New York, Great Britain | ||
'''Description of Artwork:''' | '''Description of Artwork:''' ''The Well of Loneliness,'' a mawkish yet powerfully moving novel about a lesbian's struggle for acceptance and self-respect. | ||
'''The Incident:''' The book was found obscene in Britain even though it had no explicit descriptions of sex. Expert testimony on its literary worth, offered in the English trial by Virginia Woolf and other major writers of the day, was rejected by the court as irrelevant. A New York Court in 1929, ruled | '''The Incident:''' The book was found obscene in Britain even though it had no explicit descriptions of sex. Expert testimony on its literary worth, offered in the English trial by Virginia Woolf and other major writers of the day, was rejected by the court as irrelevant. A New York Court in 1929, ruled ''The Well of Loneliness'' obscene even though the judge acknowledged that the book was "a well written, carefully constructed piece of fiction" with "no unclean words." It was penalized because it drew a sympathetic portrait of homosexuality, and "pleads for tolerance on the part of society." | ||
'''Results of Incident:''' The prosecutor in the case used the Hicklin Rule to demonstrate that some passages were obscene and therefore under the Hicklin Rule the entire work was obscene. The Hicklin Rule was overturned in 1934 in the case United States vs. One Book Entitled Ulysses. | '''Results of Incident:''' The prosecutor in the case used the Hicklin Rule to demonstrate that some passages were obscene and therefore under the Hicklin Rule the entire work was obscene. The Hicklin Rule was overturned in 1934 in the case United States vs. One Book Entitled Ulysses. | ||
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'''Source:''' The Encyclopedia of Censorship,J.Green, Facts on File pg.. 3-4 | '''Source:''' The Encyclopedia of Censorship,J.Green, Facts on File pg.. 3-4 | ||
[[Category: | [[Category:1929]] | ||
[[Category:]] | [[Category:1920s]] | ||
[[Category:]] | [[Category:20th century]] | ||
[[Category:North America]] | [[Category:North America]] | ||
[[Category:]] | [[Category:United States]] | ||
[[Category:]] | [[Category:New York]] | ||
[[Category:Sexual/Gender Orientation]] | [[Category:Sexual/Gender Orientation]] | ||
[[Category:Literature]] | [[Category:Literature]] | ||
[[Category:Radclyffe Hall]] | [[Category:Radclyffe Hall]] | ||
__NOTOC__ | __NOTOC__ | ||
{{DISPLAYTITLE:<span style="font-style: italic;">The Well of Loneliness</span>}} | |||
Revision as of 20:12, 25 July 2011
Date: 1929
Region: North America
Subject: Sexual/Gender Orientation
Medium: Literature
Artist: Radclyffe Hall
Confronting Bodies: New York Court
Dates of Action: 1929
Location: New York City, New York, Great Britain
Description of Artwork: The Well of Loneliness, a mawkish yet powerfully moving novel about a lesbian's struggle for acceptance and self-respect.
The Incident: The book was found obscene in Britain even though it had no explicit descriptions of sex. Expert testimony on its literary worth, offered in the English trial by Virginia Woolf and other major writers of the day, was rejected by the court as irrelevant. A New York Court in 1929, ruled The Well of Loneliness obscene even though the judge acknowledged that the book was "a well written, carefully constructed piece of fiction" with "no unclean words." It was penalized because it drew a sympathetic portrait of homosexuality, and "pleads for tolerance on the part of society."
Results of Incident: The prosecutor in the case used the Hicklin Rule to demonstrate that some passages were obscene and therefore under the Hicklin Rule the entire work was obscene. The Hicklin Rule was overturned in 1934 in the case United States vs. One Book Entitled Ulysses.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Censorship,J.Green, Facts on File pg.. 3-4
