Censorship

Said Strangling

Irish Intellect, Imagination

By CAROL KENNEDY

DUBLIN (CP)—In the well- stocked Dublin bookstore in James Bond addict scanned the rack of paperback thrillers by Ian Fleming. They all seemed a; be there and yet. . . ..

"Have you a copy of From Russia With Love?”

“Ah no, didn't you know that was banned?"

The Irish censors. more un. obtrusive these days but stili capable of causing minor irri- tations in everyday life. had

660—590—600

ATTENTION COMPACT

CAR OWNERS

AllSTATE TU'BLESS TIRES FOR MOST COMPACT CARS

NOW IN STOCK

—640-—650xlb

No -

IO Payment O OTHER SIZES AT SIMILAR SAVINGS SELECT YOUR ALLSTAT’E CAR. TRUCK OR TRACTOR TIRES

NOW AND

ENTER OUR FABULOUS

$55,000 CROSS - CANADA AllSTATE» TIRE CONTEST

107 VALUABLE PRIZES INCLUDING 11 NEW 1964 STUDEBAKER CARS

SIMPSUNS-SEARS

50 PAIRS ONlY

Men's Gale Welt DRESS SHOES

‘ Flattering Whites

struck another blow for the in- Masterpieces like J a m e s nocence of “Holy Ireland." Joyce's Ulysses were thrown

Few topics have been as long, out indiscriminately with junk. or as hotly debated by the Irish, Bigotry ran riot. One notable and particularly the expatriate l case 1) years ago concerned «1 Irish, as the state censorship of Cork tailor and his wife whose b00ks and mOVICI ilnposed In earthy reminiscences of rural

1929. In its early days the h" . book censorship drove shoals of me. had n turned mm a b°°k entitled The Tailor and Ansty.

Irish works from bookshops and libraries until the writers BOOK BURNED Not only was the book banned

theilnselves fled to more lib-

era shores, there to mourn the

strangling of the Irish intellect miogrzogggu ozirsaattoazfic

and Imaginmon- forcing the old man down on his - knees, made him burn a copy

In his own fireplace. The book

now has been reissued with the

full story told in a foreword by

Frank O’Connor.

people agree, since 1958 — the year more liberal, wordly men ‘ were appointed to the five-man C chads o r s h to of Publications

Bo .

Recently Judge Conroy,chair- V man of the board, went on tele- : vision to be quizzed by three | young reporters. That could

Things have been easier, most'

hardly have happened a fowl years ago. 1 ooks are banned in the re- public if judged indecent or ob- scene or if they contain any- thing construed as advocating contraception or a b o r t i o n, which is against both state and Roman Catholic policy.

Banning requires ‘a unauim ous vote—if one man dissenta. the book is generally release-o ‘ here is an ard headed by a university profes- sor, with' power to reverse bans, but this requires preliminary action by five senators.

On the average, 20 books a month are banned, the bqu of them said to be pornographic paperbacks. Recently two nov- els of a different class slipped into oblivion—Mary McCarthy’s

D-I

The Group. a runaway best- sellerin Britain, and Joseph Heller's Catch 22.

INDIAN CLASSIC BANNED Plato's Phaedrus was banned In an edition that coupled it with the erotic Indian classic Kama Sutra. In some cases a "suggestive" cover might be enough to condemn in paperback classic, censorship. authorities

Most Dubliners tolerate the banning of books and mutilation of. movies with a mixture of humor and mild contempt. The Irish Times, the vigorously in- dependent newspaper, has sat it is time the law was changed,

Guaarnteed 15 Months

l

Neptune Theatre of Halifax

"John A. Beats The Devil" a new comedy about Canhda’s first Prime Minister World Premiere in Fathers of Confederation Centre CANADA'S NEWEST THEATRE Charlottetown June 8 — June 20 GOOD SEATS AVAILABLE

Confederation Theatre Box Office, Queen St., 2-2464

presents

Centennial Esso Ticketmobile‘

Thursday ...... .................... .. Souris Friday .. .... ..; . O’Lenry, 'I'ignish & Alberton Saturday . . . Parkdale dz Sherwood

but few people would urge com- plete abolition of censorship. Meanw 'e the subject pro- vides a rich source of cocktail- party quips. There was much amusement recently that a Dub- lin evening newspaper managed to run a series on prostitution without once actually mention-

ing the word.

People tend to search out banned books and movies on trips to London and Belfast. but those who defend censorship ac. cept this as inevitable. They say it is not aimed at the so phisticated minority who are capable of distinguishing be- tween art a-nd trash. but that its object is to protect the un- der-educated majority of Irish

people.

Students can obtain banned books by special licence for "serious" study, ut a censor- ship board official admitted it would be diffith to get a lic- ence for a modern work of fic-

tion.

SAY MASS APPROVES The censorship is generally

defended on two main grounds: —It keeps a flood of pornog- raphy out of the country, a task Britain finds increasingly hard with the loopholes in her

law.

—The mass of Irish people

want it. as demonstrated by

the spare-time vigilantes who

send marked books to the

censorship board.

This second point, as critics of the system realize, is the crux of Ireland’s censorship

problem, which is above all a problem of self-censorship. How 5 do you exorcize a nation's inhi- t bitions? ‘

Although Ireland produces an occasional Rabelaisian figure like the late Brendan Behan, she is streaked with a Victorian reticence about sex, the product of many influences including me dominant role of Irish mothers,

mmhc @uordtam

—SECOND SECTION

3a. .

the monastic traditions of Irish , Catholicism and a respect for the things of the mind over bodily needs.

The Roman Catholic clergy has often been blamed for keep- ing the Irish people in a guilt- ridden state while other Catholic countries in Europe have gay, mature attitude to sex. Some middle-aged Irish peoplc tell you they remember parish priests wrenching courting cou- ples apart or thundering in church about the dangers of being alone with a girl. Times have changed but some still feel the church has a stifling influ ence.

BLAME 'LAY POPES’

Others say church authorities often gctrthe blame for petty restrictions that are really t‘m

work of over - malous “lay popes" in all walks of life.

The visitor is told how his torical forces shaped whatevei “repression” is found today.

"Our revolution brought the wrong people to power—lower middle class and anti-intellec- tual," sighed one Dublinei comparing the drab post-revo lutionary years with the liter ary golden age that had gone before, the era of Synge. O’Ca sey. Yeats and Joyce.

hen the revolution came.

both church and state found common aim in swaeping away all trace of foreign cor ruption."

Above all it was the writers who suffered, wa t c hing the

dawn of I r is h independence

. jumbo sole fer terrific . leather solei comb“

. colors black and brown . brand new styles

. sizes 6 to 11 Q values to 16.95

. actually an 8.98 value . gleaming black or 0 rich brown

0 sizes 8 to 12 In E width

\

White Pumps

0 In spike heels 0 Illusion heels . Jet heels

Maudie.”

" SHOE co.

Charlottetown’s Shoe Centre of Values

T20 PAIRS OiNlY

Men's Crepe Soled

OXFORDS

All Plastic

SANDALS

. brown or red O for ages 2 years to 10 years

sensational value for summer months -avallahle this weekend at bargain p ices

Practical in

Sizes 8-14. boxer back twills or chinos. forlzed. Your choice of Top Ca-

style San-

many colors. nadian maker.

= 3

BOYS’ SHORTS

1.49

. “’5.-.-

for cottage - camp and playtime. ..

BOYS’ JERSEYS

Sizes 8 - 16.

“'3

collars, “guaranteed to hold size and shape". plains, pat-

Stripes. terns. T o p maker. Reg,

Charlottetown,

Thur-3., June 11, 1964.

Crew members of the 12- meter yacht Nefertiti use their weight to help boat pick up speed as it races alongside the American Eagle on Long

bring about no liberation of the spirit but only a blind distrust of the old culture. With no ma 101‘ publisher In Ireland and most of their works banned their contact with the Irish peo- ple, source of their inspiration, withered in exile. : BLAMES CHURCH 1

It's the slave mind,” growled. poet Austin Clarke at a literary‘ clambake. Clarke, not yet 60 but prematurely aged by ill- ness, is Dublin's foremost “an-

All with

.99 '

Canadian to 2.98

"Whyndhom" Proportion To Fit

P

NTS

\L

0Y5”,

L‘

1

A

' Sturdy twills or c h e c k s. Machine washable, guar- anteed. C a n a d a ’s b e s t fitting washv able pant.

NOW Priced Only

3.98

slim and regular

Grand Canal,

husky

‘ 4.98

REGULAR SLIM CHECK ssouua um I," a Size Walsl length Sla- Walst length “I. s as at s 21% 21% ' CHART to as as To me wt '0 11 25's as 12 23% mi 12 ‘”°°“ u 21 as u 14% we M “AC? is n 29 is as 29% is size is 29 so It 27 at is

HUSKY Waist length 26 2|

a7 23% 2s '4 259-”: no 21'»; as aslé :5 .~

I WHERE UALITYIB S

“1.4..-

unEl

. trousers . shirt

for school closing and confirmation

5~Piece BOYS' OUTFITS

. sport coat

. the and cos

Island Sound. The American Eagle won the race with Nefertiti by a quarter of a mile in the 191/: mile race, one of a summer-long series to

gry old man." A non-Catholic he thinks the trouble begui- when “the church took over the revolution."

Frank O’Connor, the short- story writer whom Yeats called the Chekhov of Ireland, has said there is “basically a Fasc- ist attitude" about those in au- thority.

In a conversation With a re- porter in his book-lined apart ment overlooking Dublin s O‘C o n n o r. a

’ Your Headquarters For All Camp Needs. We Invite

, Your Charge

Account.

SHOPPING SERVICE Mothers! If unable

shop in person

phone o u r M r 5. Hughes of 2-2471.

1 .95

z of his short stories ently on sale in. Du 3 years of frustration sometimes

BODY ENGLISH ON AMERICAN YACHT

'1

pick the defender of the Amer- ica’s Cup against British challenger next September. The yachts Constellation and Columbia are also competing in races to choose the cup de- fender_ (AP Wirephoto)

craggy giant of 61 with a reson ant Cork drawl, expanded: "It’s largely based on fear and a great suspicion of liter- ature. They don’t like writers because writers ask questions Gleefuliy he recalled that President Kennedy had quoted some 1rlsh writers in his add. ress to the Ball whose names in those surroundings had once been “nothing but dirty words." “But they had to sit there

I and take it from him."

Some of O’Connor’s works are still banned. though an edition is prornin him. But

break loose in his urbane tail like a growl from a sleepy lion.

en who banned my books were a bunch of criminal He says he doesn't know why they were banned—“They never tell you.”

Most writers feel cynically that any attempt to portray human relationships in a realis- tic way may lead to trouble

You venture that things seem easier and O’Connor flashed back: "It‘s worse than the Im- pression you're allowed to get."

Yet O’Connor, who spent 10 years in the United States, has return to live in Dublin though he says its intellectw climate “lacks edge." Like do, ens of expatriates with grievan ces. he felt painful tugs on the umbilical cord and used to come back from New York once a year. He finally settled down two years ago because "I

my

‘ write about Ireland and

. Pope . "too liberal" in some quarters ‘ of the Irish heirarchy, especi-

work is relevant here." "It's a matter of dialogue and voices. I have to hear voices."

Like Clarke. O’Connor blames Irish Catholicism for fostering submissiveness.

“It's a majority behaving like a persecuted minority," O'Cosr nor said, adding that the late

John was regarded as

ally for his work in brinng the churches closer and advo- cating tolerance towards Com» munists.

“There was even talk popes can be deposed."

This is, perhaps, an extreme view. The church is changing

that

; in Ireland and many liberal j priests are shaking people out 3 of hidebound ideas. Father John

Kelly, a Jesuit, deliberately provoked controversy in Dub-

‘lin's Catholic University Col 1 lege by spe ' ‘ the debate: ‘ is hostile to genius.

airing in favor of “Irish Catholicism

Summing up a visitor’s im~

3 pressions: A certain apathy and

lack of protest do exist in

, Irish public life: church influ-

ence is sometimes arbitrary; do-gooders or “holy Joes." as they are derisively called, often occupy influential positions. But the feeling is Ireland is chang. ing so much that public opinion

‘ must in time chan e

g too. Meanwhile, the official inno- cence of Irish life has some

1 attractive aspects. There are no strip joints in Dublin and . sex crimes are practically un-

known.

And, as Dubliners say with a flash of cynical humor, if you want forbidden joys. “there’s a fast train to Belfast."

. ssncxs sun 0 ICE CREAM mans

HERMAN'S

DAIRY BAR ‘

1 Airport load

PAGE 13