Obscene Publications: The War on D.H. Lawrence and LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER

"It is most damnable! It is written by a man with a diseased mind and a soul so black that he would obscure even the darkness of hell!"

When British author D.H. Lawrence first published one of his last novels, Lady Chatterley's Lover, in 1928, he knew it was going to stir up controversy. Some might even say he wrote it that way on purpose, a result of career-long persecution and harassment from the British government for not adhering to their standards of living. In 1960, thirty years after the author died, Penguin Books was about to publish an unabridged version of Lady Chatterley in the form of an affordable paperback. The government was not having it, which led to one of the best known literary obscenity trials of the 20th century.

Theme music is credited to Wendy Marcini, Elvin Vanguard, and Jules Gaia.

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Selected bibliography:

• The book that changed Britain: Why the Lady Chatterley’s Lover trial still matters 60 years later, Penguin Books

• Inside the Game-Changing Trial of Lady Chatterley's Lover, Esquire