The Spectacle of Censorship: Interwar Obscenity and Modern Literary Form

My dissertation investigates modernist form as it relates to the censorship of early-20^th century artistic expression. It was the public outcry and backlash to this censorship, I argue, that encouraged the experimentation and formation of modernist style. Rapid globalization in the years following World War I led to increased exposure to international news and widespread mobilization of art and culture, and as art became increasingly cosmopolitan, its impact on society grew significantly and thus the threat of works deemed obscene increased accordingly. The years after World War I saw the development of what I deem the ‘censorship industry,’ or the symbiotic relationship that developed between censors and artists seeking to leverage their public clashes for celebrity and increased exposure. While these were largely transnational concerns in a period of growing cosmopolitanism, this study focuses on Anglo-American fiction and drama. By investigating the 1921 trial of James Joyce’s Ulysses and 1928 suppression of Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness, I show how high-profile censorship action led to a critical reassessment of the relationship between artists and their work.

Tracing the influence of these events forward to Eugene O’Neill’s Strange Interlude (1928) and Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour (1934), I argue their development, critical success, and minor suppression represent the natural progression of modern style and form from Ulysses and The Well of Loneliness, respectively. Emboldened by the increased visibility afforded works that underwent suppression, artists moved away from self-censorship or deferred publication and were encouraged to stick to their creative vision. Although a largely antagonistic relationship, both censors and artists benefitted significantly from their confrontations and made good use of the publicity their high-profile clashes garnered to elevate the careers of actors on both sides of the aisle. Without a firm understanding of the struggles face by artists in this period it is difficult to fully grasp the reactionary landscape that fostered such creative innovation and led to the foundation of many formal techniques still used in contemporary literature.