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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Australian authors who published in London were occasionally caught in the Customs’ censorship net when their books were sent to Australia. One such was Norman Lindsay, whose novel Redheap was published by the prestigious London firm of Faber. In 1930, acting on a tip-off from London, a Customs official discovered 2000 copies in Sydney, bound for bookshops throughout Australia.
'The novel was described as containing ‘serious reflections on the morality’ of a fictitious Australian country town that bore a striking resemblance to Creswick, where the author spent his childhood. In 1930, the minister announced that the novel was a prohibited import. It was the first time an Australian novel had been banned. There were protests about the ban and Lindsay was quoted in the press as saying that if such actions were allowed to continue, there ‘could be no hope of culture here’.
'Redheap remained on the prohibited list until 1958, though it was freely available in Britain, the USA and other countries. Ure Smith eventually republished it in 1959.' (Publication summary)
Adaptations
-
form
y
Redheap
( dir. Brian Bell
)
Australia
:
ABC Television
,
1972
Z869036
1972
series - publisher
film/TV
Nineteen-year-old Robert Piper has spent all his life in the country. He now starts a new life at university in the city.
Banned in Australia
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Braille.
- Sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
Lindsay Film Fell in a Redheap
2016
single work
column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 16-17 April 2016; (p. 19) -
The Catcher in the Rye Gets Caught in the Net : Censorship and the Parliamentary Library
2013
single work
correspondence
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 180-187) -
The Joys of Irresponsible Sex
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Messengers of Eros : Representations of Sex in Australian Writing 2009; (p. 139-155)'...[Norman] Lindsay's novel Redheap, first published in Britain in 1930, was promptly banned in Australia for some three decades. This made Lindsay a hero in the eyes of some younger writers...
With the advantage of hindsight, some critics have wondered what the fuss had been all about, arguing that Lindsay's writings were little more than a kind of adolescent caper, and have now outlived whatever subversive quality they might once have possessed.' (p. 139)
-
Australian Masculinities
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Messengers of Eros : Representations of Sex in Australian Writing 2009; (p. 97-117) This criticism looks at the forms of maleness celebrated by Australian writers and how that 'maleness' is not just constructed by men. Women, Pons argues, contribute to this construction. -
Transgressions
2009
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Messengers of Eros : Representations of Sex in Australian Writing 2009; (p. 39-59)'All serious art breaks the rules-there can be no innovation without some form of transgression. Yet the breaking of rules is not enough to produce serious art, and while the very focus of erotic writing seems to invite transgressions, these are not necessarily liberating or creative. When transgressions lie for the most part in the subject-matter, their translation into literary break-throughs is problematic, and they can in fact be undermined by writing that is bland, conventional and predictable. Literature, it bears perhaps repeating, is not the thing itself but a representation and thus a re-creation of it. Modes of representations are always ideologically loaded and, while the contemporary period has invented very little in terms of sexual practices, it has been able to innovate significantly in terms of representational practices. It remains to be seen what kind of articulation can be found between the two.' (p 39)
-
Youth in Australia
1930
single work
review
— Appears in: New York Times Book Review , 28 September 1930; (p. 10)
— Review of Redheap 1930 single work novel -
A Reader's Notebook
1930
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 19 May vol. 2 no. 5 1930; (p. 118-119)
— Review of Knocking Round 1930 selected work criticism biography autobiography prose essay short story ; Redheap 1930 single work novel -
Australian Books of 1930
1930
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 5 December vol. 2 no. 12 1930; (p. 307-310)
— Review of The Gully and Other Verses 1929 selected work poetry ; The Wild Swan : Poems 1930 selected work poetry ; Queensland Poets 1930 single work criticism ; The Fortunes of Richard Mahony : Comprising Australia Felix, The Way Home, Ultima Thule 1930 selected work novel ; Ten Creeks Run : A Tale of the Horse and Cattle Stations of the Murrumbidgee 1930 single work novel ; Men Are Human 1930 single work novel ; Haxby's Circus : The Lightest, Brightest Little Show on Earth 1930 single work novel ; Redheap 1930 single work novel ; The Difficult Art 1930 single work novel ; Negrohead 1929 single work novel ; Earth Battle 1930 single work novel ; Huon Belle : A Novel 1930 single work novel ; Only the Morning 1930 single work novel ; An Outline of Australian Literature 1930 single work criticism ; Souvenirs d'une Parisienne aux Antipodes 1930 single work autobiography ; Knocking Round 1930 selected work criticism biography autobiography prose essay short story ; The Kitchen Table : A Play in One Act 1930 single work drama -
Untitled
1959
single work
review
— Appears in: The Cairns Post , 26 December 1959; (p. 6)
— Review of Redheap 1930 single work novel -
Novel By Norman Lindsay
1930
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 18 April no. 28794 1930; (p. 3)
— Review of Redheap 1930 single work novel -
'It's Enough to Drive a Bloke Mad' : Norman Lindsay's Art and Literature
2003
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin , vol. 27 no. 1-2 2003; (p. 62-81) -
Ireland Bars Three Books
1930
single work
column
— Appears in: New York Times , 14 August 1930; (p. 10) -
A Reader's Notebook
1930
single work
review
— Appears in: All About Books , 19 April vol. 2 no. 4 1930; (p. 91-92) In addition to her reviews Palmer comments at length on the re-issue of many war books and the success of London-based Queensland publishers Lindsay, Partridge and P.R. Stephenson. -
A Bookseller Talks Shop
1930
single work
prose
humour
— Appears in: All About Books , 17 June vol. 2 no. 6 1930; (p. 151-152) -
'Redheap' Banned from Ireland
1930
single work
column
— Appears in: All About Books , 17 October vol. 2 no. 10 1930; (p. 261)
- 1890s