Forbidden/ Censored books

Here is a list of works that have been banned or censored in Norway in the past.

Agnar Mykle. His 1956-1958 in Norway forbidden novel "The Song of the Red Ruby" appears 2019 in translation by Ulrich Sonneberg in Ullstein Verlag.

Hans Jæger (NOR): Fra Kristiania-Bohêmen (1885)

Censored: 1885

Fra Kristiania-Bohêmenwas the first literary work censored by a Norwegian state authority. The authorities seized the book immediately, while Jæger was sentenced to 60 days in prison and a substantial fine. Although the legal basis for the ruling was immoral passages in the novel, the book's rejection of society's morality and norms significantly contributed to the government's severe reaction. Jæger, a respected bohemian and anarchist, claimed that marriage and social injustice were the two evils of society. The book criticized Norwegian society and values that Jæger argued upheld poverty and misery—morality, Christianity and bourgeois values.

Christian Krohg (NOR): Albertine (1886)

Censored: 1886

Country: Norway

The protagonist is a young, naive, spirited dressmaker who is sexually exploited by a police inspector in Kristiania and ends up in prostitution. The book was a sharp statement against the public, police-controlled prostitution in Kristiania (Oslo). Despite the literary qualities of the book, the Minister of Justice of Johan Sverdrup’s liberal government ordered the police to seize the book the day after its release. Krohg, also a painter, was a bohemian and anarchist who often denounced the social norms of his era.

Hans Jæger (NOR): Syk kjærlihet (1893), Bekjendelser (1902), Fængsel og fortvilelse (1903)

Jæger wrote and published the autobiographical trilogy in France. Immediately, the books were banned in the Nordic countries. The works mentioned sexual relations with an openness that was decades ahead of their time. The books are regarded as shocking and gripping chronicles of life.

Frithjof Sælen (NOR): Snorre Sel (1941) (Snorri the Seal, 1950)

Censored: 1941

This children’s book, written and illustrated by resistance activist Frithjof Sælen, is an allegory with a political message. The book became popular reading during the German occupation (1940-1945). Reportedly, 12 500 copies of the book were sold before it was banned and confiscated by the authorities. Immediately after the German occupation (9 April 1940-9 May 1945) the occupation forces implemented a propaganda and censorship system. In February of 1941, the occupation authorities issued a decree concerning the protection of Norwegian literature, introducing a comprehensive index of forbidden literature. [1]

Agnes and Ernestine Lefevre (pseudonym): Blokk 7: Daglig liv i "Kjærlighetsredet" i en tysk konsentrasjonsleir (1954)

Withdrawn: 1954

Norway

The controversial book, written under the pseudonyms Agnes and Ernestine Lefevre, is an example of Holocaust pulp fiction. The book, published nearly ten years after the end of the German occupation, graphically details and sensationalizes the experiences of two French Jewish sisters in a German officer camp brothel during World War II. The controversy surrounding Block 7 and its depiction of grave sexual violence prompted the Attorney General to open an investigation into the legality of the book. The publisher Brann withdrew the book, admitting that some depictions were "unnecessarily realistic," according to a newspaper article in the Hamar Arbeiderblad December 28, 1954.

Agnar Mykle (NOR): Sangen om den røde rubin (1956), (The Song of the Red Ruby, 1961)

Censored: 1956-1958

Country: Norway

The book chronicled a young Norwegian man’s liberation from authorities, parents, and inhibitions, including his sexual conquests and grand ambitions for life. The authorities confiscated and suppressed the book. Nevertheless, 60 000 copies were printed. The book attracted fierce attention for its erotic depictions. Mykle and with publisher Harald Grieg were charged for distributing pornography. In 1958, the Norwegian Supreme Court delivered verdict of not guilty. The trial became one of Norway’s significant postwar cultural events.

Henry Miller (USA): Sexus (1949) (The Rosy Crucifixion)

Henry Miller was an American writer. In May 1957, the Norwegian Attorney General ordered the seizure of the Danish translation (1956) of Miller’s Sexus, citingthe book’s erotic content.The case is an example of indirect censorship as the authorities wanted to prohibit the import and sale of obscene material in Norway. Miller’s trilogies include a combination of naturalistic, burlesque, and symbolic depictions of sexual encounters as aspects of human experience. This characteristic of Miller's authorship led to the censorship of many of his books in the United States and other countries, including in Norway.

Jens Bjørneboe (NOR): Uten en Tråd (1966), (Without a Stitch, 1969)

Censored: 1966

Country: Norway

This pornographic novel, published anonymously, was written by the critically acclaimed author Bjørneboe. The prosecuting authority revoked the book, and Bjørneboe stood trial in 1967. After a trial with great media entertainment value, the author was convicted of indecency. Although banned, the book was translated into several languages.

In 1934, Miller published Tropic of Cancer, which was banned in the United States until 1961. The book, which dealt with life and experiences in Paris in the 1930s, was followed by Black Spring (1936, American edition in 1963) and Tropic of Capricorn (1939, American edition in 1962). The trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion (American edition in 1965) consists of Sexus (1949), Plexus (1953) and Nexus (1960).

In 1934, Miller published Tropic of Cancer, which was banned in the United States until 1961. The book, which dealt with life and experiences in Paris in the 1930s, was followed by Black Spring (1936, American edition in 1963) and Tropic of Capricorn (1939, American edition in 1962). The trilogy The Rosy Crucifixion (American edition in 1965) consists of Sexus (1949), Plexus (1953) and Nexus (1960).

[1]Norway, Occupation and World War II (1949-1945)

Newspapers faced the choice of shutting down or yielding to the occupation authorities. The German authorities issued several decrees banning critical speech and identifying approved media and information sources. The list included international and Norwegian publishing houses, single works by authors and the complete works of certain authors. Identical lists of banned books were implemented in German-occupied countries - Denmark, Norway, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Poland, Yugoslavia and Greece.

In 1995, Norway’s Biblioteksentralen published Seized books – list of the books, authors and publishers who were forbidden during the war (Beslaglagte bøker: liste over de bøker, forfattere og forlag som var forbudt under krigen), an overview of the books that were banned under the 1941 decree and purged from Norwegian libraries. The list contains Jewish writers, such as Edna Ferber, the author of popular novels such as So Big (1924) and Show Boat (1925), and Felix Salten (Siegmund Salzmann), the author of the beloved children’s book Bambi (1923).

Hungarian-born Felix Salten (1869-1945) was a prominent art and literature critic in Austria. In 1923, he wrote the two-part story Bambi, a Life in the Woods (Bambi, ein Leben im Walde) and in 1939 Bambi's Children: The Story of a Forest Family, which portrays the life experiences of orphan deer Bambi and the manmade challenges that threaten the existence of the animals in the forest. In 1928, Simon and Schuster published an English translation of the book, today considered a classic and one of the first environmental novels.

Written by Michelle Tisdel, The National Library Of Norway

Sources:

https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2015061708098?page=199#5

https://snl.no/Henry_Miller

https://nbl.snl.no/Hans_J%C3%A6ger

https://snl.no/Frithjof_S%C3%A6len

https://nbl.snl.no/Jens_Bj%C3%B8rneboe

https://snl.no/Agnar_Mykle

https://snl.no/Albertine

Hamar Arbeiderblad 28. Desember 1954 https://www.nb.no/items/6a8f038c22d9a8d40171a0e12b7f9584?page=0&searchText=%22blokk%207%22

https://www.nb.no/items/c86380fe885daf1982fe923d9bcd7a41?page=0&searchText=Beslaglagte%20b%C3%B8ker:%20liste%20over%20de%20b%C3%B8ker,%20forfattere%20og%20forlag%20som%20var%20forbudt%20under%20krigen