Better left unsaid : Victorian novels, Hays Code films, and the benefits of censorship / Nora Gilbert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gilbert, Nora.

Series:

Cultural lives of law.

The cultural lives of law

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English fiction--19th century--Censorship.

English fiction.

Fiction--Censorship--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Fiction.

Motion pictures--Censorship--United States--History--20th century.

Motion pictures.

Literature and morals--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Literature and morals.

Motion pictures--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

Censorship--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Censorship.

Censorship--United States--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (202 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, Calif. : Stanford Law Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Better Left Unsaid is in the unseemly position of defending censorship from the central allegations that are traditionally leveled against it. Taking two genres generally presumed to have been stymied by the censor's knife—the Victorian novel and classical Hollywood film—this book reveals the varied ways in which censorship, for all its blustery self-righteousness, can actually be good for sex, politics, feminism, and art. As much as Victorianism is equated with such cultural impulses as repression and prudery, few scholars have explored the Victorian novel as a "censored" commodity—thanks, in large part, to the indirectness and intangibility of England's literary censorship process. This indirection stands in sharp contrast to the explicit, detailed formality of Hollywood's infamous Production Code of 1930. In comparing these two versions of censorship, Nora Gilbert explores the paradoxical effects of prohibitive practices. Rather than being ruined by censorship, Victorian novels and Hays Code films were stirred and stimulated by the very forces meant to restrain them.

Contents:

Introduction : the joy of censorship

The sounds of silence: W.M. Thackeray and Preston Sturges

For sophisticated eyes only : Jane Austen and George Cukor

Beyond censorship : Charles Dickens and Frank Capra

The thrill of the fight : Charlotte Brontë and Elia Kazan

Postscript : Oscar Wilde and Mae West.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804784870

0804784876

OCLC:

823725613