Novel
A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms is a novel by Ernest Hemingway. Suppressed in the Irish Free State.
Description
About the work
A Farewell to Arms is a novel by Ernest Hemingway. Suppressed in the Irish Free State.
What makes it interesting is the way a book becomes legible to officials as a political instrument rather than a neutral cultural object. As a novel, it can be read not only for subject matter but for the way form, tone, and circulation make a text feel dangerous, intimate, or politically usable to anxious officials.
It also matters as part of a wider censorship history in Ireland. The present page is a dossier starter built from source-tracked ban records; the surviving note currently says: Suppressed in the Irish Free State. More publication history, translations, and close reading can be added later.
Overview
Why it was banned
A Farewell to Arms entered censorship debates as a novel associated with controversy, politics, public argument, publication history, state power, and state scrutiny. In the current dossier, the main state objections cluster around political control, political dissent, and political sensitivity.
The earliest event currently captured here is Date not yet pinned down in Ireland, where Ireland authorities banned publication or circulation. Suppressed in the Irish Free State. Suppressed in the Irish Free State.
The record already stretches across Ireland and Italy, which is why the page should be read as a cross-border censorship trail rather than a single isolated dispute.
This page is intentionally incomplete. The ban history is a starter dataset, not a final census of every jurisdiction or decree.
Counter and critical readings
Context, rebuttals, and criticism
- The Origins of Totalitarianism Hannah Arendt
A foundational analysis of state terror, propaganda, and ideological conformity.
- On Tyranny Timothy Snyder
A short modern guide to resisting authoritarian politics and controlled public discourse.
- 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova
A compact reference on how censorship systems moved across states, churches, and courts.
- Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. Anne Lyon Haight
Useful for comparing older obscenity, heresy, and political bans with modern free-speech disputes.
Ban history
Known government actions
| Date | Jurisdiction | Action | Reason | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date not yet pinned down | Ireland | banned publication or circulation | Suppressed in the Irish Free State. | Suppressed in the Irish Free State. |
| Date not yet pinned down | Italy | banned publication or circulation | Banned in Fascist Italy for depicting the Italian Army's defeat at the Battle of Caporetto (currently, this book is not banned). | Banned in Fascist Italy for depicting the Italian Army's defeat at the Battle of Caporetto (currently, this book is not banned). |
Sources
Harvested references for this page
- Wikipedia: List of books banned by governments reference partial
- Wikipedia REST summary API database partial
- The Origins of Totalitarianism book not started
- On Tyranny book not started
- 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature book partial
- Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. book partial