Novel
Nana
Nana is a novel by Émile Zola. This led to an investigation into Zola's works by the Christchurch police in which detectives were sent to local bookshops to enquire after novels by Zola.
Description
About the work
Nana is a novel by Émile Zola. This led to an investigation into Zola's works by the Christchurch police in which detectives were sent to local bookshops to enquire after novels by Zola.
Its interest lies partly in the way literary or informational writing gets collapsed into a public-morality problem. 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 New Zealand. The present page is a dossier starter built from source-tracked ban records; the surviving note currently says: In 1888-89, publisher Henry Vizetelly was prosecuted in the United Kingdom for obscene libel for publishing translated works of Émile Zola. This led to an investigation into Zola's works by the Christchurch police in. More publication history, translations, and close reading can be added later.
Overview
Why it was banned
Nana entered censorship debates as a novel associated with morality, print scandal, and sexuality. In the current dossier, the main state objections cluster around obscenity and public morality.
The earliest event currently captured here is 1890 in New Zealand, where Magistrate's Court classified, prohibited, or restricted. In 1888-89, publisher Henry Vizetelly was prosecuted in the United Kingdom for obscene libel for publishing translated works of Émile Zola. This led to an investigation into Zola's works by the Christchurch police in. In 1888-89, publisher Henry Vizetelly was prosecuted in the United Kingdom for obscene libel for publishing translated works of Émile Zola. This led to an investigation into Zola's works by the Christchurch police in which detectives were sent to local.
This entry is still incomplete: more jurisdictions, court orders, and translated justifications should be added over time.
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
- Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds Dawn B. Sova
Surveys the legal and moral language used to suppress books as obscene.
- Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. Anne Lyon Haight
Useful for seeing how obscenity law and censorship habits changed over time.
- 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.
Ban history
Known government actions
| Date | Jurisdiction | Action | Reason | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1890 | New Zealand | classified, prohibited, or restricted | In 1888-89, publisher Henry Vizetelly was prosecuted in the United Kingdom for obscene libel for publishing translated works of Émile Zola. This led to an investigation into Zola's works by the Christchurch police in. | In 1888-89, publisher Henry Vizetelly was prosecuted in the United Kingdom for obscene libel for publishing translated works of Émile Zola. This led to an investigation into Zola's works by the Christchurch police in which detectives were sent to local. |
Sources
Harvested references for this page
- Wikipedia: List of books banned in New Zealand reference partial
- Wikipedia REST summary API database partial
- Banned Books: Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds book partial
- Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. book partial
- 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature book partial