7 of the most controversial fictional books of all time

Publishing books is always a difficult task. However, trying to get them past this stage into the public eye creates even more problems, especially when you are not always writing on easy topics. Here, we have listed some of the books which have been criticised for their deviation from the norm over the past century…

1. The Santanic Verses- Salman Rushdie

Arguably, this was one of the most controversial books ever written. While in Britain it won several prestigious awards (the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award), this was certainly not the case for other countries. Many Muslims believed ‘The Satanic Verses’ was an attack and mockery of their faith. Due to rising religious tensions, the author, Salman Rushdie, rushed to a safe house under police protection. Meanwhile, his translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, was stabbed to death outside his office in Japan.

2. Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov

Pedophilia has never been explored in the same way as in Nabokov’s ‘Lolita’. This unnerving tale of one man’s infatuation for young ‘nymphet’ girls was banned in the United Kingdom, when the editor of the Sunday Express complained about its pornographic implications, with France quickly following suit. Since then, ‘Lolita’ has been recognised as a work worthy of literary praise, despite its dark subject matter.

3. Lady Chatterley’s Lover- D. H. Lawrence

This sexually charged novel about a gardener and his mistress, the titular ‘Lady Chatterley’, did not go down favourably in the media. Its graphic descriptions detailing their passionate affair behind her husband’s back, saw a ban for nearly thirty years from its release. It has since been satirized by many comedians, largely mocking the prudish tone of the early 20th century society, who withdrew it from publication…

4. Brave New World- Aldous Huxley

It is unsurprising that such a dystopian novel as ‘Brave New World’ would be published without controversy. From drug induced societal bodies, to conditioned babies, the trajectory for humankind that Huxley envisaged was not a welcome one. In Ireland, it was perceived as a diatribe against family and religion, which was, at the time, a very contentious matter.

5. The Chocolate War- Robert Cormier

This young adult novel came under fire for its sexually explicit language. The story itself is centred around Jerry, a boy who is bullied for his nonconformist attitude to the corrupt student board running his school. Despite the book’s author, Robert Cormier, being called ‘unique in his powerful integration of the personal, political and moral’ by the New York Times, many schools believed the sexual content, and existential musings were too dark for pupils, and removed it from their libraries.

6. Ulysses- James Joyce

Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ is an excellent addition to modernism. Originally coming out in a serial format, it went on to be published in Paris where it gained popularity. However, passages of the book, which are loosely based around Homer’s ‘Odyssey’, have been criticised for including sexual innuendos and anti-Christian rhetoric. While Joyce denied these allegations, it went to court in America and Ireland, and was subsequently banned in these countries for a number of years.

7. Animal Farm- George Orwell

As one of the best known literary critiques of communism, ‘Animal Farm’ is not a book without controversy. In this allegorical farmyard tale, animals overhaul the rigid human regime, hoping to venture into a freer future, with the pigs at the helm. However, soon enough their dreams of living an equal lifestyle disintegrate, and this idyll which they hoped for, is far from what they anticipated.