Certain people are hit harder by censorship than others, especially where literature is a way to express one’s own experiences. In the West, queer authors have had to experience that censorship doesn’t only affect their writing, but their lives as well.

In the beginning of the 20^th century, the USA was seeing a burst of queer pulp novels and literature, in spite of same-sex relations being seen as deviant and written depictions strongly tabooed. Authors and publishers had to employ creative measures to escape the censor, so as not to be convicted for both their literature and their lives.

What consequences did this have for their writing? What traces of this time can one find in queer literature today?

Rebecca Scherr is a professor in English language and literature at the University of Oslo, with special emphasis on American queer and LGBT literature. She will give a talk on how a handful of American authors challenged the censor and braved punishment to write their books.

In the lecture series “Forbidden Books”, the House of Literature sheds light on the ways in which literature is forbidden, censored and suppressed, historically and today.

The event will be in English.