Frank Harris was an Irish-American author, editor, journalist and publisher. He is well known for his autobiographical book
My Life and Loves, which was banned around the world for its sexual explicitness. The book was banned in Australia in 1926.
'A punch in the face of the puritanism and conservatism he raged against,
My Life and Loves is the highly charged, erotic autobiography of Frank Harris (1856-1931), an Irish writer and editor who founded
Pearson's Magazine in the United States (1914-1918). When first published, the book elicited hostile criticism because of its blunt and frank detail of Harris's sexual exploits, beginning in his childhood. A biographer of Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare, Harris fought the U.S. government and postal service over the content of his publications - battles included in
My Life and Loves along with Harris's blunt, colorful depictions of his sexual exploits with willing Victorian Age debutantes.
My Life and Loves remains a landmark in erotic literature, as relevant and provocative today as it was when first privately printed in Paris. Harris is included in AustLit because his work was
banned or restricted in Australia by the Federal censor.' (Source: LibrariesAustralia)
