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y separately published work icon Love Me Sailor single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1945... 1945 Love Me Sailor
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Adaptations

y separately published work icon Love Me Sailor Kenneth Hudson Youdale , 1949 9555350 1949 single work drama

An adaptation of Ronald Close's controversial novel: the novel was so controversial that both Close and his publisher were prosecuted, and Close was jailed.

Banned in Australia

Censorship Agencies: Customs
Censored Period: 16 Oct 1951
NAA Source: C4129/1; Box L
Censorship notes: The Literature Censorship Board was forwarded the English edition of Love Me Sailor for assessment in 1951. The board recommended release but the Minister overruled the board and prohibited its importation.
Censorship notes: Released on 25.02.1960.

Notes

  • In three trials, Robert Close and his publisher Georgian House were prosecuted in Victoria for publishing an obscene publication in Love Me Sailor. They were found guilty in 1948 and Georgian House was fined 500 pounds. Close was convicted of obscene libel, sentenced to gaol and fined 100 pounds. (Following an appeal, the gaol sentence was subsequently reduced).

     For further information see Cairns, Geoffrey : Access Denied : A Bibliography of Suppressed Australian Literature . p. 48

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Melbourne, Victoria,: Georgian House , 1945 .
      image of person or book cover 1390880981656976654.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 260p.
      Description: illus.
      Note/s:
      • Illustrations by Geoffrey C. Ingleton
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       W. H. Allen ,       1951 .
      Extent: 1v.p.
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Pan ,       1959 .
      Extent: 218p.
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Horwitz , 1969 .
      image of person or book cover 252311257751189088.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 260p.
      Description: illus.
      ISBN: 0207159491
    • North Ryde, Ryde - Gladesville - Hunters Hill area, Northwest Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales,: Eden Paperbacks , 1988 .
      Extent: 253p.
      Description: illus.
      ISBN: 0207159491
      Series: Eden Paperbacks Angus and Robertson (publisher), 1987 series - publisher This paperback imprint of Angus and Robertson was launched in September 1987. The first titles included Upfield's Winds of Evil and Derryn Hinch's Death at Newport.
Alternative title: Prends-moi, matelot!
Language: French
    • Paris,
      c
      France,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,      :       Editions du Chene ,       1947 .
      image of person or book cover 2413474107033797172.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 433p.
      Description: illus.
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Works about this Work

The Novel at Arms : Rereading Australian Mid-century Realism Nicole Moore , 2023 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel 2023;
The Athens of the South Alison Broinowski , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Adelaide : A Literary City 2014; (p. 147-161)
The Trials of Robert Close Dennis Bryans , 2011 single work criticism
— Appears in: Script and Print , vol. 35 no. 4 2011; (p. 197-218) 'In October 1951, the Argus noted that Australia's censorship had "On occasion, when the more modern statutes [were] felt to be inadequate," called "antiquated laws ... into life such as the 'obscene libel' law invoked in the case of Robert Close's novel, Love Me Sailor, and the 'malicious libel' law used ... against Frank Hardy, author, of Power Without Glory'..." At the time Australia's censorship laws were regarded as being among the most narrow minded and repressive imposed by a democratic government anywhere...(Author's introduction)
Censorship and Sensibility Jane Sullivan , 2010 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 10 July 2010; (p. 12-13) Jane Sullivan discusses some notable Australian censorship cases including Robert Close's Love Me Sailor, banned in the 1950s.
Obscene and Over Here : National Sex and the Love Me Sailor Obscenity Trial Nicole Moore , 2002 single work criticism
— Appears in: Australian Literary Studies , October vol. 20 no. 4 2002; (p. 316-329)
From the Notebook of Pasquin Paul L. Grano , 1946 single work review
— Appears in: View , April vol. 1 no. 1 1946; (p. 16 - 17)
— Review of Love Me Sailor Robert S. Close , 1945 single work novel
Untitled Norbert Coulehan , 1946 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin Papers , [Autumn] vol. 5 no. 1 1946; (p. 90-91)
— Review of Love Me Sailor Robert S. Close , 1945 single work novel
A Woman on a Windjammer L. I. Shephard , 1946 single work review
— Appears in: Southerly , vol. 7 no. 2 1946; (p. 106-107)
— Review of Love Me Sailor Robert S. Close , 1945 single work novel
Untitled 1948 single work review
— Appears in: La Suisse , 26 January 1948;
— Review of Love Me Sailor Robert S. Close , 1945 single work novel
Untitled Leon Gellert , 1948 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 22 May 1948; (p. 6)
— Review of Love Me Sailor Robert S. Close , 1945 single work novel
Editorial George Farwell , 1946 single work prose
— Appears in: The Australasian Book News and Library Journal , August vol. 1 no. 2 1946; (p. 33) Farwell defends freedom of expression and calls for the application of intelligence and consistency in the censorship process if there must be one.
What Is Obscenity? J. A. M. , 1946 single work column
— Appears in: The Australasian Book News and Library Journal , December vol. 1 no. 6 1946; (p. 240-41) This piece investigates the ramifications of the Act Amendment protecting 'objects of art and literary works' from prosecution under the Obscene and Indecent Publications Act of New South Wales.
Notes and News 1947 single work column
— Appears in: The Australasian Book News and Library Journal , March vol. 1 no. 9 1947; (p. 428)
Not For Publication Warrigal Jack , 1947 single work column
— Appears in: The Australasian Book News and Library Journal , June vol. 1 no. 12 1947; (p. 552)
The Novel : Novels of Purpose H. M. Green , 1961 single work criticism
— Appears in: A History of Australian Literature, Pure and Applied : A Critical Review of All Forms of Literature Produced in Australia from the First Books Published After the Arrival of the First Fleet Until 1950, with Short Accounts of Later Publications Up to 1960 1961; (p. 1122-1152)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (28)
Last amended 7 Dec 2022 13:21:30
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