Gazing into the Mirror:

Censorship and Self-censorship in Early Gay Australian novels

Authors

  • Jeremy Fisher

Keywords:

Self-censorship, gay literature, freedom of expression, publishing

Abstract

Early gay Australian novels stepped delicately in their depiction of homosexual relationships. In a murky legal climate, both publishers and authors fumbled in their efforts to recount overt homosexual narratives. As well, they were constrained by social conventions. In this environment, writers acted as their own censors, sometimes guided by their publishers, but more often cautiously coming to terms with being able to tell their own stories. Fifty years on, it is possible to document the manner in which some writers of novels with overt gay narratives navigated their problematic world and how the final works were influenced by self-censorship and censorship. As well, some reception of these writers’ works by the mainstream literary market is given a preliminary analysis in this article.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Jeremy Fisher

Jeremy Fisher is Senior Lecturer in Writing at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. His research interests are publishing history, remuneration for authors, freedom to write, and the emergence of gay narratives. In addition to his extensive academic output in these areas, he has written numerous short stories, the young adult novel Perfect Timing (translated into Vietnamese) and the adult novel Music from Another Country. His collection of stories How to Tell Your Father to Drop Dead was published in 2013 and a new novel, The Dirty Little Dog, will be published in 2016.

Downloads

Published

2021-10-29

How to Cite

Fisher , J. (2021). Gazing into the Mirror:: Censorship and Self-censorship in Early Gay Australian novels. Sanglap: Journal of Literary and Cultural Inquiry, 2(2), 77–97. Retrieved from https://sanglap-journal.in/index.php/sanglap/article/view/52