Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Lady Chatterley's Lover Review

Lady Chatterley's Lover was written by D. H. Lawrence in 1928 and was considered obscene soon after it was published. It was the topic of an obscenity trial in 1959. This surprising review appeared in Field and Stream back then:

"Although written many years ago, Lady Chatterley's Lover has just been reissued by the Grove Press, and this pictorial account of the day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper is full of considerable interest to outdoor minded readers, as it contains many passages on pheasant-raising, the apprehending of poachers, ways to control vermin, and other chores and duties of the professional gamekeeper. Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material in order to discover and savour those sidelights on the management of a midland shooting estate, and in this reviewer's opinion the book cannot take the place of J. R. Miller's 'Practical Gamekeeping.'''


Despite being in a column entitled "Exit Laughing," some people took this little item written by Ed Zern as serious. In fact, it's a masterpiece of satire.

By the way, there is no such book as "Practical Gamekeeping." 





5 comments:

John A Hill said...

Did you ever imagine how those people (the ones that judged obscene material a century ago) would view today's world?
They wouldn't even be able to watch a hamburger commercial!

eViL pOp TaRt said...

They would be freaked out today!

Cloudia said...

A reviewer in your own vein!

Mike said...

I know what hamburger commercials John is talking about. I remember them vividly. Except I can't remember what hamburger chain it was for. Oh well, I remember the important parts.

Banana Oil said...

That's the spirit, Mike!