Censorship and publishing in Ireland in the 1930s and 40s

Abstract

This is a study of Ireland's literary censorship and publishing industry in the 1930s and 40s. It focuses on the arguments which were made for and against censorship in the press and the government (specifically in Seán O'Faoláin's journal The Bell, and in the 1942 and 1945 debates in the Seanad). This brings out a profile of the public opinion which supported the moral restrictions of censorship, as a protection against socially destructive 'foreign influences'; likewise, it brings out the range and depth of the intellectual arguments made against (and also for) censorship at the time. These arguments specifically focus on the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Irish Government, the relationship between the Government and the Gaelic revival movement, and between the Government and the Irish literary-class. This is paired with a close study of the output of Dublin publishers in the 1930s. This study supports conventional wisdom that there was a strong dependence on British publishers for literature, continuing into the 1950s. It confirms that Ireland's publishing was largely dependent on religious and educational publishing, and government subsidising of the Irish language publishing. The 1930s and 40s (and 50s) are well known to have been a period of retarded economic growth-this study gives exact statistics of the state of the Irish publishing industry in a year in the early period after independence.

Date of Award	2001
Original language	English