The National Vigilance Association and Literary Censorship
Created by Alexander Schmelter on Mon, 04/26/2021 - 23:01
This timeline covers the British organization known as the National Vigilance Association, or NVA, and their effect on authors including Oscar Wilde, Émile Zola and Gustave Flaubert.
Timeline
Chronological table
| Date | Event | Created by | Associated Places | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1856 to Dec 1856 |
Madame Bovary is Published Gustave Falubert's debut novel is initially serialized in Revue de Paris, and is later published in-full in 1857. The novel is often seen as an important foundational piece of realism in literature. Its story of adultery however, made it a target for the French legislature who put Flaubert on trial for immorality in response to its publication. This lasted from January to February of 1857, and while Flaubert avoided conviction, other writers like Charles Baudelaire were not so lucky being found guilty on the same charges at roughly the same time. This would prove to be relevant to the NVA, as a few decades later in England, as publisher Henry Vizetelly would be charged with obscenity in England. In his case he was specifically charged for the works of Émile Zola, but he was also responsible for the translation and distribution of Flaubert's work in England.
Sources: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0La_MdsveVoC&oi=fnd&pg=PP13&... https://www.nypl.org/blog/2017/04/13/great-writers-madame-bovary https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=0La_MdsveVoC&oi=fnd&pg=PP13&... English Literature in Transition: Volume 60, Number 4 |
Alexander Schmelter | ||
| Aug 1885 |
The National Vigilance Association (NVA) Is Established The NVA was established in 1885 and was a powerful group lobbying in support of legislation meant to protect women and children, often involving itself with prositution. They also decried literature and artistic works they deemed "pernicious" or in favor of "public immorality", including art exhibitions, anatomical waxworks, and literature including the publications of Vizetelly and Company like Gustave Flaubert and Émile Zola. Sources: https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=5481 Censored: A Literary History of Subversion and Control by Katherine Inglis and Matthew Fellion |
Alexander Schmelter | ||
| Nov 1888 |
Henry Vizetelly is charged with Obscenity by the NVA Henry Richard Vizetelly is charged with obscenity under the Obscene Libel Act due to his publication of Zola’s works, and pleads guilty. The specific publication responsible for the charge was Zola's La Terre, also known as The Soil in its English publication. He was fined £100 and was later charged again for further publication of Zola. For this he was sentenced to three months in prison. Source: Pernicious Literature. Debates in the House of Commons. Trial and Conviction for the Sale of Zola's Novels. With Opinions of the Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40267514.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A68cda... |
Alexander Schmelter | ||
| 1889 |
"Pernicious Literature" is published by the NVA The NVA publishes Pernicious Literature, a pamphlet aimed at the banning of Émile Zola's writings in the U.K. It was written “in the strong hope that it may sound as a note of alarm, and rouse the manhood of England to action in relation to the growth of this evil, which is to-day a menace to our religious, social and national life.” It asserts that the legislature should serve as the arbiter of what’s deemed moral or immoral in place of “lax public opinion”, and the association even offered to take financial responsibility for cases in which there was sufficient evidence of such pernicious activity.
Sources: http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Pernicious_Literature https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101050607215&view=1up&seq=5 |
Alexander Schmelter |