In Could 1959, DF Karaka, the founder editor of The Present, wrote a letter to then Finance Minister Moraji Desai a few guide. Karaka defined that the guide glorified a sexual relationship between a grown man and a teenage lady. He included a clipping from The Present that demanded an instantaneous ban on the “obscene” guide.
The guide in query was Lolita, written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov, and revealed in 1955.
A month earlier, on April 6, 1959, the collector of Customs in Bombay had detained a consignment that included imported copies of the novel belonging to Jaico Publishing Home. The collector of Customs referred the matter to the police, the Ministry of Regulation in addition to the Ministry of Finance.
The police commissioner of Bombay and the native department of the regulation ministry have been of the view that the guide didn’t fall beneath the class of “obscene literature” and shouldn’t be held. Although the collector of Customs additionally concluded that the guide couldn’t be thought-about “grossly indecent or obscene”, he didn’t launch the consignment.
Jaico Publishing Home opposed the choice of the collector of Customs to carry the consignment containing the copies of Lolita. The managers of the agency have been additionally conscious of the letter that Karaka had written to Finance Minister Desai. In response, they despatched a letter arguing that the novel was not obscene or pornographic.
This letter included cuttings from publications akin to The Occasions of India, The Indian Specific, Shankar’s Weekly, The Each day Specific, The Blitz, The Observer, The Spectator, and The Each day Mail and others that had revealed optimistic opinions of the novel. Round that point, Lolita had been temporarily banned in France, England, Argentina, and New Zealand.
The sophisticated matter of Lolita was then referred to Desai, a puritan Gandhian with an obsession with pure cures and prohibition. Desai didn’t disguise his dislike for such a guide. In a brief notice on Lolita, he pointedly remarked, “I have no idea what guide will be referred to as obscene if this can’t be. It’s intercourse perversion.” Desai additionally instructed that the House Ministry needs to be consulted earlier than a ultimate choice was taken on the matter.
Finance Secretary AK Roy consulted Joint Secretary N Sahgal and instructed that the file concerning the import of the controversial guide be submitted to Jawaharlal Nehru as some representatives of Jaico Publishing Home had additionally requested a gathering with the prime minister.
Nehru’s remarks and his notes concerning the Lolita affair survived within the Nehru Papers preserved on the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and have been revealed inThe Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru.
In a notice to his private secretary Kesho Ram, Nehru had talked about that he would meet the representatives of the agency. Nehru additionally stated that he had not but learn the novel, however had learn opinions of it and was conscious that it had created “a minor sensation in literary circles in England and America”.
Nehru was in opposition to the concept of censoring a guide that had any claims to literary advantage. Extra so, he didn’t like censorship by an authority such because the collector of Customs, or by law enforcement officials.
As this controversy round Lolita was brewing, publications akin to The Occasions of India, Statesman, and Shankar’s Weekly revealed items suggesting a committee of specialists be constituted to think about the censorship of controversial books.
On the identical time, the honorary secretary of the Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Associations in India additionally got here ahead with a suggestion to arrange a Censor Board to look into publications suspected to be “grossly indecent or obscene” and resolve whether or not they need to be allowed to flow into in India.
Fifteen days after the primary notice, Nehru wrote one other memo for Kesho Ram. By this time, Nehru had learn the novel and shaped an opinion. Nehru’s remarks on Lolita are fairly revealing and worthy to be quoted in full:
“Studying this guide Lolita, I felt that it was a critical guide and in its personal line fairly excellent. It’s hardly a guide which may give gentle studying to anybody. The language is usually troublesome. It’s true that some components in it fairly shocked me. The shock was extra because of the description of sure circumstances than to the writing itself. The guide is actually not pornographic within the regular sense of the phrase. It’s, as I’ve stated, a critical guide, severely written. If there had been no fuss about it, no query want have arisen in any respect of banning it or stopping its entry. It’s this fuss that generally makes a distinction as a result of individuals are attracted specifically to studying books that are talked about on this method.”
On this notice, Nehru additionally identified that he wouldn’t hesitate to ban horror comics or books that cope with intercourse and crime and don’t have any literary advantage. Nehru additional talked about the excessive worth of the guide Lolita, with every copy costing Rs 30, and highlighted the issue of India’s scarce international trade reserves in importing such books.
Extra importantly, Nehru additionally consulted the then Vice President, Dr S Radhakrishnan, who was additionally the vp of Sahitya Akademi. Radhakrishnan, too, was not in favor of banning the guide. Nehru additionally spoke to Morarji Desai, who regardless of his earlier reservations concerning the novel, lastly agreed with Nehru that the guide shouldn’t be banned.
Ultimately, Nehru favoured the discharge of the inventory withheld by the Customs. After the matter was settled and the consignment was launched by the collector of Customs, RV Pandit wrote a letter to Nehru on behalf of Jaico Publishing Home, thanking him for the curiosity he had proven within the matter.
Within the letter dated June 10, 1959, Pandit famous that “bigger points than merely a business transaction have been concerned on this matter and we’re glad to have acquainted you with the artificially contrived state of affairs that locked up Lolita for 2 months.”
This case not solely demonstrates Nehru’s sensitivity and open-mindedness, however can be a uncommon instance of statesmanship, the place the prime minister himself learn a guide in query to resolve whether or not it needs to be censored.
Shubhneet Kaushik teaches historical past at Satish Chandra School, Ballia.
