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THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE
No. 75

is as it should be. Genet is a writer of international stature
whose work offers a penetrating commentary on the ills of
western society. The world he presents is described so vividly
and with such an eye for beauty even in the most sordid
contexts that he has been called “the poet of evil of our times”.
He is, rightly, the subject of serious academic study.

An artist of Genet’s intelligence and insight has a right to
be read in his entirety, for each new work must modify our
understanding of his total achievement. Nor do we consider
it necessary to establish that a book by such a writer should
possess exceptional literary merit: an artist also has the right
to fail from time to time and yet be heard. There is in our
view no comparison to be drawn between the serious literary
work of a man like Genet, whose affinities are with such
writers as Lawrence, Joyce, Nabokov, and Baldwin, and the
mass of cheap, cynically commercialised periodical and paper-
back pornography which the Tribunal is properly concerned
to keep under strict restraint.

We must concede that Querelle of Brest contains incidents
and language which, if taken out of context, many might
consider indecent. The descriptions of homosexual relation-
ships in particular, the glorifications of murder, and Genet’s
vivid depiction of the depravity which pervades the naval
base of Brest, are undoubtedly shocking. One’s initial reaction
might well be disgust. Yet such unwelcome knowledge is
suppressed at our peril; and, taken as a whole, the book
leaves one impressed with the nature of evil which, far from
asking to be realised by imitation, must be faced, understood,
and overcome. Such tactics have a long and honourable
tradition in religious teachings.

In this book Genet writes complexly. Technically it is said
to be “Genet’s highest achievement in the novel”. There is a
new acknowledgement of the role of women and subtler
characterisation; there is a complex pairing and patterning
of characters, deeds, time past and time present, fantasy
projections and actual experience. Genet deflates the beauty of
his own rhetoric by opposing to it a sordid, miserable, and
subhuman reality in which the incidents are horrid and revolt-
ing: his own vision embraces both. Little in the book is left
simple. The self-awareness of the main character Querelle,
together with the intimate meditations of Seblon, are matched
by the comprehensive awareness of the author himself in his
writing. It is this characteristic of complex qualification that
inhibits the intelligent reader from simplifying the book and
misapplying its content; it is this elaboration of motive and
intricacy of relation that must frustrate the simple-minded
reader who might otherwise be tempted to translate fantasy
incidents into real-life actions. It is impossible to be absolute
about such matters, but the Tribunal believes that this book
is unlikely to promote any desire for realisation; rather, on
a more abstract level, it leaves one to grapple with the problem
of evil. And that is not a problem to be solved by evasion.

The author of Querelle of Brest is important, and this is
one of his substantial works. It may suffer somewhat in trans-
lation but it evinces an uncompromising honesty of intention
and artistic integrity. There is no attempt whatever on the
publisher’s part to force sales by vulgar methods to a wide
and possibly immature readership; the present edition is in
unadorned hard covers with a sober dust-jacket; its paper
and typography are of high quality; and its price, while not
dear, keeps it well above the cheap paperback range. Such
considerations merely lend support to our view that there is
little risk in allowing the book to find its natural readership.
Accordingly we declare it to be not indecent.

L. G. H. SINCLAIR, Chairman.

11 November 1968.

Decisions of the Indecent Publications Tribunal

No. 115–119

In the matter of the Indecent Publications Act 1963 and in
the matter of an application to the Tribunal by the Comptrol-
ler of Customs for decisions in respect of the following books:

Francon Duclos: the Memoirs of a Paris Madame.
Ladies on Call.
Lesbianism and the Single Girl.
Satyricon—Memoirs of a Lusty Roman.
My Secret Life.

DECISIONS OF THE TRIBUNAL

The following books were submitted to the Tribunal by the
Comptroller of Customs for classification. In respect of the
first four books, Mr Downey appeared as Counsel for the
distributor, Seven Seas Publishing Proprietary Ltd., of Well-
ington, and made submissions. No submissions were received
from the Comptroller of Customs, nor were any submissions
received in respect of My Secret Life.

Francon Duclos: the Memoirs of a Paris Madame, by the
Marquis de Sade. Translation and introduction by Paul
J. Gillette. Paperback edition, published by Holloway
House Publishing Co., Los Angeles, 1967.

The present book is a free translation of parts of a larger
one by de Sade entitled The 120 Days of Sodom, written in
1785. The plan of the work provides for four sections, one
for each month covered by the action. During this time each
of four brothel-keepers, of whom Madame Duclos is one,

is expected to recite 150 perversions, 600 in all, to be enacted
by the participants in illustration of the narrative. Most of
the victims are killed in the final section and only the 4 psycho-
paths and 12 other persons survive.

This outline will sufficiently indicate the depraved nature
of the full work. In its unrevised, incomplete, and textually
crude form, it has no literary interest to redeem it, and it
contains none of the philosophic content which may be found
in some of de Sade’s later writings. The most that can be said
is that the recital of perversions might be of interest to those
professionally concerned with abnormal psychology, and that
the phenomenon of de Sade can only be seriously studied
if the necessary raw materials, in the form of fundamental
texts, are available.

But we cannot believe that the serious concerns of scholar-
ship in any of its forms are honestly promoted by the present
edition. Its physical form—a cheap paperback, the paper and
print of which leave much to be desired—place it in a quite
different category. The text is part only of de Sade’s larger
work; the editor’s avowed refashioning of the narrative must
be taken substantially to alter the form given by de Sade;
the normal scholarly apparatus which would permit a check
to be made on the authenticity of the text presented is
lacking; the introduction is brief and superficial and the
commendations of de Sade there cited apply to works other
than that printed.

Were the edition under consideration an accurate one like
that of Maurice Heine (three volumes, 1931–5), or a faithful
translation of it, a restrictive classification might reasonably
be applied. Mr Downey, of Counsel for the distributor, said
his client did not wish to be heard in support of the book.
We can see no redeeming virtue in the present volume and
accordingly decide that it is indecent.

Ladies on Call, by Lee Francis, Holloway House Publishing
Co., Los Angeles. Paperback for adults, $1.15.

Ladies on Call is the autobiography of Lee Francis who
operated some of the most famous clubs and holiday houses
of Hollywood. It is adult reading of a second-rate kind, but
avoids the grossness often associated with such stories. There
is a good deal of detail in the accounts of sexual practices,
many of which are aberrant; and this over-all emphasis makes
the book unsuitable for general reading by young people.
We judge it to be indecent in the hands of persons under
18 years of age.

Lesbianism and the Single Girl, by Roger Blake, PH.D.,
Century Books, K.D.S., Cleveland, Ohio. NZ$1.15.

This book deals with sex in an extravagant and irresponsible
manner which we consider to be injurious to the public good.
Although it purports to be a serious study, the paucity of
scientific comment leaves it far short of being justifiable on
that ground. It is not redeemed on the grounds of literary
merit and the Tribunal decides it to be indecent.

Satyricon: Memoirs of a Lusty Roman, by Titus Petronius
Arbiter. A reconstruction in modern English by Paul
J. Gillette. Paperback edition, published by Holloway
House Publishing Co., Los Angeles, 1965. NZ$1.15.

Like most classical texts, the Satyricon of Petronius frankly
accepts the physical side of life and readily admits homo-
sexual as well as heterosexual love. Indeed this natural
acceptance of the sexual instinct and its need for gratification
paradoxically creates the norm which gives the book its moral
tone as a satire on the follies and vices of Nero’s Rome. But
the virtues of the original go beyond such social satire to
include literary parody and imitation, and the narrative itself
appears to be an original attempt to create the quite new
literary form of a realistically based novel of comic incident,
verbal wit, and psychological observation. The most recent
scholarly study of Petronius (by Professor J. P. Sullivan)
speaks of the Satyricon as a “highly original work, un-
paralleled in ancient literature, which seems comparable only
to such individually unique productions as Tristram Shandy
and Ulysses”.

The text of the book, however, presents formidable problems
to the scholar. In the present edition the editor has attempted
a reconstruction of the text and offers an interesting prefatory
justification of his method. The result is a highly readable
narrative which preserves the spirit of the original. Given
the classical status of the text, the moral tone inseparable
from the satiric purposes of the book, and the degree of
responsibility shown in this instance by the editor, the Tribunal
decides that the book is not indecent.

My Secret Life, abridged but unexpurgated. Introduction by
G. Legman. Grove Press, New York. Paperback at
US$1.75.

This is another edition of the anonymous autobiography of
“Walter”, a wealthy Victorian who lived entirely for sexual
experience. It is 700 pages long (mercifully abridged from
the original 11 volumes) and, apart from a most competent
introduction by G. Legman, is allowed to stand alone, with
no softening of the blunt language. In most cases publication
of a text is preferable to publication of extracts that are
toned down and commented on, as in the edition by the
Kronhausens already submitted to this Tribunal. But here the