This is not, though, an American production, rather the result of a hodge-podge group of Western Europeans. As such there has been much excitement around putting his only adult (non-fixup) novel on to the big screen. However, his feature film works have been limited to the monster films of the 50s. There has even been an unofficial television adaptation Fahrenheit 451 which resulted in a lengthy lawsuit. Ray Bradbury is probably the most popular living science fiction writer, with his works being adapted for numerous television shows and even being able to demand higher rates for them than contemporaries such as Asimov, Pohl or Wyndham. This makes a new film release well-timed, the adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The trial is set for next month but, whatever the result, the debate over what is allowed to be published continues.

A Conservative and strict Baptist, Black has recently spoken out against Premium Bonds, decriminalizing homosexual behaviour and changing Sunday trading laws. What is perhaps surprising is it did not come through the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney general, but rather is a private prosecution by Cyril Black, MP for Wimbledon. Australia had already banned its import last year, and Anthony Burgess said “American books like Last Exit to Brooklyn…go about as far as fiction may be expected to go.” Cyril Black, MP I really liked it myself, but it was clearly going to provoke a response. British Hardback edition from Calder and Boyars Ltd.Ī favourite novel of beatniks like Ginsberg and Burroughs, it tells unvarnished tales of lives of the poorest in New York in rhythmic prose.

Its latest target? Hubert Selby Jr.’s controversial Last Exit To Brooklyn, which has finally made its way over to Britain.

Once thought to have died after the Chatterley trial, it looks like the Obscene Publications Act has risen from its grave and is out for fresh blood.

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