Banned in Spain? Truth, lies and censorship in Kate O'Brien's novels

Abstract

This paper tries to shed some light on the reception of Kate O'Brien's works in Spainduring Franco's dictatorship. As a lover of Spain, the Irish writer spent long periods ofher life in that country and some of her experiences were later fictionalised in her novels.Characterised by her portrayal of strong female heroines who did not respond to social orgender expectations, it does not come as a surprise that some of O'Brien novels werebanned in Ireland and Spain. Although both countries shared a strong Catholicbackground and a protectionist censorship system, the censor's spotting of the subversiveand dangerous passages that were to be banned differed greatly. Besides, in the Spanishcase, O'Brien was allegedly forbidden to enter the country until 1957, an affirmation that,up until now, has never been questioned. Bearing these aspects in mind, the present studyfocuses on a thorough analysis of the author's censorship files stored in Spain and on theresearch carried out to contest the undocumented assumption related to her expulsionfrom the country.