Posted on November 10, 2021 at 10:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
November 10 was a dramatic day in literary history back in the early 1960s.
On that day in 1960, D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover sold out in the UK, with 200,000 copies being purchased on November 10 alone.
Even more astounding — the novel had only been printed the day before; a court had finally ruled that it wasn’t obscene and could be printed, breaking a decades-long drought.
You’re welcome to celebrate this victory by reading the original or applauding it, but should you be interested, Literary Hub took a different approach to noting its legacy: by rounding up film “sequels” to Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
And in safer-for-work milestones, this date in 1961 was launch day for Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.
The New York Times reviewed the novel before publication, with its critic declaring: “Wildly original, brilliantly comic, brutally gruesome, it is a dazzling performance that will probably outrage nearly as many readers as it delights.”
You can read more of the Catch-22 review at Lit Hub, which links to the original NY Times coverage in full.
And also worth noting: on this day in 1928, the first installment of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque appeared in the German magazine Vossische Zeitung, and in 1950, novelist William Faulkner was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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Categories: Today in Books