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Salient: Victoria University Students' Newspaper. Vol. 24, No. 7. 1961.

Lolita and the Judges

Lolita and the Judges

Sir,—"Janclst" complains that the judges who condemned "Lolita" are "grievously lacking in a sense of humour."

He gives the case where the man is seduced by the child. The reader is then nudged in black type to indicate "joke."

I doubt whether the judges would consider this humorous, they hear similar stories every day, and a legal proceeding is not to exercise the judge's sense of humour. The judge was asked to decide whether the book came within the provisions of the indecent publications act with the result that "Lolita" became a banned book.

This raises the question; if this book is an illegal import and has not been published in New Zealand, how did Jancist get a copy without breaking the law? The answer, like the seduction story, would no doubt be considered by the judge, All Rather Amusing.

Yours, etc.,

—R.J.P.