Saucy Latin texts
Originally posted by Peter Inson at 09:47, June 7 2013
One thing to read furtively marked passages from a banned tome – thank you Janet Forge of Ilford County High for Girls who in 1961 lent me “Lady C” in a plain brown wrapper marked “A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.” There should be a blue plaque to mark the spot where we used to meet at Gants Hill underground station. It proved a far better incentive to read Lawrence’s poetry than any lesson at school.
Adolescent speculation about the sexual proclivities of those a little older and more fortunate than ourselves is one thing. Serious consideration of one’s own feelings about activities upon which we may not have embarked is another, especially when presented as the demands of an examination paper.
Salcious matter is best enjoyed on an extra-mural basis. Why deny adolescents covert joy and why not punish severely boys who are caught reading smut to as to encourage them to boast and read yet more?