Nicholas Harrison
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159094
- eISBN:
- 9780191673481
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159094.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The French Revolution of 1789 bequeathed an enduring rhetoric of human rights which made it conventional to declare oneself against censorship and in favour of freedom of expression. But, as this ...
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The French Revolution of 1789 bequeathed an enduring rhetoric of human rights which made it conventional to declare oneself against censorship and in favour of freedom of expression. But, as this book demonstrates, the apparent consensus on this issue in modern France and elsewhere rests on a shaky sense of that rhetoric's history. And, while censors have continued to the present day to charge clumsily across delicate moral and political fields, opponents of literary censorship, in particular, have frequently displayed excessive respect for censored material, mistakenly assuming that the censor can be relied upon to identify material that is disturbing, subversive, or true. This book focuses on key episodes in the history of literary censorship in France. It examines the Madame Bovary trial of 1857, and the prosecution a century later of Pauvert, publisher of Sade's complete works. It analyses and criticizes the Freudian-influenced attempts by the Surrealist movement and by Barthes and the Tel Quel group to subvert and evade censorship. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines and approaches including history, literary theory and feminism, the book presents a critique of the ideas on censorship which resurfaced repeatedly in the discourse of human rights, psychoanalysis and literary culture.Less
The French Revolution of 1789 bequeathed an enduring rhetoric of human rights which made it conventional to declare oneself against censorship and in favour of freedom of expression. But, as this book demonstrates, the apparent consensus on this issue in modern France and elsewhere rests on a shaky sense of that rhetoric's history. And, while censors have continued to the present day to charge clumsily across delicate moral and political fields, opponents of literary censorship, in particular, have frequently displayed excessive respect for censored material, mistakenly assuming that the censor can be relied upon to identify material that is disturbing, subversive, or true. This book focuses on key episodes in the history of literary censorship in France. It examines the Madame Bovary trial of 1857, and the prosecution a century later of Pauvert, publisher of Sade's complete works. It analyses and criticizes the Freudian-influenced attempts by the Surrealist movement and by Barthes and the Tel Quel group to subvert and evade censorship. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines and approaches including history, literary theory and feminism, the book presents a critique of the ideas on censorship which resurfaced repeatedly in the discourse of human rights, psychoanalysis and literary culture.
Nora Gilbert
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804784207
- eISBN:
- 9780804784870
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804784207.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
This book is in the unseemly position of defending censorship from the central allegations that are traditionally leveled against it. Taking two genres generally presumed to have been stymied by the ...
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This book is in the unseemly position of defending censorship from the central allegations that are traditionally leveled against it. Taking two genres generally presumed to have been stymied by the censor's knife—the Victorian novel and classical Hollywood film—it reveals the varied ways in which censorship, for all its blustery self-righteousness, can actually be good for sex, politics, feminism, and art. As much as Victorianism is equated with such cultural impulses as repression and prudery, few scholars have explored the Victorian novel as a “censored” commodity—thanks, in large part, to the indirectness and intangibility of England's literary censorship process. This indirection stands in sharp contrast to the explicit, detailed formality of Hollywood's infamous Production Code of 1930. In comparing these two versions of censorship, the author explores the paradoxical effects of prohibitive practices. Rather than being ruined by censorship, Victorian novels and Hays Code films were stirred and stimulated by the very forces meant to restrain them.Less
This book is in the unseemly position of defending censorship from the central allegations that are traditionally leveled against it. Taking two genres generally presumed to have been stymied by the censor's knife—the Victorian novel and classical Hollywood film—it reveals the varied ways in which censorship, for all its blustery self-righteousness, can actually be good for sex, politics, feminism, and art. As much as Victorianism is equated with such cultural impulses as repression and prudery, few scholars have explored the Victorian novel as a “censored” commodity—thanks, in large part, to the indirectness and intangibility of England's literary censorship process. This indirection stands in sharp contrast to the explicit, detailed formality of Hollywood's infamous Production Code of 1930. In comparing these two versions of censorship, the author explores the paradoxical effects of prohibitive practices. Rather than being ruined by censorship, Victorian novels and Hays Code films were stirred and stimulated by the very forces meant to restrain them.
Ramona Naddaff
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780823283712
- eISBN:
- 9780823286164
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823283712.003.0015
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
From the very first moments of his publication, Sade was deemed a dangerous writer who deliberately intended to harm his audience and from whom the general public should be protected. In the 1958 ...
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From the very first moments of his publication, Sade was deemed a dangerous writer who deliberately intended to harm his audience and from whom the general public should be protected. In the 1958 literary censorship trial, "The Public Ministry vs. Jean-Jacques Pauvert," the Marquis de Sade's twentieth-century publisher contested the state's reading of Sade's texts as "contrary to good morals." Sade's defense team offered provocative and, at times, innovative interpretations of his work and legacy that addressed the history of its reception and interpretations of its ethical and didactic value. The defense, paradoxically, emphasized that the very price, design, and marketing of Sade's work already restricted its readership to only those capable of comprehending Sade's philosophy of pure destruction-namely, to the elite, be they scholars or not. Finally, to assure Sade's work freedom of circulation, the defense's team of expert witnesses demanded that Sade's literature not be distinguished from pornography, as is typical in literary censorship trials, but from philosophy.Less
From the very first moments of his publication, Sade was deemed a dangerous writer who deliberately intended to harm his audience and from whom the general public should be protected. In the 1958 literary censorship trial, "The Public Ministry vs. Jean-Jacques Pauvert," the Marquis de Sade's twentieth-century publisher contested the state's reading of Sade's texts as "contrary to good morals." Sade's defense team offered provocative and, at times, innovative interpretations of his work and legacy that addressed the history of its reception and interpretations of its ethical and didactic value. The defense, paradoxically, emphasized that the very price, design, and marketing of Sade's work already restricted its readership to only those capable of comprehending Sade's philosophy of pure destruction-namely, to the elite, be they scholars or not. Finally, to assure Sade's work freedom of circulation, the defense's team of expert witnesses demanded that Sade's literature not be distinguished from pornography, as is typical in literary censorship trials, but from philosophy.
Rachel Potter
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199680986
- eISBN:
- 9780191766008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199680986.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
The Conclusion summarizes the main arguments of the book and briefly sketches a subsequent history of literary censorship and literary exploration of the obscene, partly by focusing on Vladimir ...
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The Conclusion summarizes the main arguments of the book and briefly sketches a subsequent history of literary censorship and literary exploration of the obscene, partly by focusing on Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, which was prohibited from circulation in the US and UK, published in Paris, and which importantly explored the aesthetic pleasures of the obscene in the 1950s.Less
The Conclusion summarizes the main arguments of the book and briefly sketches a subsequent history of literary censorship and literary exploration of the obscene, partly by focusing on Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, which was prohibited from circulation in the US and UK, published in Paris, and which importantly explored the aesthetic pleasures of the obscene in the 1950s.
Josh Lambert
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781479876433
- eISBN:
- 9781479851584
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479876433.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
Jews have played an integral role in the history of obscenity in America. For most of the 20th century, Jewish entrepreneurs and editors led the charge against obscenity laws. Jewish lawyers battled ...
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Jews have played an integral role in the history of obscenity in America. For most of the 20th century, Jewish entrepreneurs and editors led the charge against obscenity laws. Jewish lawyers battled literary censorship even when their non-Jewish counterparts refused to do so, and they won court decisions in favor of texts including Ulysses, A Howl, Lady Chatterley's Lover, and Tropic of Cancer. Jewish literary critics have provided some of the most influential courtroom testimony on behalf of freedom of expression. The anti-Semitic stereotype of the lascivious Jew has made many historians hesitant to draw a direct link between Jewishness and obscenity. This book addresses the Jewishness of participants in obscenity controversies in the U.S. directly, exploring the transformative roles played by a host of neglected figures in the development of modern and postmodern American culture. The diversity of American Jewry means that there is no single explanation for Jews'interventions in this field. Rejecting generalizations, the book offers case studies that pair cultural histories with close readings of both contested texts and trial transcripts to reveal the ways in which specific engagements with obscenity mattered to particular American Jews at discrete historical moments.Less
Jews have played an integral role in the history of obscenity in America. For most of the 20th century, Jewish entrepreneurs and editors led the charge against obscenity laws. Jewish lawyers battled literary censorship even when their non-Jewish counterparts refused to do so, and they won court decisions in favor of texts including Ulysses, A Howl, Lady Chatterley's Lover, and Tropic of Cancer. Jewish literary critics have provided some of the most influential courtroom testimony on behalf of freedom of expression. The anti-Semitic stereotype of the lascivious Jew has made many historians hesitant to draw a direct link between Jewishness and obscenity. This book addresses the Jewishness of participants in obscenity controversies in the U.S. directly, exploring the transformative roles played by a host of neglected figures in the development of modern and postmodern American culture. The diversity of American Jewry means that there is no single explanation for Jews'interventions in this field. Rejecting generalizations, the book offers case studies that pair cultural histories with close readings of both contested texts and trial transcripts to reveal the ways in which specific engagements with obscenity mattered to particular American Jews at discrete historical moments.
Fatemeh Shams
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- March 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780198858829
- eISBN:
- 9780191890925
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198858829.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
Having explored the origins and profiles of the first two generations of the poets involved in the production of official poetry in Iran, this chapter presents the key organizations and mechanisms ...
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Having explored the origins and profiles of the first two generations of the poets involved in the production of official poetry in Iran, this chapter presents the key organizations and mechanisms involved in publication and distribution of their work. The reader is given a firsthand historical account of the most influential state-owned cultural institution of the Islamic Republic, the Center for the Islamic Arts and Thoughts (Howzeh-ye Honar va Andisheh-ye Islāmi, 1980) to shed light on the process of the institutionalization of poetry following the establishment of the Islamic Republic. As the chapter demonstrates, the apparatus responsible has itself undergone change and conflict, mirroring the chequered development of the official poetry canon and the ruling ideologies.Less
Having explored the origins and profiles of the first two generations of the poets involved in the production of official poetry in Iran, this chapter presents the key organizations and mechanisms involved in publication and distribution of their work. The reader is given a firsthand historical account of the most influential state-owned cultural institution of the Islamic Republic, the Center for the Islamic Arts and Thoughts (Howzeh-ye Honar va Andisheh-ye Islāmi, 1980) to shed light on the process of the institutionalization of poetry following the establishment of the Islamic Republic. As the chapter demonstrates, the apparatus responsible has itself undergone change and conflict, mirroring the chequered development of the official poetry canon and the ruling ideologies.
David Seed
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038945
- eISBN:
- 9780252096907
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038945.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature
This chapter discusses Ray Bradbury's writings on Mars, with a particular focus on The Martian Chronicles (1950). It covers his discovery of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fiction at the age of ten; his early ...
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This chapter discusses Ray Bradbury's writings on Mars, with a particular focus on The Martian Chronicles (1950). It covers his discovery of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fiction at the age of ten; his early Mars stories; his composition of The Martian Chronicles; his efforts to move away from clichéd images of extraterrestrials; his emphasis on a seepage between the consciousnesses of his Earthlings and Martians; how the Martians in his stories emerge as projections or distorted mirror images of the human settlers; his emphasis of the importance of dwellings in The Martian Chronicles; and his later Mars publications. The final section of the chapter discusses how the Martian story “Usher II” engages most directly with the enforcement of literary censorship.Less
This chapter discusses Ray Bradbury's writings on Mars, with a particular focus on The Martian Chronicles (1950). It covers his discovery of Edgar Rice Burroughs' fiction at the age of ten; his early Mars stories; his composition of The Martian Chronicles; his efforts to move away from clichéd images of extraterrestrials; his emphasis on a seepage between the consciousnesses of his Earthlings and Martians; how the Martians in his stories emerge as projections or distorted mirror images of the human settlers; his emphasis of the importance of dwellings in The Martian Chronicles; and his later Mars publications. The final section of the chapter discusses how the Martian story “Usher II” engages most directly with the enforcement of literary censorship.
Richard Sorabji
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- April 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197532157
- eISBN:
- 9780197532188
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197532157.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Chapter 2 argues that John Stuart Mill supported free speech on the grounds of the beneficial effects it can have, in Chapter 2 of his On Liberty of 1859. But the history in chapter 1 suggests that ...
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Chapter 2 argues that John Stuart Mill supported free speech on the grounds of the beneficial effects it can have, in Chapter 2 of his On Liberty of 1859. But the history in chapter 1 suggests that this has been a recurrent view through the ages. If free speech is valued for its benefits, speech that frustrates those benefits suggests a clear boundary on free speech which should appeal voluntarily to its supporters. Their voluntary self-restraint in speech should normally be better than legal constraint for keeping speech beneficial. But self-restraint is not the only preserver of benefits. Speech that opens ears, to take an expression of Gandhi’s—in his case, the ears of powerful opponents—is also a preserver of benefits.Less
Chapter 2 argues that John Stuart Mill supported free speech on the grounds of the beneficial effects it can have, in Chapter 2 of his On Liberty of 1859. But the history in chapter 1 suggests that this has been a recurrent view through the ages. If free speech is valued for its benefits, speech that frustrates those benefits suggests a clear boundary on free speech which should appeal voluntarily to its supporters. Their voluntary self-restraint in speech should normally be better than legal constraint for keeping speech beneficial. But self-restraint is not the only preserver of benefits. Speech that opens ears, to take an expression of Gandhi’s—in his case, the ears of powerful opponents—is also a preserver of benefits.
