Reading the obscene, transgressive editors and the class politics of U.S. literature, Jordan S. Carroll
Type
Label
Reading the obscene, transgressive editors and the class politics of U.S. literature, Jordan S. Carroll
Language
eng
Index
no index present
Literary Form
non fiction
Main title
Reading the obscene
Medium
electronic resource
Nature of contents
dictionaries
Responsibility statement
Jordan S. Carroll
Series statement
Post*45
Sub title
transgressive editors and the class politics of U.S. literature
Summary
With Reading the Obscene, Jordan Carroll reveals new insights about the editors, who fought the most famous anti-censorship battles of the twentieth century. While many critics have interpreted obscenity as a form of populist protest, Reading the Obscene shows that the editors, who worked to dismantle censorship often catered to elite audiences composed primarily of white men in the professional-managerial class. As Carroll argues, transgressive editors, such as H. L. Mencken at the Smart Set and the American Mercury, William Gaines and Al Feldstein at EC Comics, Hugh Hefner at Playboy, Lawrence Ferlinghetti at City Lights Books, and Barney Rosset at Grove Press, taught their readers to approach even the most scandalizing texts with the same cold calculation and professional reserve they employed in their occupations. Along the way, these editors kicked off a middle-class sexual revolution in which white-collar professionals imagined they could control sexuality through management science. Obscenity is often presented as self-shattering and subversive, but with this provocative work, Carroll calls into question some of the most sensational claims about obscenity, suggesting that when transgression becomes a sign of class distinction, we must abandon the idea that obscenity always overturns hierarchies and disrupts social order
Target audience
adult
Classification
Contributor
Creator
Subject
- Middle class men + Books and reading -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Erotic literature + Publishing -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Anticensorship activists -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Obscenity (Law) -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Electronic books
- Censorship -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Editors + Political activity -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Pornography + Social aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Content
Author
Incoming Resources
- Has instance2
Outgoing Resources
- Classification1
- Contributor1
- Creator1
- Subject8
- Middle class men + Books and reading -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Erotic literature + Publishing -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Anticensorship activists -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Obscenity (Law) -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Electronic books
- Censorship -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Editors + Political activity -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Pornography + Social aspects -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Content1
- Author1