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Dirty Books
Erotic Fiction and the Avant-Garde in Mid-Century Paris and New York
Brief Description
An intimate history of the pornographic publisher behind some of the greatest works of the twentieth-century avant-garde. From the 1930s to the 1970s, in New York and in Paris, daring publishers and writers were producing banned pornographic literature. The authors of the books were young, impecunious...
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See moreThis fascinating book tells the story of the fearless and innovative publishers who combined pornography and avant-garde literature to make a lasting mark on twentieth-century culture.
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Description
An intimate history of the pornographic publisher behind some of the greatest works of the twentieth-century avant-garde.
From the 1930s to the 1970s, in New York and in Paris, daring publishers and writers were producing banned pornographic literature.
The authors of the books were young, impecunious writers, poets, and artists. Most of them wrote to survive, but some relished the freedom to experiment that anonymity provided—men writing as women, women writing as men—and some, such as Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller, went on to become influential figures in modernist literature.
Dirty Books tells the stories of these writers and their remarkable publishers: Jack Kahane of Obelisk Press and his son Maurice Girodias of Olympia Press, whose catalogue and repertoire anticipated that of the more famous US publisher Grove Press.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781526181466
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 28 January 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 19.0mm
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 426g
Pages: 312
About the Author
Nina Attwood is the author of The Prostitute's Body (2011) and a co-author of Sex Addiction: A Critical History (2015).
Barry Reay is the author of Sex in the Archives (2019) and Trans America (2020).
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Sex in the Archives
The archive has assumed a new significance in the history of sex, and this book visits a series of such archives, including the Kinsey Institute's erotic art; gay masturbatory journals in the New York Public Library; the private archive of an amateur pornographer; and one man's lifetime photographic dossier on Baltimore hustlers. Shedding new light on American sexual history, the...Paperback$6999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Trans America
Trans seems to be everywhere in American culture. Yet there is little understanding of how this came about. Are people aware that there were earlier periods of gender flexibility and contestability in American history? How well known is it that a previous period of trans visibility in the 1960s and early 1970s faced a vehement backlash right at the time...Paperback$4299Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 3-4 weeks -
Dirty Books
From the 1930s to the 1970s, in New York and in Paris, daring publishers and writers were producing banned pornographic literature. The books were written by young, impecunious writers, poets, and artists, many anonymously. Most of these pornographers wrote to survive, but some also relished the freedom to experiment that anonymity provided — men writing as women, and women writing...Hardback$4999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
Also by Nina Attwood
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Dirty Books
From the 1930s to the 1970s, in New York and in Paris, daring publishers and writers were producing banned pornographic literature. The books were written by young, impecunious writers, poets, and artists, many anonymously. Most of these pornographers wrote to survive, but some also relished the freedom to experiment that anonymity provided — men writing as women, and women writing...Hardback$4999Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
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