Samuel Roth, Infamous Modernist

Samuel Roth is known to most literary scholars as a bold literary "pirate" for issuing unauthorized editions of modernist sensations, including Ulysses and Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

In the absence of an international copyright agreement and because works deemed obscene could not be copyrighted, what he did was not illegal. But it did violate the protocols of mutual fair dealing between publishers and authors. Those publications provoked an unprecedented international protest of writers, publishers, and intellectuals, who eventually vilified Roth on two continents.

Roth was a man with an uncanny ability to recognize good contemporary writing and make it accessible to popular audiences. Ultimately, his dedication to the publication of these works broke down many of the censorship laws of the time, though he suffered greatly for his efforts. His story portrays a struggle with literary censorship in the mid-twentieth century while providing insights into how modernism was marketed in America.

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Samuel Roth, Infamous Modernist

Samuel Roth is known to most literary scholars as a bold literary "pirate" for issuing unauthorized editions of modernist sensations, including Ulysses and Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

In the absence of an international copyright agreement and because works deemed obscene could not be copyrighted, what he did was not illegal. But it did violate the protocols of mutual fair dealing between publishers and authors. Those publications provoked an unprecedented international protest of writers, publishers, and intellectuals, who eventually vilified Roth on two continents.

Roth was a man with an uncanny ability to recognize good contemporary writing and make it accessible to popular audiences. Ultimately, his dedication to the publication of these works broke down many of the censorship laws of the time, though he suffered greatly for his efforts. His story portrays a struggle with literary censorship in the mid-twentieth century while providing insights into how modernism was marketed in America.

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Samuel Roth, Infamous Modernist

Samuel Roth, Infamous Modernist

by Jay A. Gertzman
Samuel Roth, Infamous Modernist

Samuel Roth, Infamous Modernist

by Jay A. Gertzman

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Overview

Samuel Roth is known to most literary scholars as a bold literary "pirate" for issuing unauthorized editions of modernist sensations, including Ulysses and Lady Chatterley’s Lover.

In the absence of an international copyright agreement and because works deemed obscene could not be copyrighted, what he did was not illegal. But it did violate the protocols of mutual fair dealing between publishers and authors. Those publications provoked an unprecedented international protest of writers, publishers, and intellectuals, who eventually vilified Roth on two continents.

Roth was a man with an uncanny ability to recognize good contemporary writing and make it accessible to popular audiences. Ultimately, his dedication to the publication of these works broke down many of the censorship laws of the time, though he suffered greatly for his efforts. His story portrays a struggle with literary censorship in the mid-twentieth century while providing insights into how modernism was marketed in America.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780813059167
Publisher: University Press of Florida
Publication date: 04/01/2013
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 416
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Jay A. Gertzman, professor emeritus of English at Mansfield University, is author of three books, including Bookleggers and Smuthounds: The Trade in Erotica, 1920-1940.

Table of Contents

List of Figures xi

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xxv

1 1893-1916: From a Galician Shtetl to Columbia University 1

2 1917-1925: Prelude to an International Protest: A Rising, Pugnacious Man of Letters 35

3 1925-1927: "Damn His Impertinence. Bloody Crook": Roth Publishes Joyce 63

4 1928-1934: Roth Must Live: A Successful Business and Its Bankruptcy 101

5 1934: Jews Must Live: "We Meet Our Destiny on the Road We Take to Avoid It" 131

6 1934-1939: A Stretch in the Federal Penitentiary 159

7 1940-1949: Roth Breaks Parole, Uncovers a Nazi Plot, Gives "Dame Post Office" Fits, and Tells His Own Story in Mail-Order Advertising Copy 189

8 1949-1952: Times Square, Peggy Roth, Southern Gothic, Céline, and Nietzsche 219

9 1952-1957: The Windsors, Winchell, Kefauver: Back to Lewisburg 245

10 1958-1974: "It Had Been a Long Time since Someone Like You Had Appeared in the World": Roth Fulfills His Mission 273

Appendix: Roth Imprints and Business Names 305

Notes 319

Bibliography 363

Index 381

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