Reading the Obscene: Transgressive Editors and the Class Politics of US Literature PDF
Preview Reading the Obscene: Transgressive Editors and the Class Politics of US Literature
Reading the Obscene Loren Glass, and Kate Marshall, Editors Post•45 Group, Editorial Committee Reading the Obscene Transgressive Editors and the Class Politics of US Literature Jordan S. Carroll Stanford University Press Stanford, California Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©2021 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. “Reading Playboy for the Science Fiction” was originally published in American Literature, Vol. 87:2, pps. 331–3 58. ©2015, Duke University Press. Republished by permission. www.dukeupress.edu. “White- Collar Masochism: Grove Press and the Death of the Managerial Subject” was originally published in Twentieth- Century Literature, Vol. 64:1, pps 1– 23. ©2018, Hofstra University. Repub- lished by permission of the copyright holder, and present publisher, Duke University Press. www. dukeupress.edu. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid- free, archival- quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Carroll, Jordan S., author. Title: Reading the obscene : transgressive editors and the class politics of US literature / Jordan S. Carroll. Other titles: Post 45. Description: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2021. | Series: Post*45 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021007431 (print) | LCCN 2021007432 (ebook) | ISBN 9781503627482 (cloth) | ISBN 9781503629486 (paperback) | ISBN 9781503629493 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Censorship— United States— History— 20th century. | Obscenity (Law) — United States— History— 20th century. | Anticensorship activists— United States— History— 20th century. | Editors— Political activity— United States— History— 20th century. | Erotic literature— Publishing— United States— History— 20th century. | Pornography— Social aspects— United States— History— 20th century. | Middle class men— Books and reading— United States— History— 20th century. Classification: LCC Z658.U5 C37 2021 (print) | LCC Z658.U5 (ebook) | DDC 363.31097309/04— dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021007431 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021007432 Cover design: Jenny Burger Typeset by Kevin Barrett Kane in 10/15 Minion Pro For my family This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The Naked Editor 1 1 Shocking the Middle Class 11 2 An Aristocracy of Smut 40 3 Decrypting EC Comics 71 4 Reading Playboy for the Science Fiction 101 5 Mad Ones, Mad Men 128 6 White- Collar Masochism 154 Afterword: Transgression in the Post- pornographic Era 180 Notes 195 Index 255 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to express gratitude to my wife, Jenny, who gave me all the time and support I needed to complete Reading the Obscene. Special thanks go to her, as well, for designing the cover of this book. My son Bram was born before I completed my manuscript, and I thank him for giving me motivation to get through this project sooner rather than later. Thanks also go to my parents, Jim Carroll and Eva Smith-C arroll, and my sister, Hallie Carroll, for the encouragement they provided along the way. I am fortunate to have worked with Loren Glass, Kate Marshall, Erica Wet- ter, Faith Wilson Stein, and Jessica Ling at the Stanford University Press Post*45 series. As someone who writes about editors, I appreciate all of their hard work on this project. This book was shaped by the perceptive feedback of the press’s anonymous reviewers, who I thank as well. Reading the Obscene began during my time at the University of California, Davis, where it benefited from the English department’s commitment to interdis- ciplinarity and experimentation. I was helped immensely by Colin N. Milburn, who proved to be a careful reader and a kind friend throughout this entire process. I really could not have done this without him. I appreciate the support I received from Elizabeth Freeman, Kris Fallon, and Hsuan L. Hsu, as well, who were exceptional mentors and great allies on the job market. Additional thanks go to Ashutosh Bhagwat, Nathan Brown, Gregory Dobbins, Margaret Ferguson, Mark Jerng, John Marx, Matthew Stratton, and many other amazing faculty members who were at UC Davis. Throughout my career at UC Davis, I also re- ceived generous assistance from my colleagues, including Ian Afflerbach, Russell Backman, Molly Ball, Ashlee Bird, Mike Clearwater, Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal, Rebecca Kling, Josef Nguyen, Magalí Rabasa, Bonnie Roy, Leilani Serafin, Marty Weiss, and Melissa Wills. ix
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