The story of the Olympia Press is one of the most flamboyant in publishing history. In the 1950s, when dirty books (and great ones) were being banned in Britain and America, Maurice Girodias launched a career in Paris that earned him the nickname the "Prince of Porn." John de St. Jorre gives a high-spirited account of this infamous publisher whose eclectic list included Lolita, The Ginger Man, Henry Miller's several Tropics, and the outrageous romp called Candy. Photos.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
A tale intriguing for its novelty, its insight into modern literary history, and the thread of social history that runs throughout, Venus Bound is the true story of Olympia Press. The company spent decades pushing the censorship envelope by publishing ground-breaking literature from authors such as Henry Miller, William Burroughs, and Vladimir Nabokov. To subsidize this high-minded adventure, Olympia pumped out a line of plain old dirty books. John de St. Jorre follows the venture from its inception just after World War I until its demise during the liberated 1960s and 1970s.
From Publishers Weekly
Anyone old enough to have traveled in Europe in the 1950s and '60s probably remembers those green paperbacks with black lettering, affectionately known by both their creators and many of their readers as dirty books; the best "DBs," by common consent, were those published by Maurice Girodias at the Olympia Press in Paris. If that were all Girodias did, he would be no more than a shabby footnote to literary history; but because his press, in those puritanical times, was the only one on either side of the Atlantic unafraid of censorship, authors with notable but racy books went to him too?including Henry Miller (who first published with Girodias's father, Jack Kahane), J.P. Donleavy with The Ginger Man, Vladimir Nabokov with Lolita, Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg with Candy and William S. Burroughs with Naked Lunch. Girodias undoubtedly had good taste, and his contrary nature made him a formidable litigator; unhappily, he was also deeply reluctant to pay his authors, and relations with the best of them quickly became bogged down in endless recriminations and suits. De St. Jorre (The Patriot Game) tells the lively and often comic story of Girodias, his escapades and his Olympians with great verve and good humor, and his excellent research should make it catnip to book people. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lolita, and Candy, and Burroughs, O my. We're not in Kansas.,
By
This review is from: Venus Bound:: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press (Hardcover)
Venus Bound is one chapter in the story of censorship in the 20th century. It tells the story of Olympia Press, a small publishing company in Paris, and its owner Maurice Girodias. More importantly, this book relates how some of the classics of 20th century literature got published in the 1950s, a time when censorship of sexually explicit writing made it impossible for these works to be published in either the UK or the USA. The subtitle of this work states that the book is about the press and its writers. Sadly, Maurice Girodias, who was writing the second volume of his autobiography at the time, refused to be interviewed by John De St. Jorre. So although the book is about Girodias and his life's work, there is a sense of detachment to the book. Questions that Girodias could easily have answered are answered indirectly or not at all. Yet this treatment allows a complex vision of Girodias to appear as his actions and motivations are described by the authors and employees of Olympia Press. Olympia Press made money by commissioning erotic novels from English-speaking writers in Paris who were in need of an income. These were sold under pseudonyms to a readership in the USA and UK where such books were illegal. If that was all Olympia Press did, it would probably have faded away into obscurity with the liberalization of the laws of censorship. However, Olympia Press was the only publisher at that time that would risk publishing much more substantive novels that couldn't be published elsewhere because of censorship. Whole chapters of Venus Bound are devoted to the stories behind the publication of J. P. Donleavy's The Ginger Man, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, Story of O by Dominique Aury (under the pseudonym Pauline Reage), and William Burrough's Naked Lunch. This is a fascinating book about a mysterious and excitable Maurice Girodias who battles the censors and his own writers in court to maintain the Olympia Press. Although this is a book about erotica, the treatment is scholarly and there is nothing here that will offend any but the most sensitive readers. It will appeal to those who have an interest in the history of censorship or who want more information on any of the works published by Olympia Press. At the end of the book are a Chronology, a Olympia Press List of titles, and a Bibliography.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The book that got me going,
By Zachary Babcock (Lowell, MA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Venus Bound:: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press (Hardcover)
This is the book that changed my life and got me interested in literature. I ended up reading so many other books because of this book. In my life,this was the book that changed it all. Will it work for anyone else? Probably
5.0 out of 5 stars
Informative and entertaining,
By PMI "Pete" (Milwaukee, Wisconsin United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Venus Bound:: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press (Hardcover)
This is a great book about the publisher, Maurice Girodias, as well as about the history of some of the authors and books published in Paris before censorship was relaxed in the US and in Britain. Very readable, and although I would not argue with the comment made by another reader calling it "scholarly" (below), certainly not dry.For a discussion of the trials and legal maneuvering that allowed the publication of some of these books in the US, read "The End of Obscenity: The Trials of Lady Chatterley, Tropic of Cancer and Fanny Hill", by Charles Rembar.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
