Prudish England will never allow a diagnosis of the state of its diseased morals and hidden ulcers in its social life to be made. Jesus did not teach Monasticism but the law of Continence. For morality to exist between men and women, they must follow the law of Chastity. “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth.” Moral continence and chastity are mistaken for monasticism. There is no sanctity in worldly marriage of any kind. Madame Blavatsky examines the meaning of marriage from the highest philosophical, metaphysical, and ethical perspectives. Madame Blavatsky appraises the religious, practical, and political aspects of sensual marriage. Q & A on Theosophy, Asceticism, and Marriage.
Now available in a single volume paperback, this advanced reference resource for the novel and novel theory offers authoritative accounts of the history, terminology, and genre of the novel, in over 140 articles of 500-7,000 words. Entries explore the history and tradition of the novel in different areas of the world; formal elements of the novel (story, plot, character, narrator); technical aspects of the genre (such as realism, narrative structure and style); subgenres, including the bildungsroman and the graphic novel; theoretical problems, such as definitions of the novel; book history; and the novel's relationship to other arts and disciplines. The Encyclopedia is arranged in A-Z format and features entries from an international cast of over 140 scholars, overseen by an advisory board of 37 leading specialists in the field, making this the most authoritative reference resource available on the novel. This essential reference, now available in an easy-to-use, fully indexed single volume paperback, will be a vital addition to the libraries of literature students and scholars everywhere.
A work unprecedented in world literature, this unique volume contains a new translation of Lev Tolstoy’s controversial novella The Kreutzer Sonata, which was initially banned by Russian censors. In addition, available to English readers for the first time is a fascinating and previously neglected constellation of counterstories written by the author’s wife and son in direct response to Tolstoy’s provocative tale, each a passionate attempt to undo the message of the original work. These radically conflicting tales, accompanied by excerpts from family letters, diaries, notes, and memoirs, provide readers with a vivid and highly revealing case study of the powerful disputes concerning sexuality and gender roles that erupted within the cultural context of late-nineteenth-century Russian, as well as European, society.
Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds, Revised Edition examines the issues underlying the suppression of more than 100 works deemed sexually obscene. The entries new to this edition include America by Jon Stewart, Sex by Madonna, The Buffalo Tree by Adam Rapp, and many more. Also included are updates to entries such as Forever by Judy Blume, and more
Although a major star in the 1910s, Theda Bara--known as "The Vamp"--was largely neglected until the 1990s, when her fame began to resurface. Since then, there have been biographies, documentaries and other works that have brought the silent film actress back into the spotlight, including a painstaking stills reconstruction of her lost epic Cleopatra. This is a complete examination of Bara's more than 40 films, as well as her theater and radio appearances, down to the smallest detail. With the vast majority of Bara's films considered lost, it is a particularly valuable resource for fans and scholars, and includes information about each film's genesis, director, plot, censorship problems, and critical and public reactions. Also included is a biographical overview, with many illuminating anecdotes.
This timely new study provides a systematic, comparative, and comprehensive view of literature's involvement in the obscenity question. The year 1890 roughly marks the beginning of a sexual revolution in the fiction published in the United States. Today, the gains realized generally are regarded as beneficial, and the right of writers to express themselves and, perhaps more importantly, the right of people to read, usually are taken for granted, though they are not without peril, as recent Court cases have shown. The year 1890 marks also the beginning of a sustained effort through legal action to censor literature considered obscene. The tensions thus produced are with us still. A crisis once again seems brewing as a result of the Burger Court's 1973Miller v. California decision. At least 2of the 50 states have already passed new antiobscenity legislation based on Miller, and more than 250 such bills are pending in other state legislatures. The trauma to our national psyche caused by the obscenity issue is the subject of this new, thorough, and dispassionate study. Dean Lewis's investigations include all works of imaginative literature--novels, short stories, poetry, and plays--known to have been the subject of obscenity litigation in the United States, for which court records exist, up to and including the Carnal Knowledge (Jenkins v. Georgia)case in 1974, and encompass more than fifty major works of imaginative literature charged with being obscene. General readers concerned with civil rights, constitutional scholars, lawyers, judges, booksellers, publishers, writers, and librarians will find here much to ponder about the state and status of our literature--"almost the most prodigious asset of a country, and perhaps its most precious possession," Mark Twain once wrote.
When Tolstoy's The Kreutzer Sonata was banned from distribution through the mail (except for first class) in 1890, New York street vendors began selling it from pushcarts carrying large signs reading "Suppressed!" In 1961, the United States Supreme Court pondered whether D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover was lewd or literary. In 1969, the novel was required reading in many college literature courses. Changing sexual mores have moved many formerly forbidden books out of locked cabinets and into libraries and classrooms. Literature Suppressed on Sexual Grounds, Fourth Edition examines the issues underlying the suppression of more than 120 works deemed sexually obscene. Entries include: America: The Book (Jon Stewart) An American Tragedy (Theodore Dreiser) The Arabian Nights (Sir Richard Burton, trans.) The Art of Love (Ovid) The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison) Forever (Judy Blume) Gossip Girl series (Cecily von Ziegesar) How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (Julia Alvarez) Lady Chatterley's Lover (D.H. Lawrence) Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) Looking for Alaska (John Green) Rabbit, Run (John Updike) Snow Falling on Cedars (David Guterson) Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison) This Boy's Life (Tobias Wolff) Ulysses (James Joyce) and more.
