Today in Labor History May 31, 1819: Poet Walt Whitman was born. Whitman published his first and most famous collection of poems, Leaves of Grass, in 1855, using his own money. It was criticized as obscene for its sensuality. During the Civil War, he volunteered in hospitals caring for the wounded. Many believe Whitman was gay or bisexual, based on his writings, though it is disputed by some historians. Oscar Wilde met Whitman in the United States in 1882 and told the homosexual-rights activist George Cecil Ives that Whitman's sexual orientation was beyond question—"I have the kiss of Walt Whitman still on my lips." Whitman is considered by many to be America’s first and greatest poet. He inspired many who came after him, including Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Gary Snyder and June Jordan.
Whitman’s commitment to solidarity inspired many leftists of the late 1800s and early 1900s, including Emma Goldman, and the IWW, which distributed copies of Whitman’s poems to its members in the form of The Little Blue Book. Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Ralph Chaplin also claimed Whitman as an inspiration. He also inspired Cuban poet and revolutionary Jose Marti, as well as Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #waltwhitman #civilwar #poetry #books #poet #writer #lgbtq #gay #obscenity #oscarwilde #allanginsberg #IWW #solidarity @bookstadon
on a lighter linguistic note, I wonder whethher the #EHRC guidelines will add to the already voluminous range of British toilet euphemisms, e.g.
- "I'm off to take some statutary guidance"
- "I am going to drop a Falkiner"
- "she's currently Philippsoning after a heavy night"
- "mind you don't Starmer on your shoes"
Ever wonder where the line is between advertising and censorship? 🤔 This short dives into how laws around obscenity can impact art and expression. A surprisingly tricky topic! Check it out. #Censorship #Obscenity #shorts
A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle
How dreary to spend your time counting dirty words, but not reading the book. And how revealing of the person who is counting. We do find what we look for.Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/837…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #books #censor #censorship #confirmationbias #obscenity #reading
Today in Labor History April 26, 2004: Author Hubert Selby died. He wrote “Last Exit to Brooklyn” and “Requiem for a Dream.” His first novel, “The Queen is Dead,” was banned in Italy and prosecuted for #obscenity in the U.K. Allan Ginsberg thought that Last Exit would “explode like a rusty hellish bombshell over America and still be eagerly read in a hundred years.” Selby dropped out of high school to work on the docks of Brooklyn, before becoming a merchant seaman in 1947. However, he caught tuberculosis from the cows on board the ship. He was in and out of hospitals for the next three years. Doctors told him he was going to die. But several surgeries and experimental drugs saved his life. Too sick to do physical labor, he tried writing to earn a living.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #HubertSelbey #literature #books #author #fiction #writer #obscenity #allanginsberg #LastExitToBrooklyn @bookstadon
Today in Labor History April 19, 1927: The authorities sentenced Hollywood star Mae West to 10 days in jail for obscenity, for her play, “Sex.” Billboard called the play "the cheapest most vulgar low show to have dared to open in New York this year." However, it played 375 before the NYPD shut it down and was a commercial success, despite the poor reviews.
West was famous for portraying sexually confident characters and for her use of double entendres. She wrote and performed in numerous plays in the 1910s-1920s and Vaudevillian acts, before becoming a successful film actor, playing alongside such greats as W.C. Fields, Cary Grant. She also recorded several record albums, including some rock and roll. She was frequently associated with controversies over censorship and once stated, "I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it."
#workingclass #LaborHistory #maewest #hollywood #sex #sexism #obscenity #censorship
A quotation from Madeleine L'Engle
Someone sent me a clipping from a daily newspaper containing a list of ten books to be removed from library shelves because of their pornographic content. On the list was one of C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books. Also on the list was my book A Wind in the Door. I am totally baffled and frankly fascinated. This is the first time C. S. Lewis and I have been listed together as writers of pornography. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
More about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/832…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #madeleinelengle #obscenity #author #bookbanning #censorship #pornography #writing
Someone sent me a clipping from a daily newspaper containing a list of ten books to be removed from library shelves because of their pornographic content. On the list was one of C. S. Lewis's Narnia books. Also on the list was my book A Wind in the Door. I…
Today in Labor History March 25, 1957: U.S. Customs seized copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on obscenity grounds. Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and City Lights manager, Shigeyoshi Murao, were arrested on obscenity charges for publishing and distributing the poem. Howl was inspired, in part, by a terrifying peyote vision Ginsberg had in which the façade of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, in San Francisco, appeared as the monstrous face of a child-eating demon. The obscenity charges stemmed from homophobic responses to his explicit references to homosexuality. Ginsberg’s first experience with LSD, as well as Kerouac’s and Burroughs’s, was with acid provided by the anthropologist Gregory Bateson, one-time husband of and long-time collaborator with Margaret Mead. You can read more about Bateson and Mead’s early experimentation with, and promotion of, psychedelics (and their collaboration with the CIA) in the recent book, “Tripping on Utopia.”
#workingclass #LaborHistory #poetry #howl #lgbtq #allenginsburg #homophobia #lawrenceferlinghetti #citylights #obscenity #censorship #bannedbooks #kerouac #mkultra #cia #williamburoughs #lsd #peyote #margaretmead #gregorybateson #psycheldelics #books #writer #author #poet @bookstadon
Today in Labor History March 24, 1919: Poet and activist Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born. Ferlinghetti is most well-known for his book of poetry, “A Coney Island of the Mind” (1958) and for cofounding City Lights bookstore and publishing, in San Francisco. The authorities arrested him for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” because they deemed it obscene. However, a jury acquitted him in 1957. Politically, Ferlinghetti considered himself an anarchist. His politics were influenced by Anarchist poet and IWW member Kenneth Rexroth.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #IWW #beatniks #Ferlinghetti #obscenity #CityLights #publishing #poetry @bookstadon
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