Welcome to the second installment of A Law Librarian in the Dark, where we discuss DVDs that may be of interest to an academic law librarian. In this issue, I’ll be covering a relatively new (2007) documentary - Obscene: A Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press.
First a little background. A few months ago, I was doing some research on books that had been “on trial.” Specifically, I was looking for works of literature that had been deemed “obscene” and were involved in criminal trials. Throughout the research process, the name “Grove Press” had come up over and over again. Shortly thereafter, I stumbled upon the DVD for Obscene and I decided to take a look.
Obscene is the biography of publisher Barney Rosset and his influential publishing house, Grove Press. Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s, Grove Press introduced the United States to literature that had been previously untouched by publishers; avant-garde writers such as Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet, American Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs, and political writers such as Malcolm X and Franz Fanon. It also published various types of erotica. Grove Press became a locus for a literary revolution, both literally and figuratively (the offices became a hang-out for writers and artists). Rosset’s determination to publish works that were considered controversial and the ensuing legal battles serve as the centerpiece of the documentary.
Obscene begins with Rosset’s youth in 1920’s Chicago. Through interviews, photographs, and home movies, we get a sense not only of his life, but of an America that is moving towards change. We are given a glimpse into the experimental school where he and his friend Haskell Wexler (who later became an Oscar winning cinematographer) published a school magazine called “the Anti-Everything.” We are struck by the abundance of WWII images from his days as a photographer for the army corps. We gain an awareness of the French art scene and its influence on American writers. Fortunately for us, Rosset had a lifelong interest in movie-making and photography - the archival images presented throughout the documentary are fascinating.
Rosset became a publisher on a whim; his first wife (abstract expressionist painter, Joan Mitchell) suggested he buy Grove Press at a time when it was floundering and had only published three books. He bought the company and immediately started to publish works that other publishers considered dangerous. D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, and William S. Burrough’s Naked Lunch were all published by Grove Press and were all involved in lawsuits involving the legal status of obscenity. As the documentary progresses, we see how Rosset becomes a determined champion of literature in the face of obscenity laws and how that determination brought about the financial demise of Grove Press. At one point, he says, “I had a very good career in publishing, but not money-wise.” Rosset apparently spent a lot of energy and financial resources to fight his legal battles. Through an interview, we learn about his plan to financially assist all of the booksellers who sold Tropic of Cancer and faced subsequent legal trouble.
The best part about Obscene is the variety of voices that weave their stories into a portrait of a person more concerned with breaking down legal and social barriers to artistic expression than making money. The documentary is filled with commentary and insight from people such as Amiri Baraka, Jim Carroll, and Gore Vidal. They tell us not just about Rosset’s life, but also about the social and cultural shifts during this period in American history. Interestingly, the entire film is punctuated with scenes from a somewhat strange interview Rosset did in 1989 with Al Goldstein, pornographer and founder of Screw magazine. The frankness of the conversation between Rosset and Goldstein (filled with vulgarity and misogyny, as well as matter-of-fact discussion of Rosset’s own sexuality) serves to remind us of the decidedly un-literary side of the obscenity issue.
The DVD extras include an extended interview with Barney Rosset and a theatrical trailer. The soundtrack, which includes artists such as Patti Smith, The Doors, and Bob Dylan, is fantastic. The DVD was released in 2009 and is produced by Arts Alliance America.