Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
[Maurice Girodias and Olympia Press]
In our book about Paulette Cooper, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, we touched on the publishing travails of her friend Robert Kaufman, the first former Scientologist to reveal the secret of OT 3 — the Xenu story — in his 1972 book Inside Scientology. But now, our friend historian Chris Owen has really plumbed the depths of this wild story. We hope you enjoy it!
Sixty years ago today, on September 15, 1955, Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita was published for the first time by Paris-based publisher Olympia Press. Published in two volumes, it was hailed by British critics as one of the “best books of 1955,” and also as “the filthiest book I have ever read.” The book cemented the reputation of its publisher, Maurice Girodias, as a “publisher of the unpublishable,” and eventually led indirectly to a fateful clash with the Church of Scientology.
Girodias had made a career for himself by flouting the obscenity laws that were then prevalent in many Western countries, including the US, France and Britain. He correctly assumed that there was a market for pornographic works of fiction such as With Mouth Open; Heaven, Hell and the Whore and The Chariot of Flesh, which he issued in bland-looking green covers to disguise them from inquisitive customs officers. As well as publishing books submitted to him, he would commission pseudonymous writers to ghost-write new works of hardcore erotica based on titles and blurbs that he had devised himself to appeal to his international network of readers.
Despite a reputation for playing fast and loose with authors’ copyrights and royalties, Girodias gained the favour of avant-garde writers who were having difficulty getting their works published elsewhere. They included William Burroughs, whose Naked Lunch was first published by Girodias, and Vladimir Nabokov, whose translator recommended Girodias to him.
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tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
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In our book about Paulette Cooper, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, we touched on the publishing travails of her friend Robert Kaufman, the first former Scientologist to reveal the secret of OT 3 — the Xenu story — in his 1972 book Inside Scientology. But now, our friend historian Chris Owen has really plumbed the depths of this wild story. We hope you enjoy it!
Sixty years ago today, on September 15, 1955, Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita was published for the first time by Paris-based publisher Olympia Press. Published in two volumes, it was hailed by British critics as one of the “best books of 1955,” and also as “the filthiest book I have ever read.” The book cemented the reputation of its publisher, Maurice Girodias, as a “publisher of the unpublishable,” and eventually led indirectly to a fateful clash with the Church of Scientology.
Girodias had made a career for himself by flouting the obscenity laws that were then prevalent in many Western countries, including the US, France and Britain. He correctly assumed that there was a market for pornographic works of fiction such as With Mouth Open; Heaven, Hell and the Whore and The Chariot of Flesh, which he issued in bland-looking green covers to disguise them from inquisitive customs officers. As well as publishing books submitted to him, he would commission pseudonymous writers to ghost-write new works of hardcore erotica based on titles and blurbs that he had devised himself to appeal to his international network of readers.
Despite a reputation for playing fast and loose with authors’ copyrights and royalties, Girodias gained the favour of avant-garde writers who were having difficulty getting their works published elsewhere. They included William Burroughs, whose Naked Lunch was first published by Girodias, and Vladimir Nabokov, whose translator recommended Girodias to him.
READ MORE
When Lolita met Xenu: How Scientology targeted Nabokov’s publisher
In our book about Paulette Cooper, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely, we touched on the publishing travails of her friend Robert Kaufman, the first former Scientologist to reveal the secret of OT 3 — the Xenu story — in his 1972 book Inside Scientology. But now, our friend historian Chris Owen has...
tonyortega.substack.com
