Mea culpa.

Or, perhaps, felix culpa. At any rate, I have sinned by failing to post the promised banned-books link yesterday. For my penance, I shall post two links today.

September Morn

The first is the lightweight but entertaining tale of a 10-cent print which became a best seller and a cultural icon through the efforts of Anthony Comstock and the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice. Of course, that's not quite what they intended to do. I guess would-be censors just aren't bright enough to figure out that their effortsgive free publicity to the things they loathe.

Jurgen: Banned in Boston

Banned Books Week just would not be complete for me without at least one mention of James Branch Cabell and his best-known novel, Jurgen : A Comedy of Justice. It's another example of the work of the Comstock Publicity Agency, aka the New York Society for the Prevention of Vice. A short description of the 1920 censorship controversy over Jurgen can be found here, and here as part of a series of essays on book censorship. I'm sure Cabell appreciated the irony that this notoriety of being "banned in Boston" led directly to the bestseller status he enjoyed throughout the 1920's. Cabell had his own satirical say about the "Philistine" book-banners in a pamphlet called The Judging of Jurgen, which was included in later editions of the book. Although not quite up to his usual allusive, bantering style, it's worth reading.

That's all for tonight. I'm packing for yet another interview trip, and may or may not be able to post for the next few days. For now, I'll entertain myself by polishing that strange sigil I found while walking in the Garden Between Dawn and Sunrise.