The Secret Museum: Pornography in Modern Culture

by Walter Kendrick, Steve Renick (Designer)

Walter Kendrick traces the relatively recent concept of pornography—the word was not coined until the late 18th century—which became a public issue once the printing press gave ordinary people access to the erotica of the Greeks and Romans, the art and literature of the French enlightenment, and the poems of the Earl of Rochester and John Cleland's Fanny Hill. From the secret museums to the pornography trials of Madame Bovary and Lady Chatterly's Lover, to Mapplethorpe, cable TV, and the Internet, Kendrick explores how conceptions of pornography relate to issues of freedom of expression and censorship.

Genres: History, Sexuality, Nonfiction, Cultural, Art, Sociology, Politics

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 1987

Reviews

[Dafna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a fairly good history of 'pornography' as a concept. However, sometimes Kendrick gets into too many details (as for my taste, of course), which makes his writing a bit complicated and less fascinating. Still, he has some good anecdotes in the book. Aside from not being persuaded about contemporary time as a 'post-pornographic' era, the only thing that I disliked, was the fact that Kendrick jumps from talking about statues to literary works and then to images; I'd prefer if he either sticked to one category for the whole book, or did not systematically exclude other media of communication, if he had chosen to talk about everything - as, for instance, after a few chapters that are dedicated entirely to literary works, he then somehow starts talking about obscene images. It was confusing. Overall, though, it is an interesting and important text.

[Brigid Keely · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Secret Museum: Pornography in Modern Culture," by Walter M. Kendrick, is a look at pornography's history... and definition. It's a dry, plodding book noteworthy mostly for pulling together disparity threads into a more cohesive whole, as well as pointing out what exactly Comstock did and who (and what) he affected. I worked my way through the book in the same way one continues taking a gross tasting medicine... because it's good for one... finally abandoning it when Kendrick apparently decided that feminists are evil, shrill, fools who don't REALLY understand what pornography is but just react to it because society tells them pornography is bad. It was a really weird path to go down.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another edifying examination of the evolution of a fairly modern concept: namely, pornography. I wouldn't say it was dry so much as intellectually written; I mean, it does deal with the historical development of an idea. I think there is a tendency for readers to be disappointed when a rather taboo subject like this is examined without much reference to the contents of the explicit stuff itself, but in this case none of that really has much bearing on the author's thesis and to include it would have been clunky and somewhat pandering.

It added some salient points to my paper about social policing in the nineteenth century, so, thanks for that, Kendrick.

[A. Tristán]

I read this about two years ago for my art history class. Honestly, I don't remember much about what I read but I do remember it being an interesting book. Not to mention the dirty looks I got for reading it in public due to it's title. For now I'm giving this three stars because there were some parts which were such a snoozefest but that could've been the fact I read the whole book in one day before I had to turn in my book report.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for titillation, you won't find it here. Rather, this is a history of the concept of pornography in the modern world as pertains to the visual and literary arts. Considering the potential offered by the subject-matter for humorous anecdotes and satirical asides, this book could be redone as a best-seller. Instead, it is rather dry, useful primarily as a vehicle for tying together lots of material that I'd come upon over the years.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mostly dry, plodding book, on occasion (for example in the discussion of Comstock) the author proves he can write in an engaging way, but for the most part this book lurches from chapter to chapter, selectively discussing some subjects while arbitrarily skipping over others. Kendrick is to be commended for his significant and wide ranging research, but he could have used a more forceful editor.

[Erin Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well researched, with lots of information- but very much a thesis to prove a point. Very focused on England/US with brief mentions of France. Worthwhile, but not really comprehensive.