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Pornografia y Obscenidad
In 1929, in the Criterion Miscellany, Viscount Brentford and D. H. Lawrence engaged in public debate on the question of censorship. Lord Brentford's pamphlet appeared under the title of Do We Need a Censor?; D. H. Lawrence's pamphlet was called Pornography and Obscenity, and he later continued his discussion of current conceptions of what is clean and what is dirty, and the problem of censorship in art and literature, in a further pamphlet called Nettles. Pornography and Obscenity was written in the autumn of 1929 at Rottach-am-Tegernsee, where Lawrence was the guest of Max Mohr. It was written as protest and rejoinder against the police raid in 1929 which seized 25 pictures on show, 4 books of reproductions, and Grosz, Ecce Homo, and even a volume of pictures by William Blake. Lawrence wrote to the Curtis Brown office in September that he was surprised Faber would risk the obscenity article, but he agreed to a suggestion that the name of Glasworthy and Barrie be omitted from the published version. The reference was to their novels being more pornographic than Boccaccio, who was wholesome. The publishers asked both Lawrence and Lord Brentford, Home Secretary at the time and prime mover in the action against Pansies and Lady Chatterley, to write essays giving their respective viewpoints on the question of censorship. Lawrence was apparently quite elated when his pamphlet sold better than that of his rival. The present volume consists of these two pamphlets, together with the kindred introduction which Lawrence wrote for the Introduction to his Paintings. It is the interesting and entertaining work on pornography and obscenity by the author of Lady Chatterly's Lover, a book which was banned and censored into the 1960s. It has been said that, "When Lawrence got going, he almost always went too far, but hitting a nerve of truth on the way." This work discusses the problems of censorship in art and literature by one who knew firsthand, and shows the genius of Lawrence at his it begins with his quick start, and his surprise description, "What is pornography to one man is the laughter of genius to another. He also asserts that "Without secrecy there would be no pornography. But if pornography is the result of sneaking secrecy, what is the result of pornography? What is the effect on the individual?" It's quite a ride, though, as Lawrence's work usually is.
- GenresNonfiction
104 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1928
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 14, 2025
Herhangi bir duyguyu öldürmenin yolu, onda ısrarcı olmaktır; üzerinde fazlaca durup o duyguyu abartmaktır. İnsanlığı sevmek konusunda ısrarcı olun, adım kadar eminim ki sonunda herkesten nefret etmeye başlarsınız. Çünkü insanlık sevgisi konusunda ısrarcı olmak, insanlığın sevilebilirliği konusunda da ısrarcı olmak demektir; gelgelelim, durum çoğu zaman böyle değildir. Aynı şekilde kocanızı sevmek konusunda ısrarcı oldunuz mu, ondan gizlice nefret etmekten kendinizi alamazsınız. Çünkü hiç kimse "her zaman" sevilebilir değildir. Herkesin sevilebilir olduğu konusunda ısrarcı olursanız, bu onların üzerinde baskı yaratır ve daha az sevilebilir hale gelirler. Eğer sevilmeye değer olmadıkları halde kendinizi onları sevmeye zorlarsanız veya onları seviyormuş gibi yaparsanız, her şeyi bozarsınız ve sonunda nefret duygusunun içine düşersiniz. Herhangi bir duyguyu zorlamanın sonucu, o duygunun ölmesi ve tam tersi bir duygunun onun yerine geçmesidir. Whitman, herkesi ve her şeyi anlayıp destekleme konusunda ısrarcı davrandı. Öyle ki sonunda sadece ölüme inanmaya başladı. Sadece kendi ölümüne de değil, tüm insanların ölümüne. Aynı şekilde, "Gülümsemeye devam et!" sloganı da gülümseyen herkesin göğsünde, önünde sonunda şiddetli bir öfke yaratır. Son olarak, ünlü "keyifli sabahlar" selamı, tüm o keyifli insanların sinir katsayılarını artırmaya yeter de artar.
Bu iyi bir şey değil. Duygularınızı zorladığınız her an kendinize zarar veriyorsunuz ve istediğiniz şey üzerinde tam tersi bir etki yaratıyorsunuz. Kendinizi birisini sevmeye zorlayın ve sonunda o kişiden nefret edersiniz. Yapılacak tek şey , sahip olduğunuz gerçek hislerin farkında olmak ve onları değiştirmeye çalışmamaktır. Bu, diğer insanı özgür bırakmanın tek yoludur. Eğer kocanızı öldürme isteği duyuyorsanız, kendinize şunu demeyin: "Ama onu çok seviyorum, kendimi ona adadım!" Bu sadece kendinizi korkutmak değil, onu da korkutmak demektir. O, aşk tarafından bile olsa herhangi bir şeye zorlanmak istemez. Kendinize sadece şunu söyleyin: "Onu öldürebilirdim, gerçek bu ama sanırım, yapmamalıyım." Böylece duygularınız kendi dengesini bulacaktır.
Pornografi ve Müstehcenlik ( Pornography and Obscenity )
David Herbert Lawrence
Bu iyi bir şey değil. Duygularınızı zorladığınız her an kendinize zarar veriyorsunuz ve istediğiniz şey üzerinde tam tersi bir etki yaratıyorsunuz. Kendinizi birisini sevmeye zorlayın ve sonunda o kişiden nefret edersiniz. Yapılacak tek şey , sahip olduğunuz gerçek hislerin farkında olmak ve onları değiştirmeye çalışmamaktır. Bu, diğer insanı özgür bırakmanın tek yoludur. Eğer kocanızı öldürme isteği duyuyorsanız, kendinize şunu demeyin: "Ama onu çok seviyorum, kendimi ona adadım!" Bu sadece kendinizi korkutmak değil, onu da korkutmak demektir. O, aşk tarafından bile olsa herhangi bir şeye zorlanmak istemez. Kendinize sadece şunu söyleyin: "Onu öldürebilirdim, gerçek bu ama sanırım, yapmamalıyım." Böylece duygularınız kendi dengesini bulacaktır.
Pornografi ve Müstehcenlik ( Pornography and Obscenity )
David Herbert Lawrence
September 27, 2022
Reads like someone straddling the line between conservatism and the free-flowing liberation of erotic desire on the very eve of the Sexual Revolution.... wait a second, this was published in ‘29? A clearly very idiosyncratic take on pornography, ‘proper sex’ and masturbation that gives a hell of a lot of food for thought. I’ll leave you guys some quotes that should spur you onto reading the full thing, anyway I’m off to rub one out so I can sully the beautiful act of sexual communion, I’m such a bloody nihilistic revolutionary these days, I dedicate this tug to you D.H.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Pornography is the attempt to insult sex, to do dirt on it. This is unpardonable. Take the very lowest instance, the picture post-card sold underhand, by the underworld, in most cities. What I have seen of them have been of an ugliness to make you cry. The insult to the human body, the insult to a vital human relationship! Ugly and cheap they make the human nudity, ugly and degraded they make the sexual act, trivial and cheap and nasty.
Now the human nudity of a great many modern people is just ugly and degraded, and the sexual act between modern people is just the same, merely ugly and degrading. But this is nothing to be proud of. It is the catastrophe of our civilization. I am sure no other civilization, not even the Roman, has showed such a vast proportion of ignominious and degraded nudity, and ugly, squalid dirty sex. Because no other civilization has driven sex into the underworld, and nudity to the W.C.
Why? Because they have the grey disease of sex-hatred, coupled with the yellow disease of dirt lust. The sex functions and the excrementory functions in the human body work so close together, yet they are, so to speak, utterly different in direction. Sex is a creative flow, the excrementory flow is towards dissolution, de-creation, if we may use such a word. In the really healthy human being the distinction between the two is instant, our profoundest instincts are perhaps our instincts of opposition between the two flows.
As soon as there is sex excitement with a desire to spite the sexual feeling, to humiliate it and degrade it, the element of pornography enters.
So, in our glorious civilization, it goes in masturbation. And the mass of our popular literature, the bulk of our popular amusements just exists to provoke masturbation. Masturbation is the one thoroughly secret act of the human being, more secret even than excrementation. It is the one functional result of sex-secrecy, and it is stimulated and provoked by our glorious popular literature of pretty pornography, which rubs on the dirty secret without letting you know what is happening.
The great danger of masturbation lies in its merely exhaustive nature. In sexual intercourse, there is a give and take. A new stimulus enters as the native stimulus departs. Something quite new is added as the old surcharge is removed. And this is so in all sexual intercourse where two creatures are concerned, even in the homosexual intercourse. But in masturbation there is nothing but loss. There is no reciprocity. There is merely the spending away of a certain force, and no return. The body remains, in a sense, a corpse, after the act of self-abuse. There is no change, only deadening. There is what we call dead loss. And this is not the case in any act of sexual intercourse between two people. Two people may destroy one another in sex. But they cannot just produce the null effect of masturbation.
The author never escapes from himself, he pads along within the vicious circle of himself. There is hardly a writer living who gets out of the vicious circle of himself—or a painter either. Hence the lack of creation, and the stupendous amount of production. It is a masturbation result, within the vicious circle of the self. It is self-absorption made public.
They have killed, they imagine, the dirty little secret. The thrill of secrecy is gone. Some of the dirt remains. And for the rest, depression, inertia, lack of life. For sex is the fountainhead of our energetic life, and now the fountain ceases to flow.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Pornography is the attempt to insult sex, to do dirt on it. This is unpardonable. Take the very lowest instance, the picture post-card sold underhand, by the underworld, in most cities. What I have seen of them have been of an ugliness to make you cry. The insult to the human body, the insult to a vital human relationship! Ugly and cheap they make the human nudity, ugly and degraded they make the sexual act, trivial and cheap and nasty.
Now the human nudity of a great many modern people is just ugly and degraded, and the sexual act between modern people is just the same, merely ugly and degrading. But this is nothing to be proud of. It is the catastrophe of our civilization. I am sure no other civilization, not even the Roman, has showed such a vast proportion of ignominious and degraded nudity, and ugly, squalid dirty sex. Because no other civilization has driven sex into the underworld, and nudity to the W.C.
Why? Because they have the grey disease of sex-hatred, coupled with the yellow disease of dirt lust. The sex functions and the excrementory functions in the human body work so close together, yet they are, so to speak, utterly different in direction. Sex is a creative flow, the excrementory flow is towards dissolution, de-creation, if we may use such a word. In the really healthy human being the distinction between the two is instant, our profoundest instincts are perhaps our instincts of opposition between the two flows.
As soon as there is sex excitement with a desire to spite the sexual feeling, to humiliate it and degrade it, the element of pornography enters.
So, in our glorious civilization, it goes in masturbation. And the mass of our popular literature, the bulk of our popular amusements just exists to provoke masturbation. Masturbation is the one thoroughly secret act of the human being, more secret even than excrementation. It is the one functional result of sex-secrecy, and it is stimulated and provoked by our glorious popular literature of pretty pornography, which rubs on the dirty secret without letting you know what is happening.
The great danger of masturbation lies in its merely exhaustive nature. In sexual intercourse, there is a give and take. A new stimulus enters as the native stimulus departs. Something quite new is added as the old surcharge is removed. And this is so in all sexual intercourse where two creatures are concerned, even in the homosexual intercourse. But in masturbation there is nothing but loss. There is no reciprocity. There is merely the spending away of a certain force, and no return. The body remains, in a sense, a corpse, after the act of self-abuse. There is no change, only deadening. There is what we call dead loss. And this is not the case in any act of sexual intercourse between two people. Two people may destroy one another in sex. But they cannot just produce the null effect of masturbation.
The author never escapes from himself, he pads along within the vicious circle of himself. There is hardly a writer living who gets out of the vicious circle of himself—or a painter either. Hence the lack of creation, and the stupendous amount of production. It is a masturbation result, within the vicious circle of the self. It is self-absorption made public.
They have killed, they imagine, the dirty little secret. The thrill of secrecy is gone. Some of the dirt remains. And for the rest, depression, inertia, lack of life. For sex is the fountainhead of our energetic life, and now the fountain ceases to flow.
July 7, 2025
Titre hilarant. Je ris moins quand je constate la misogynie de D. H. (we have been knowing). Quelle bonne idée que celle de hiérarchiser les pratiques sexuelles sans les mettre en lien avec les dynamiques de pouvoir ! Sarcasme
November 27, 2016
"A [verdadeira] pornografia tenta insultar o sexo, atirar-lhe lama. O que é imperdoável. Tenha-se em atenção o mais rasteiro dos seus exemplos, os postais ilustrados vendidos à socapa no submundo da maior parte das cidades. O que eles me mostram é de uma fealdade capaz de nos fazer chorar. O insulto ao corpo humano, o insulto a uma relação humana vital! A tornarem reles e feia a nudez do homem, feio e degradante o acto sexual, trivial, e baixo, e grosseiro.
O mesmo acontece com os livros vendidos nesse submundo. Ora são tão feios, ao ponto de nos deixarem doentes, ora tão néscios que só podemos imaginar um cretino ou um atrasado mental a lê-los ou a escrevê-los."
"É a grande classe pornográfica - a que realmente pertencem os vulgares homens e mulheres da rua. (...) Acham um Tiziano ou um Renoir de facto indecentes, e não querem que as suas mulheres e filhas o vejam.
Porquê? Porque têm a doença cinzenta do ódio ao sexo acoplada à doença amarela da luxúria porca. As funções sexuais e as funções excremenciais operam no corpo humano com grande proximidade embora tenham, por assim dizer, direcções totalmente diferentes. Enquanto o sexo é um fluxo criador, o rumo do fluxo excremencial é a dissolução, a descriação, se nos for possível usar uma tal palavra. (...) O segredo das pessoas realmente vulgares e pornográficas é este: consideram o fluxo sexual e o fluxo excremencial a mesma coisa. Isto acontece quando a psique se corrompe e o domínio profundo dos instintos entra em colapso. O sexo é então lama, e a lama é sexo, a excitação sexual transforma-se num jogo com a lama, e todo o sinal de sexo na mulher se transforma num espetáculo da sua lama. É o estado do ser humano trivial e vulgar, que faz legião, que levanta a voz, fazendo-a passar a vox populi, vox Dei. E é esta a origem de toda a pornografia."
O mesmo acontece com os livros vendidos nesse submundo. Ora são tão feios, ao ponto de nos deixarem doentes, ora tão néscios que só podemos imaginar um cretino ou um atrasado mental a lê-los ou a escrevê-los."
"É a grande classe pornográfica - a que realmente pertencem os vulgares homens e mulheres da rua. (...) Acham um Tiziano ou um Renoir de facto indecentes, e não querem que as suas mulheres e filhas o vejam.
Porquê? Porque têm a doença cinzenta do ódio ao sexo acoplada à doença amarela da luxúria porca. As funções sexuais e as funções excremenciais operam no corpo humano com grande proximidade embora tenham, por assim dizer, direcções totalmente diferentes. Enquanto o sexo é um fluxo criador, o rumo do fluxo excremencial é a dissolução, a descriação, se nos for possível usar uma tal palavra. (...) O segredo das pessoas realmente vulgares e pornográficas é este: consideram o fluxo sexual e o fluxo excremencial a mesma coisa. Isto acontece quando a psique se corrompe e o domínio profundo dos instintos entra em colapso. O sexo é então lama, e a lama é sexo, a excitação sexual transforma-se num jogo com a lama, e todo o sinal de sexo na mulher se transforma num espetáculo da sua lama. É o estado do ser humano trivial e vulgar, que faz legião, que levanta a voz, fazendo-a passar a vox populi, vox Dei. E é esta a origem de toda a pornografia."
May 7, 2022
The cunning crab and the pornographical shrimp
To their equal horror collide on the shingle
And without time to steal a second glance
Scatter away. Oh! What a dirty little secret.
The water colourist, quite oblivious to this scandal
Squints at the horizon, overlooking the petty crab
Who now, alone, is masturbating happily
'if only I could capture the right sea-prison-blue how significant, how pure I might be'
To their equal horror collide on the shingle
And without time to steal a second glance
Scatter away. Oh! What a dirty little secret.
The water colourist, quite oblivious to this scandal
Squints at the horizon, overlooking the petty crab
Who now, alone, is masturbating happily
'if only I could capture the right sea-prison-blue how significant, how pure I might be'
August 28, 2021
Per Lawrence la pornografia era la volontà di insozzare il sesso. Il problema era legato alla grande civiltà dei “grigi”, che rendevano il sesso brutto e abietto. Nel momento in cui il sesso cessa di essere brutto e abietto, e comincia ad essere vissuto con naturalezza, allo scoperto, allora scompare pure la “pornografia”. C’è da dire che Lawrence concepiva "due pornografie": una è quella dei romanzetti che titillano il “piccolo e sporco segreto” dei puritani, dei "bestseller" borghesi e del cinema languido, che spiattella il sentimento senza crescita e senza approfondimento; l'altra pornografia è invece quella clandestina, che nel 1929 si riduceva a cartoline vedute clandestinamente e romanzi venduti di sottobanco. Lawrence le odiava entrambe poiché entrambe portavano nel profondo il “grigio morbo dell’odio sessuale”.
Il saggio di Lawrence - che abbonda di considerazioni talvolta apodittiche, che ci dice che Boccaccio è meno pornografico di "Pamela" o di "Clarissa Harlowe" o di "Jane Eyre", forse a giustificare il suo odio per il XIX secolo, il "secolo della bugia", a suo dire - sembra concludere che ciò che è si sarebbe dovuto abolire è proprio l’oscenità del sesso. C’è da dire che Lawrence ancora non aveva digerito la messa al bando del suo romanzo in mezza Europa. Un saggio breve che è un documento di un'epoca, più che un dispensatore di verità.
Il saggio di Lawrence - che abbonda di considerazioni talvolta apodittiche, che ci dice che Boccaccio è meno pornografico di "Pamela" o di "Clarissa Harlowe" o di "Jane Eyre", forse a giustificare il suo odio per il XIX secolo, il "secolo della bugia", a suo dire - sembra concludere che ciò che è si sarebbe dovuto abolire è proprio l’oscenità del sesso. C’è da dire che Lawrence ancora non aveva digerito la messa al bando del suo romanzo in mezza Europa. Un saggio breve che è un documento di un'epoca, più che un dispensatore di verità.
December 12, 2019
El autor nos plasma como podemos darle diferentes interpretaciones a las palabras "pornografia y obscenidad".
El como una sociedad o un grupo en específico puede darle un sentido completamente diferente según sus creencias ya sean, éticas, religiosas, morales, sociales, etc.
Así también no sólo como lo interpreta, las diferentes culturas, y como uno como persona integral puede interpretar dichas palabras.
Con el tiempo estas palabras se han convertido en un tabu social, por muchas razones, una de ellas es el miedo al que dirán, por estar hablando de algo que es muy de nosotros como seres humanos.
Los avances tecnológicos han aportado una mala fama a estos términos, haciéndolos ver que es algo malo, como lo son las películas de pornografia para adultos, esta industria idealiza una figura falsa sobre el cuerpo de hombres y mujeres, mientras que la realidad es muy diferente a lo que nos enseñan en estas producciones audiovisuales.
El como una sociedad o un grupo en específico puede darle un sentido completamente diferente según sus creencias ya sean, éticas, religiosas, morales, sociales, etc.
Así también no sólo como lo interpreta, las diferentes culturas, y como uno como persona integral puede interpretar dichas palabras.
Con el tiempo estas palabras se han convertido en un tabu social, por muchas razones, una de ellas es el miedo al que dirán, por estar hablando de algo que es muy de nosotros como seres humanos.
Los avances tecnológicos han aportado una mala fama a estos términos, haciéndolos ver que es algo malo, como lo son las películas de pornografia para adultos, esta industria idealiza una figura falsa sobre el cuerpo de hombres y mujeres, mientras que la realidad es muy diferente a lo que nos enseñan en estas producciones audiovisuales.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 11, 2021
[ Χωρίς μυστικότητα δεν θα υπήρχε πορνογραφία. Αν όμως η πορνογραφία είναι το αποτέλεσμα της ύπουλης μυστικότητας, ποια είναι τα αποτελέσματα της πορνογραφίας; ]
✏ [ Για τους νέους ή τους γέρους, τον άντρα ή τη γυναίκα, το αγόρι ή το κορίτσι, η σύγχρονη πορνογραφία είναι μία άμεση πρόκληση αυνανισμού. ]
✏[ Στον αυνανισμό, όμως δεν υπάρχει τίποτα εκτός από απώλεια. Δεν υπάρχει αμοιβαιότητα. Απλώς, ξοδεύετε μία ορισμένη δύναμη χωρίς επιστροφή. Το σώμα μένει, κατα μια έννοια, ένα πτώμα μετά την πράξη της αυτοϊκανοποίησης. Δεν υπάρχει ανανέωση, μόνο νέκρωση. Είναι αυτό που λέμε καθαρή ζημία. Και αυτό δεν συμβαίνει σε καμία πράξη ερωτικής επαφής μεταξύ δύο ανθρώπων. Δύο άνθρωποι μπορούν να καταστρέψουν ο ένας τον άλλο στο σεξ. Αλλά δεν μπορούν να παραγάγουν το μηδενικό αποτέλεσμα του αυνανισμού.]
✏ [ Για τους νέους ή τους γέρους, τον άντρα ή τη γυναίκα, το αγόρι ή το κορίτσι, η σύγχρονη πορνογραφία είναι μία άμεση πρόκληση αυνανισμού. ]
✏[ Στον αυνανισμό, όμως δεν υπάρχει τίποτα εκτός από απώλεια. Δεν υπάρχει αμοιβαιότητα. Απλώς, ξοδεύετε μία ορισμένη δύναμη χωρίς επιστροφή. Το σώμα μένει, κατα μια έννοια, ένα πτώμα μετά την πράξη της αυτοϊκανοποίησης. Δεν υπάρχει ανανέωση, μόνο νέκρωση. Είναι αυτό που λέμε καθαρή ζημία. Και αυτό δεν συμβαίνει σε καμία πράξη ερωτικής επαφής μεταξύ δύο ανθρώπων. Δύο άνθρωποι μπορούν να καταστρέψουν ο ένας τον άλλο στο σεξ. Αλλά δεν μπορούν να παραγάγουν το μηδενικό αποτέλεσμα του αυνανισμού.]
August 5, 2021
« Si, à force de pureté et de vilains petits secrets, on condamne chaque individu à la masturbation et à l’auto-enfermement, et si on le maintient dans cet état, on produira une société d’idiotie généralisée. Car la masturbation et l’auto-enfermement produisent des idiots. Peut-être, quand nous serons tous devenus idiots, ne nous en apercevrons-nous plus. »
April 18, 2018
Este opúsculo es una crítica abierta al ocultamiento sexual; un llamado a la liberación de la "carga indecorosa" del acto masturbatorio y la desmitificación del "cochino secretito". Sin duda, D. H. Lawrence logró ver el futuro destino moral de la humanidad y vaticinó la persistencia de la doble ética y el aberrado puritanismo del siglo XXI. No es posible hablar de modernismo en la literatura inglesa sin citar a este escritor.
July 28, 2021
One sentence Goodreads review: Despite the meaning of the two words being dependent on the individual, Lawrence delivers an essay with enough breadth, honesty, and wit that causes the wise to take his meanings as close to canonical.
Entire review: ask if interested
Entire review: ask if interested
May 6, 2021
mommy issues + misogyny + loserness = this book
Read
May 29, 2024I wonder how DH would feel about AO3
September 25, 2010
Great book, still 30 pages to finish it
August 28, 2013
Sobre a falta de lucidez no sexo e as suas consequências para a sociedade e o próprio indivíduo. Um tanto ou quanto datado, mas com algumas tiradas bem pertinentes!
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