Connie’s Reviews > The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses > Status Update

An interesting look into censorship in the United States. The United States Postmaster's ability to censor the publics reading material will be difficult for many modern Americans to understand. The decision that Ulysses was not obscene had a major impact on censorship throughout the western world.

"And I remembered how hard it was for serious writers to live these years and months and days...I have done the best I could, and I failed"(197) John Quinn, lawyer defending the 'Little River' and the content of "Ulysses" from obscenity charges and the verdict of guilty.

"The prospects for the publication of "Ulysses" in the United States were bleak, and Quinn felt genuine remorse. He wrote to Anderson, " I thought of Joyce and his need for the money ... And I remembered how hard it was for serious writers to live in these years and months and days...I have done the best I could, and I failed." (197)

This is an essential read for anyone concerned with censorship. This is not the stuff they teach you in political history class.

This would have been a good book to read 40 years ago before I began to tackle James Joyce's Ulysses. I am just getting started but I already like it. Censorship never quite goes away, it hovers in the background waiting for turmoil to erupt so it can play on the emotions of a frightened public.