Artistic merit is the artistic quality or value of any given

work of art A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

, music, film,

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, sculpture or painting.

Obscenity and literary merit

The 1921 US trial of James Joyce's novel '' Ulysses'' concerned the publication of the ''Nausicaa'' episode by the literary magazine ''

The Little Review ''The Little Review'' was an American avant-garde literary magazine founded by Margaret Anderson in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, published literary and art work from 1914 to May 1929. With the help of Jane Heap and Ezra Pound ...

'', which was serializing the novel. Though not required to do so by law, John Quinn, the lawyer for the defence, decided to produce three literary experts to attest to the literary merits of ''Ulysses'', as well as ''The Little Review''s broader reputation. The first expert witness was Philip Moeller, of the

Theatre Guild The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of ...

, who interpreted ''Ulysses'' using the

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies seen as originating from conflicts in t ...

method of unveiling the subconscious mind, which prompted one of the judges to ask him to "speak in a language that the court could understand". The next witness was Scofield Thayer, editor of '' The Dial'', another literary magazine of the time, who "was forced to admit that if he had had the desire to publish ''Ulysses'' he would have consulted a lawyer first—and not published it". The final witness was English novelist, lecturer, and critic

John Cowper Powys John Cowper Powys ( ; 8 October 187217 June 1963) was an English novelist, philosopher, lecturer, critic and poet born in Shirley, Derbyshire, where his father was vicar of the parish church in 1871–1879. Powys appeared with a volume of verse ...

, who declared that ''Ulysses'' was a "beautiful piece of work in no way capable of corrupting the minds of young girls". The editors were found guilty under laws associated with the Comstock Act of 1873, which made it illegal to circulate materials deemed

obscene An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...

in the U.S. mail, incurred a $100 fine, and were forced to cease publishing ''Ulysses'' in ''The Little Review''. It was not until the 1933 case '' United States v. One Book Called Ulysses'' that the novel could be published in the United States without fear of prosecution. Another important obscenity trial occurred 1960 in Britain, when the full unexpurgated edition of D. H. Lawrence's '' Lady Chatterley's Lover'' was published by

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

. The trial of Penguin under the

Obscene Publications Act 1959 The Obscene Publications Act 1959 ( 7 & 8 Eliz. 2. c. 66) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom Parliament, which significantly reformed the law related to obscenity in England and Wales. Before the passage of the Act, the law on publis ...

was a major public event and a test of the new

obscenity An obscenity is any utterance or act that strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time. It is derived from the Latin , , "boding ill; disgusting; indecent", of uncertain etymology. Generally, the term can be used to indicate strong moral ...

law. The 1959 act (introduced by

Roy Jenkins Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician and writer who served as the sixth President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliamen ...

) had made it possible for publishers to escape conviction if they could show that a work was of literary merit. Several academic critics and experts of diverse kinds, including E. M. Forster, Helen Gardner,

Richard Hoggart Herbert Richard Hoggart (24 September 1918 – 10 April 2014) was an English academic whose career covered the fields of sociology, English literature and cultural studies, with emphasis on British popular culture. Early life Hoggart was bor ...

Raymond Williams Raymond Henry Williams (31 August 1921 – 26 January 1988) was a Welsh socialist writer, academic, novelist and critic influential within the New Left and in wider culture. His writings on politics, culture, the media and literature contribu ...

, Norman St John-Stevas and John Robinson, Anglican bishop of Woolwich, were called as witnesses for the defence, and the verdict, delivered on 2 November 1960, was "not guilty".Feather, John. ''A History Of British Publishing''. p. 205; Rolph, C. H, ed. (1990). ''The Trial of Lady Chatterley'' (2nd ed.) This resulted in a far greater degree of freedom for publishing explicit sexual material in the United Kingdom.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artistic Merit Concepts in aesthetics Self-censorship Western culture

Obscenity and literary merit

See also

References