Literary Hub » Obscenity

Include as Little History as You Can: The Danger of Explaining Too Much in Historical Fiction

Include as Little History as You Can: The Danger of Explaining Too Much in Historical Fiction

Jesse Browner Explores Why the Core Rules of Fiction Still Apply in Stories of the Past

By Jesse Browner | May 20, 2025

Draw Me a Controversy: On the Banning of Beloved Children’s Book Author Eric Carle

Draw Me a Controversy: On the Banning of Beloved Children’s Book Author Eric Carle

Lisa Tolin Explores How “Draw Me a Star” Was Swept Into a Dangerous Culture War

By Lisa Tolin | March 10, 2025

A Brief History of the Most Famous Swear Word in the World

A Brief History of the Most Famous Swear Word in the World

Jesse Sheidlower on the Limberness and Literary Uses of “Fuck”

By Jesse Sheidlower | November 5, 2024

The Man Who Created the Trade Paperback

The Man Who Created the Trade Paperback

Michael Castleman on the Life and Times of Jason Epstein, Cofounder of “The New York Review of Books”

By Michael Castleman | July 18, 2024

Remembering Samuel Roth, the Bookseller Who Defied America’s Obscenity Laws

Remembering Samuel Roth, the Bookseller Who Defied America’s Obscenity Laws

Ed Simon on Free Speech, Book Bans and Court-Mandated Censorship, Then and Now

By Ed Simon | July 3, 2024

Writing Sex in Arabic Literature: Ahmed Naji Narrates His Own Obscenity Trial

Writing Sex in Arabic Literature: Ahmed Naji Narrates His Own Obscenity Trial

"I’m ignorant and confused, even more so than Kafka’s man from the country"

By Ahmed Naji | October 19, 2023

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

How Obscenity Laws Nearly Stopped Nabokov's Lolita from Being Published

By Thomas Harding | August 29, 2023

David Milch on Language and Obscenity in Deadwood

By David Milch | September 28, 2022

The judge in two Virginia book-banning cases has dismissed the lawsuits.

By Corinne Segal | August 31, 2022

Men of a Certain Age: On Sex, Privacy, and Pornography

Men of a Certain Age: On Sex, Privacy, and Pornography

"They Say We Get the Porn We Deserve"

By Saskia Vogel | February 23, 2018

A Whole New Kind of Obscenity?

A Whole New Kind of Obscenity?

Episode 9 of Fiction/Non/Fiction: On Censorship and
the Language of Immigration

By Literary Hub | January 25, 2018

Why Exactly is This Book Obscene? (Skip to the Dirty Bits)

Why Exactly is This Book Obscene? (Skip to the Dirty Bits)

Why Famous Works of Literature Were Challenged in Court

By Emily Temple | November 22, 2017

State Censorship: How the Library of Congress Came to Define Obscenity

State Censorship: How the Library of Congress Came to Define Obscenity

On the Virtually Unknown History of the Delta Collection

By Melissa Adler | May 4, 2017

The Publishing Gamble That Changed America

The Publishing Gamble That Changed America

The Late Barney Rosset on Fighting for Lady Chatterley's Lover

By Barney Rosset | October 13, 2016