Memoirs of Hecate County

Memoirs of Hecate County is a work of fiction by Edmund Wilson, first published in 1946, but banned in the United States until 1959, when it was reissued with minor revisions by the author.

First edition

Although it is sometimes described as a novel, the only link between the six stories is the narrator. The book was popular, and even the author, Wilson, would late describe it as "favorite among my books."[1]

Stories

The book includes six short stories, three of which had been previously published. The stories are narrated by an "upper-middle-class intellectual", describing dysfunctional American society through sexual liasons and friendships.[2]

  1. "The Man Who Shot Snapping Turtles." First published in Atlantic Monthly.
  2. "Ellen Terhune." First published in Partisan Review.
  3. "Glimpses of Wilbur Flick." First published in Town & Country.
  4. "The Princess with the Golden Hair." Novella.
  5. "The Milhollands and Their Damned Soul."
  6. "Mr and Mrs Blackburn at Home."

Censorship

The book was published by Doubleday in March 1946, and about 60,000 copies were sold. In July, the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice lodged a complaint, and 130 copies were seized from four bookstores owned by Doubleday and from the New York Public Library.[3][4] The book received a $1000 dollar fine.[5] The ban was challenged by the publisher, but was upheld in a 2–1 appeal, with dissent being Nathan D. Perlman.[3][4]

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948, where the decision was upheld 4–4 after the disqualification of Felix Frankfurter. The book was no longer sold in the United States, but was published in the United Kingdom by W. H. Allen in June 1951, going through six impressions in just two years.

The book was also banned in Australia.[6]

Throughout the 1950s there was intense public debate about the censorship of literary works, and in 1958 the publication of Lolita (by Wilson's friend Vladimir Nabokov) demonstrated the extent to which public attitudes had relaxed. In June 1959, Memoirs of Hecate County was republished in New York by Octagon and L. C. Page. This revised edition appeared in the United Kingdom in March 1960, published by Panther.

References
  1. "Inside Vladmir Nabokov and Edmund Wilson's Epic Literary Feud". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  2. "Memoirs of Hecate County | short stories by Wilson". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  3. "Many Shops Halt Seized Book Sale" New York Times, July 10, 1946.
  4. " 'Hecate' Obscene; Publisher Is Fined" New York Times, November 28, 1946.
  5. "A Brief History of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice". DNAinfo New York. Archived from the original on 2020-03-27. Retrieved 2020-03-27.
  6. . Moore, Nicole. "The Totally incredible obscenity of Letty Fox". Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature. 2: 67–79. 2003.CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Richard Hixson. Pornography and the Justices: The Supreme Court and the Intractable Obscenity Problem.
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