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Anthony Comstock, a fervent crusader against vice in late 19th and early 20th-century America, played a pivotal role in the censorship battles that would later impact James Joyce's Ulysses. Comstock, born in 1844, was the founder of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (NYSSV), an organization dedicated to monitoring and controlling the distribution of obscene materials, including literature, art, and contraceptives. His legacy of censorship laid the groundwork for the legal and moral challenges that Ulysses would face upon its publication.
Comstock's zeal for moral purity was personal and intense. The scar on his left cheek, a grim souvenir from an altercation with a pornographer, symbolized his uncompromising stance against what he deemed immoral content. This incident underscores the dangerous and violent nature of his crusade. Kevin Birmingham, in "The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses," captures the essence of Comstock’s fervor: “Comstock wielded his power like a bludgeon, shaping the landscape of American morality with an iron fist and a profound intolerance for dissent.”
The Comstock Laws, enacted in 1873, were named after him and became the legal backbone for his efforts. These laws prohibited the mailing of "obscene, lewd, or lascivious" materials, granting Comstock and his society significant power to seize and destroy such items. Over his career, Comstock claimed to have destroyed 160 tons of obscene literature and pictures, as well as a significant amount of contraceptive equipment.
This environment of stringent censorship set the stage for the contentious reception of James Joyce’s Ulysses. When Joyce’s groundbreaking novel was serialized in The Little Review between 1918 and 1920, it quickly ran afoul of American obscenity laws. The NYSSV, influenced by the Comstockian moral legacy, was instrumental in bringing charges against the magazine's editors, Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap. They were convicted of publishing obscene material, and the serialization of Ulysses was halted.
Birmingham details this struggle in his book: “The ghost of Anthony Comstock haunted the pages of ‘Ulysses,’ his spirit embedded in the very laws that sought to suppress Joyce’s art. The fight against ‘Ulysses’ was not just about a book but about the lingering shadow of a man who had defined American censorship.” The impact of Comstock’s laws meant that Ulysses was banned in the United States for over a decade, forcing readers and supporters to smuggle copies or read the book in European editions.
The eventual publication of Ulysses in the United States in 1934, following Judge John M. Woolsey's landmark decision declaring the book not obscene, marked a significant victory against Comstock's repressive legacy. Woolsey's ruling emphasized the artistic and literary merit of Joyce’s work, arguing that its obscenity was outweighed by its value, noting how it “struck at the very heart of Comstock’s crusade, challenging the notion that literature could be shackled by the moral dogma of a bygone era.”
Welcome to the journey.
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