{"product_id":"the-reinvention-of-obscenity-joan-dejean-9780226141411","title":"The Reinvention of Obscenity: Sex, Lies, and Tabloids in Early Modern France","description":"The concept of obscenity is an ancient one. But as Joan DeJean suggests, its modern form, the same version that today's politicians decry and savvy artists exploit, was invented in seventeenth-century France. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Reinvention of Obscenity\u003c\/i\u003e casts a fresh light on the mythical link between sexual impropriety and things French. Exploring the complicity between censorship, print culture, and obscenity, DeJean argues that mass market printing and the first modern censorial machinery came into being at the very moment that obscenity was being reinvented--that is, transformed from a minor literary phenomenon into a threat to society. DeJean's principal case in this study is the career of Moli駻e, who cannily exploited the new link between indecency and female genitalia to found his career as a print author; the enormous scandal which followed his play \u003ci\u003eL'馗ole des femmes\u003c\/i\u003e made him the first modern writer to have his sex life dissected in the press. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKeenly alert to parallels with the currency of obscenity in contemporary America, \u003ci\u003eThe Reinvention of Obscenity\u003c\/i\u003e will concern not only scholars of French history, but anyone interested in the intertwined histories of sex, publishing, and censorship.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Joan Dejean\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226141411\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226141411\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2002\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.73lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.98h x 6.36w x 0.69d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2003 pg. 988","brand":"Joan Dejean","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43913422143743,"sku":"9780226141411","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_b95d15d5-9734-4b53-9d57-94f3b3f32fa5.jpg?v=1680620322","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-reinvention-of-obscenity-joan-dejean-9780226141411","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}