{"product_id":"the-reinvention-of-obscenity-sex-lies-and-tabloids-in-early-modern-france-paperback","title":"The Reinvention of Obscenity: Sex, Lies, and Tabloids in Early Modern France - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJoan Dejean\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\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 Moliére, 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'école des femmes\u003c\/i\u003e made him the first modern writer to have his sex life dissected in the press. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Keenly 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.\u003ch3\u003eFront Jacket\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eHow and when did obscene words come to be considered obscene? How did the modern definition of four-letter words become accepted? These are some of the questions explored in \u003ci\u003eThe Reinvention of Obscenity\u003c\/i\u003e. Joan DeJean shows how radically the modern conception of obscenity differs from that operative in antiquity, when obscene literature was produced exclusively for an elite male audience. Obscenity, DeJean argues, was reinvented when writers began to focus on two subjects previously unimagined: female genitalia and compulsory heterosexuality. The story of obscenity's reinvention is also that of the birth of modern censorship, mass-market print culture, and even tabloid journalism. DeJean's principal example is the career of the first truly modern writer, Molière, who cannily exploited the obscene to revolutionize the conditions of authorship.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoan DeJean\u003c\/b\u003e is a Trustee Professor of French at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of seven books, most recently \u003ci\u003eTender Geographies: Women and the Origins of the Novel in France\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eAncients against Moderns: Culture Wars and the Making of a Fin de Siècle\u003c\/i\u003e, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 224\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.69 x 8.98 x 6.36 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e June 01, 2002\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42039579082832,"sku":"9780226141411","price":70.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/9540\/0016\/files\/UTVMQ1FYNlhsWENHZzJ2VHZCVVJndz09.webp?v=1771841598","url":"https:\/\/palm-malen-gift-shop-pmrc.myshopify.com\/products\/the-reinvention-of-obscenity-sex-lies-and-tabloids-in-early-modern-france-paperback","provider":"Palm Malen Gift Shop -PMRC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}