Barney Rosset | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Barnet Lee Rosset, Jr. May 28, 1922 Chicago, US |
| Died | February 21, 2012 (aged 89) New York City, US |
| Occupation(s) | Book, magazine publisher |
| Known for | Some of the 20th century's most important writing |
| Notable work | The legal publication of Lady Chatterley's Lover and the Tropic of Cancer |
| Spouse(s) | Joan Mitchell, Hannelore Eckert, Cristina Agnini, Lisa Krug, Astrid Myers |
| Children | 4 |
| Website | Grove Press and Evergreen Review |
Barnet Lee "Barney" Rosset, Jr. (May 28, 1922 – February 21, 2012) was a pioneering American book and magazine publisher. An avant-garde taste maker, he founded Grove Press in 1951 and Evergreen Review in 1957, both of which gave him platforms for curating world-class and, in several cases, Nobel prize-winning work by authors including Samuel Beckett (1969), Pablo Neruda (1971), Octavio Paz (1990), Kenzaburō Ōe (1994) and Harold Pinter (2005).
A voracious reader and a resourceful editor, Rosset was the first to publish Beat poets Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a who's who of playwrights including Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter, political biographies like Alex Haley's The Autobiography of Malcolm X, erotic literature like the Story of O, groundbreaking gay fiction by Jean Genet, and banned classics such as Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and D. H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.[1][2][3]
Rosset's insistence on publishing "banned" books permanently redefined American obscenity law. "To do Lady Chatterley's Lover before Tropic of Cancer would be more acceptable because D.H. Lawrence was a famous writer and revered at many levels," Rosset said in 2009, explaining his tactical reasoning after the fact. "Lady Chatterley would be more feasible to make a battle plan for, and we did exactly that," starting with an uncensored version of Lady Chatterley's Lover, thirty years after its initial U.K. publication.[3] After his first victory, Rosset moved on to the second, waging another legal battle to publish Miller's Tropic of Cancer. In 1964, the Supreme Court affirmed Rosset's right to publish Miller's book. France later inducted him as a Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres to honor his contributions to American and world literature; the Norman Mailer Prize was given to him for his work as a "Distinguished Publisher" and the National Coalition Against Censorship recognized him for his contributions to free speech.[4]
- ^ Zwerin, Mike; Tribune, International Herald (April 25, 1998). "A Champion of 'Dirt' Is Hanging Tough". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ "Imprints". Grove Atlantic. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ a b "Publishing Pioneer Barney Rosset Dies At 89". NPR.org. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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