SCRUTINY
303
It is this central and strenuous "discipline of letters" that sets the
"Sketch for an English School" apart from apparently similar programs
in American Civilization and in History and Literature. The "Sketch"
resembles such plans only in the focus on a period-the seventeenth
century-and in the attempt
to
bring many kinds of knowledge into
play, from cultural history and sociology to philosophy and the history
of science. But the student is not to pursue literary criticism of texts
with his left hand, while manipulating historical generalizations with
his right. He is enjoined to see that precision and fullness of response
to
language are in constant demand and indispensable to finesse in generali–
zation, whether the text in question is a poem or a public document.
The difference in moral intention already noted in contrasting
Scrutiny
close reading with explication of the New Critical variety is again
paramount. The student is not invited to study a period placed "off
there," as so often in the usual American counterpart; he is asked
rather to engage actively in studying a phase of English civilization
linked in living continuity with the present. Where there are notable
breaks and contrasts with the twentieth century, he is enjoined to
evaluate the gains and losses. Because of the constant emphasis on
Move over, Mr. Bowdler
...
make way for sanity about sex in art
'To Deprave and Corrupt
. . .'
ORIGINAL STUDIES IN THE NATURE OF 'OBSCENITY'
John Chandos,
edit,or
Contributors:
WALTER ALLEN, Vlsltln<;l Professor of
English, Vassarj formerly
lit.
ed., "New
Statesman'l
LORD BI RKETT, lat. Lord Justice of Ap–
peal, England
JOHN CHANDOS, author, "Guide to Se–
duction"
MAURICE GIRODIAS, man. dlr., Olympia
Press; first publisher of Miller, Du"oll,
Nabokov, et al.
WILLIAM B. LOCKHART and ROBERT C.
McCLURE, Unlv. of Minnesota Law School
NORMAN ST. JOHN-STEVAS, Fellow, Vale
law School, 1957; author, "Obscenity
and the Law"
CLAIRE and W.M.S. RUSSELL, authors,
"Human B'.havlour: a New Approach" .
"Excellent." - Angus Wilson,
New
Statesman.
"A special cheer for the
book. ..By no means a dusty collec–
tion."-Books of the Month
(London).
with much urbanity, wit and erudi–
tion."-Book
of the Month
(London).
"Valuable for its comprehensive
study of obscenity and censorship in
a time when book censorship is a live
issue."-Law Library Journal.
"Forth–
right, intelligent discussion of book
censorship."-George Troy,
Providence
Journal.
"Put the book on your shelf
next to Blanshard's
The Right to Read,
Haney's
Comstockery in America
and
Anne Haight's great catalog,
Banned
Books."
-
Edward Darling,
Register–
Leader.
$3.75 from your bookstore
ASSOCIATION PRESS
291 B'way
N. Y., N. Y. 10007
