Obscene: a Portrait of Barney Rosset and Grove Press

Synopsis

OBSCENE is the definitive film biography of Barney Rosset, the influential publisher of Grove Press and the Evergreen Review. He acquired the then fledgling Grove Press in 1951 and soon embarked on a tumultuous career of publishing and political engagement that continues to inspire today's defenders of free expression. Not only was he the first American publisher of acclaimed authors Samuel Beckett, Kenzaburo Oe, Tom Stoppard, Che Guevara and Malcolm X, but he also battled the government in the highest courts to overrule the obscenity ban on groundbreaking works of fiction such as Lady Chatterly s Lover, Tropic of Cancer and Naked Lunch. But the same unyielding and reckless energy Rosset used to publish works such as Allen Ginsberg s Howl in the controversial Evergreen Review and distribute films like I Am Curious (Yellow) also brought him perilously close to destruction.