The Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer

by Kenneth Patchen

Book Overview

Can you imagine why a pornographer would be shy? Are you satisfied with the state of (a) World Society (b) your soul (c) American writing? Are you in the habit of reading books that could have been written by anybody? Do you really want the truth? Do you know how angels learn to fly? What would you feed a green deer? Do you think a profound social message can be conveyed by a book that is comic in character? When Kenneth Patchen's comic masterpiece,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811214117
• ISBN13: 9780811214117
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

He Fondled Paper

testing it for weight and resiliency, loving it as one who loves potential. He taught me that "Reality begins in the dream." What an odd man, to know these things in an age when the pride of knowing belied its limitations.

A great tale of love, both sacred and profane

This book has two plots reflecting themes that run throughout much of Patchen's work: the absurdity of the "profane" civilized world and the importance of focusing on the "sacred" or natural world to bring meaning, order, and purpose to human existence. The device Patchen chose for the first theme is that of censorship of erotic content in literature. It is from this that the book derives its title. When this book was written in 1945, books were often published in the US with ellipses substituting for erotic content. The beginning of the book tells the story of a first novel of innocent love, called The Spool of Destiny, written by Albert Budd of Bivalve, New Jersey. An unscrupulous editor changes the book's name to The Spill of Desire and substitutes **** and . . . . for Albert's innocent words throughout the text in such quantity that the book must be published overseas. Albert becomes a best-selling pornographer who everyone wants to meet and make love to.About half-way through the work Albert meets and falls in love with another innocent, Priscilla, and the story moves from the profane life of New York society to a sacred love that works miracles and heals all wrongs. This is the most moving part of the book and Patchen's best portrayal of this mystical, transformational love that inspires so many of his poems. I think many readers might give up this book in the first half and miss this gem of prose writing embedded in the second half. If you like Patchen's poetry, you must read this book. If you haven't read Patchen before, stop whatever you are doing and either read this book or a book of his poetry. He is truly a great American author and this is his most approachable novel. This review is dedicated to Miriam, Kenneth Patchen's wife and inspiration, who died in 2001.

Red-letter edition needed

I haven't read this book in about 20 minutes, although I'm sure it has been out of print for over 20 years. A must read for anyone who reads. Patchen works the magic of a thousand men fasting. A must-read before you're sent on a pilgrimage. I hope this edition costs the same as the one I now have from the library: $1.95. If not, I hope it is less than $35, or else I'll steal it from the library in New Jersey, because that is the fine for losing a book checked out from there.

Smut

OK, I want to be the first to review this book with the cavaet that I haven't read it in twenty years because it has probably been out of print about that long, and I lost my copy, and I haven't been able to find another. This book is a wonderful satire on the odious subject of literary censorship. Patchen's technique was to blank out about every fourth word of the story line. Whether we admit it or not, we all have dirty minds and are perfectly capable of filling in the blanks. Patchen's marvelous evocation of the human sexual imagination makes this one of the funniest and filthiest books I have ever read. I will be the first in line to buy it when it is republished in June.

An American classic

I cannot believe this book is out of print. Kenneth Patchen is one of our great, if hugely neglected, poets and novelists. Memoirs is hillarious, surreal, sometimes lurid but always smart and riviting. For my money it is a much better book than Patchen's better known Journal of Albion Moonlight.