H84.8.6

Memoirs of a shy pornographer
1958
6.5 in HIGH x 4.5 in WIDE
(16.51 cm HIGH x 11.43 cm WIDE)
Museum Purchase
H84.8.6


Book. Description: Patchen, Kenneth: Memoirs of a shy pornographer (San Francisco, City Lights, 1958) 2nd. printing, 235 pp. Condition 3. Dimensions: 6 1/2" x 4 1/2". From the History Information Station:Object: Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer, by Kenneth Patchen. Published in San Francisco by City Lights Books, 1958. History: Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972) was an earnest and vocal critic of what he perceived as the moral decline of western civilization. Yet his anger was channeled into reflective good humor, into what one critic called "the search for wonder and joy." His funny, colorful "picture poems" bore serious messages, made more serious by the combination of good and bad feelings they provoked. Similarly, Memoirs of a Shy Pornographer, Patchen's criticism of society is conveyed with ironic humor. The book was described as "the hilarious saga of Alfred Budd of Bivalve, New Jersey, a Candide-like innocent whose comic misadventures hold up a distorting mirror to our so-called 'society.'" Museum Purchase
Bookmark and Share