SPEECH AND CENSORSHIP #7: Rochelle Gurstein on her book The Repeal of Reticence

This month we continue our series on speech and censorship by discussing an extraordinary book published in 1996, The Repeal of Reticence: America’s Cultural and Legal Struggles Over Free Speech, Obscenity, Sexual Liberation, and Modern Art. It’s terrific book of political, social, cultural history and analysis. It covers an amazingly broad range of topics, from 19th century literary sensibilities to early 20th century Supreme Court obscenity jurisprudence to the midcentury New York public intellectual scene. Its author, Rochelle Gurstein, sketches two broad, cultural movements: the party of reticence and the party of exposure. Our conversation is devoted to elucidating the discourse around privacy and obscenity in a variety of contexts. We take up invasive journalism, sexual education, and literary realism. We try to understand why the party of exposure seemed to gain victory after victory as the decades passed. Gurstein articulates what the party of reticence understands about human life that partisans of exposure often miss. At the conclusion of our conversation, Gurstein reflects on her mentor, the great Christopher Lasch.