| Maurice Girodias |
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| 1919 births | |
| girodias, maurice | |
| 1990 deaths | |
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The son of Jack Kahane and a French heiress, Girodias lived a relatively idyllic childhood, until the Depression forced his father to take up a new profession, namely Publishing risqué books in English at Paris for the consumption of foreign tourists, who because of Censorship could not obtain such materials at home. French censorship laws had a Loophole allowing English works to be published in relative safety. Kahane's venture (Girodias later took his mother's maiden name to hide his Jewish background from the Nazis ) was called the Obelisk Press. It published notorious works by Frank Harris , Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin , as well as several pieces of light Erotica written by Kahane himself. Girodias's involvement with his father's business started early. In 1934 , at the age of 15, Girodias drew the disturbing Crab picture seen on the cover of '' Tropic Of Cancer ''. After his father's untimely death in 1939 , Girodias took over publishing duties, and at the age of 20 managed to survive Paris , World War II , Occupation and Paper shortages. After the war, with his brother Eric Kahane , Girodias expanded operations, publishing '' Zorba The Greek '' and Miller's '' Sexus '', among other texts. The latter volume touched off a firestorm in France, with trials and arrests for Obscenity . The Affaire Miller ended with Girodias out of jail, but bankrupt and no longer in control of his company. THE OLYMPIA PRESS Following a cold and difficult winter, Girodias one day met up with numerous hungry Expatriate s, many of them working for ''Merlin'', a literary review. He famously advised the group that the way out of Poverty was for everyone to come and write dirty books for his new venture, The Olympia Press, which took its name from the similarity to his father's company and Manet 's famous portrait of a Courtesan . Among those who wrote for Girodias in the early days were Alexander Trocchi , Miller, Samuel Beckett , John Glassco and Christopher Logue . Trocchi, Glassco and Logue penned "DBs" for the Atlantic Library Series, a short-lived line of erotica. Beckett published Watt and his famous Trilogy through the more literary Collections Merlin. After several police crackdowns, and to keep ahead of the authorities, Girodias shifted his imprints, replacing the Atlantic Library with the Traveller's Companion Series . Initially, TC was intended to produce erotica, beginning with ''The Enormous Bed'' by Henry Jones. However, legal difficulties forced Girodias to adopt a more literary aspect for the series, such that #6, ''Tender Was My Flesh'', by Denny Bryant, was followed by #7, '' The Ginger Man '', by James Patrick Donleavy . Other famous titles published in the Traveller's Companion Series were '' Lolita '' by Vladimir Nabokov , '' Naked Lunch '' by William S. Burroughs , a translation of '' Story Of O '' by Dominique Aury , and '' Candy '' by Mason Hoffenberg and Terry Southern . The TC edition of '' Lady Chatterly's Lover '' was the only authoritative version of the D.H. Lawrence classic to circulate widely in the years prior to 1964 and the lifting of Censorship laws in America . LEGAL TROUBLES: CRIMINAL Girodias consistently ran afoul of the authorities throughout his career. The Paris police, often egged on by British Customs authorities, would seize and destroy many copies of his books. The courts would fine him, and by 1963 he found himself having to leave Paris, first for Copenhagen , then for America, where Customs agents destroyed the Microfilm copies of numerous TC titles Girodias possessed. After a decade in America, Girodias published '' President Kissinger '', a deeply flawed work of Science Fiction by numerous authors offering a dream of Socialism starring Secretary Of State Henry Kissinger . For this, Girodias was set up by the authorities in a phony Drug Deal and invited to leave the country. LEGAL TROUBLES: CIVIL An indifferent businessman, Girodias tended not to pay his writers, document his publications, or keep to his contracts. He was involved in litigation concerning ''Lolita'', ''Candy'', ''The Ginger Man'', ''Stradella'' and ''O'', among other works. In the cases of ''Candy'' and ''O'', Girodias won, in the process setting a great deal of Copyright precedents. In the cases of ''Lolita'' and ''The Ginger Man'', Girodias lost rather badly. ''The Ginger Man'' Girodias and Donleavy sued each other back and forth for a period of 20 years following the publication of ''The Ginger Man''. This litigation continued, even after Girodias' Bankruptcy , when at auction Donleavy's wife bought the rights to the Olympia Press. Analysis of the original manuscript for ''The Ginger Man'' shows substantial editing was performed by someone at the Olympia Press; Donleavy always maintains otherwise. Donleavy won almost every case, though it was an expensive ordeal for both parties. ''Lolita'' A complicated arrangement accorded the Olympia Press roughly one-third of the royalties for ''Lolita'' after the novel's breakthrough success in America. However Girodias lost this share when he failed to pay Nabokov on time for the French royalties. LEGACY Largely forgotten today, and not achieving the reputation of men like Barney Rossett of Grove Press , despite the latter's replication of numerous Olympia titles, Girodias' contributions to literature deserve quite a bit more credit than he generally receives. Though dishonest in business matters, by most accounts a dull sort to be around and, throughout his life, a womanizer, as an artist, editor and publisher, he did as much to produce great literature as any man in the Twentieth Century . REFERENCES
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