once, a sailor in the merchant marine, not ivory-marchant, was reading the olympia press edition of vladimir nabakov's "lolita" when a fellow sailor grabbed the book out of his hands, saying, "here, let me take a look at that". olympia was known for its x-rated publications. the second sailor looked through the book for a few seconds; there were no pictures; and then threw it back at the first sailor, exclaiming, "to heck with that, man;
that's literature".
this story courtesey of thomas parkinson, professor of english, u.c. berkeley.
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