(_a_) Jurgen’s staff (196-200, 203). The answer to this, like the
answer to the insinuations about the lance in chapter 22 (_vide supra_)
is that it was a staff, and nothing else (see p. 95).
(_b_) Harpocrates, “who held an astonishing object” (206-7). This is
attacked along with the reference to the People of the Fields, who
practise eudæmonism. Jurgen sees the People of the Fields, “who dwell
between the forest and the city of Pseudopolis” (204). These people
“did one and all what they had always done” (204) whereas, “whoever
heard of the People of the Wood doing anything useful?” So Jurgen,
after being informed that the People of the Field never take a holiday
(206) decides to see what the People of the Wood do about it (206).
He finds them practicing eudæmonism outdoors instead of indoors.
Eudæmonism: “The type of utilitarian ethical theory that makes the
pursuit, enjoyment and production of happiness the supreme end in moral
conduct.”--Funk & Wagnalls’ Dictionary. This was of course the creed of
Cocaigne--“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” The point
here is that satyrs do not go indoors, for the reason that for a satyr
to go indoors is unheard of. If it is indecent to mention a satyr,
then not only should Keats and Swinburne be destroyed, but Elizabeth
Barrett Browning should be reprimanded for writing that poem “A Musical
Instrument”, which is all about “The Great God Pan”, chief of Satyrs.
As to Harpocrates, we refer to Tooke’s “Pantheon of the Heathen
Gods”,--a most respectable authority. It is there said (p. 352): “The
Egyptians worshipped Harpocrates as the god of Silence * * * They
consecrated the tree persea to him; because the fruit was like a heart
* * * He was painted with a finger upon his lips, thereby commanding
silence.” It is, therefore, probably the persea fruit which Harpocrates
is carrying, and the astonishment of Jurgen at seeing the human heart
thus publicly displayed is equally nature and good allegory. The custom
that led to stiffness was of course Harpocrates’ custom of not speaking
to or answering the remarks of others.
(_c_) Jurgen’s sword (124-8, 148-150). Mention is made of Jurgen’s
sword. But, like the staff and the lance (_vide supra_) all that need
be said is that it really is a sword, Caliburn. The book tells just
where and how he got it (72, 76).
(_d_) The doorknocker on the entrance to Cocaigne (150). These were
simply the nude figures of Adam and Eve. Jurgen, being conventional,
and yet seeking sin, is embarrassed at the nude, and thinks it is
indecent; so he talks about it.
Pages 196-200, 203--Jurgen’s meeting, and marriage, with Chloris,
the Hamadryad. There is nothing in this does not bear comparison
with the “Endymion” of Keats, or the Chorus from Swinburne’s
“Atalanta in Calydon”. As to the marriage, see two books in common
publication:--Flaubert’s “Temptation of St. Anthony,” Modern Library,
p. 226: “These are the deities of marriage. They await the coming
of the bride. Domiduca should lead her in,--Virgo unfasten her
girdle,--Subigo place her in the bed,--and Praema open her arms, and
whisper sweet words into her ear.” Tooke’s “Pantheon of the Heathen
Gods, Adapted for the Use of Students of Every Age and of Either Sex,”
p. 281: “Jugatinus joined the man and the woman together in the yoke of
matrimony. Domiducus guided the bride into the bridegroom’s house * * *
Priapus, or Mutinus was also reckoned one of the nuptial gods, because
in his lap the bride was commanded to sit.”
Pages 271-2, 286--The marriage with the vampire goes no further than
passages in Sterne’s Sentimental Journey and the novels of Fielding.
The conversation of the vampire leaves things unsaid rather than said.
There is no reason for taking in a wrong sense the reference to the
sceptre.
Pages 236-9, 241-2. Jurgen’s conversation with the Queen of Philistia
is nothing but a take-off on the mediæval--occasionally modern--belief
in the magic of numbers. See Baring-Gould’s “Curious Myths of the
Middle Ages,” Appendix E, p. 651: “Pythagoras taught that each number
had its own peculiar character, virtue and properties. The unit, or
the monad, he says, is the principle and the end of all; it is this
sublime knot which binds together the chain of causes; it is the symbol
of identity, of existence, of conservation, and of general harmony * * *
The number +Two+, or the dyad, the origin of contrasts, is the symbol
of diversity, or inequality, of division, and of separation. +Two+ is
accordingly an evil principle, characterizing disorder and confusion
* * * +Three+, or the triad, is the number containing the most sublime
mysteries, for everything is composed of three substances * * * +Nine+,
or the ennead, being the multiple of +Three+, should be regarded as
sacred. Finally, +Ten+, or the decad, is the measure of all, since it
contains all the numeric relations and harmonies.” “Eight (p. 652) is
the number of the Beatitudes.”
Pages 340-3--contain nothing but a statement of the fact that Venus, as
a cult, has her followers and her temples,--nothing that poets of times
past have not told us again and again. The temples existed, and are
mentioned freely in all books of classical mythology.
We are almost at the end of Mr. Sumner’s particulars; but there are two
that deserve notice.
He finds obscenity on pages 228-9. There we find Jurgen standing at the
bed of the sleeping Helen, but leaving her untouched, because he wants
to retain his “unreasonable dreams”. If this is obscenity, then indeed
Keats wrote in lewdest mood the “Eve of St. Agnes”.
And Mr. Sumner finds obscenity on page 142. What do we find there? We
find Jurgen kneeling before a crucifix!
And there let us leave the case.
7--In conclusion.
No book, no matter by whom it is written, should be read without an
appreciation of the motive of its writing. It is the embarrassment of a
case such as this, that the very fact of an indictment, the notoriety
attending it, makes it difficult to sit down to the reading with the
frame of mind that is present when we take a book from a library
shelf. However one may attempt to resist it, there is always present a
certain feeling, if somebody has said that the book is indecent. That
suggestion can influence minds, even the most philosophical. In Lord
Haldane’s most recent book, “The Philosophy of Humanism” (p. 75), he
quotes from the memoirs of the great German philosopher, Hegel, as
illustrating how suggestion can lead to conceptions:--
“In my youth I remember hearing a city magistrate complain
that book writers were going too far, and trying to rout out
Christianity altogether. Some one, it appeared, had written a
defense of suicide. It was horrible, too horrible! On further
inquiry it turned out that the book in question was ‘The Sorrows
of Werther’.”
The last resort against this influence of suggestion is now made. The
book is submitted to this court for judicial scrutiny, guided by the
tests of the law.
Dated October 16, 1922.
Respectfully submitted,
+Goodbody, Danforth & Glenn+,
Attorneys for Defendants,
27 Cedar Street,
+New York City.+
+Garrard Glenn+
(42 Broadway),
+William U. Goodbody+,
+William L. Glenn+,
of Counsel.
DECISION OF JUDGE CHARLES C. NOTT
IN PEOPLE VS. HOLT, McBRIDE
& CO., ET AL
+People+
+vs.+
+Holt, McBride & Co. et al.+
The defendants herein, at the close of the People’s case, have moved
for a direction of acquittal and the dismissal of the indictment on the
ground that the book “Jurgen” on the possession of which the indictment
is based, is not an “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent or
disgusting book” within the meaning and intent of section 1141 of the
Penal Law, for the alleged violation of which the indictment has been
found.
I have read and examined the book carefully. It is by Mr. James Branch
Cabell, an author of repute and distinction. From the literary point
of view its style may fairly be called brilliant. It is based on the
mediæval legends of Jurgen and is a highly imaginative and fantastic
tale, depicting the adventures of one who has been restored to his
first youth but who, being attended by a shadow in the guise of the
shadow of his old self, retains the experience and cynicism of age
which frustrates a perfect fulfillment of his desire for renewed youth.
The adventures consist in wanderings through mediæval and mythological
countries and a sojourn in Hell and Heaven. He encounters beings of
mediæval folk-lore and from classical Mythology. The most that can
be said against the book is that certain passages therein may be
considered suggestive in a veiled and subtle way of immorality, but
such suggestions are delicately conveyed and the whole atmosphere of
the story is of such an unreal and supernatural nature that even these
suggestions are free from the evils accompanying suggestiveness in more
realistic works. In fact, it is doubtful if the book could be read or
understood at all by more than a very limited number of readers.
In my opinion the book is one of unusual literary merit and contains
nothing “obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, indecent or disgusting”
within the meaning of the statute and the decisions of the courts of
this state in similar cases. (See Halsey v. New York Society, 234 N. Y.
1; People v. Brainard, 192 App. Div. 116; St. Hubert Guild v. Quinn, 64
Misc. 336.)
The motion, therefore, is granted and the jury is advised to acquit the
defendants.
STATUTES RELATING TO THE PUBLICATION,
SALE, ETC., OF OBSCENE
LITERATURE