Smut: Barnet Lee "Barney" Rosset, Jr. (May 28, 1922 – February 21, 2012)

IFQ Magazine recently caught up with legendary book publisher Barney Rosset to discuss his storied career and ventures into film and political opinions ; the occasion was marked by the DVD release of Obscene, a documentary on Rosset by filmmakers Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O’Connor, made available courtesy of Virgil Films and Entertainment alongside Arthouse Films. With both Grove Press and his literary magazine The Evergreen Review, Rosset introduced American society to a who’s who of iconic writers including Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Jean Genet, David Mamet, Tom Stoppard, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, among many, many more. His progressive politics and belief in freedom of speech led him to champion such banned books as Tropic of Cancer, Lady Chatterly’s Lover, and Naked Lunch, all of which were subjected to obscenity trials that Rosset subsequently won, thus opening up free speech to a then-unparalleled degree. Below are some brief words from our conversation.
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