In United States v. One Book Called Ulysses Judge John M. Woolsey ruled that James Joyce's novel Ulysses was not obscene, allowing it to be imported into the United States.
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses
United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, 5 F. Supp. 182, affirmed in United States v. One Book Entitled Ulysses by James Joyce , 72 F. 705 (1934) is a landmark decision of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in a case dealing with freedom of expression. At issue was whether James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses was obscene. In deciding it was not, District Court Judge John Munro Woolsey opened the door to importation and publication of serious works of literature that used coarse language or involved sexual subjects.
John M. Woolsey
John Munro Woolsey was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was known "for his brilliant and poignantly phrased decisions", including several important precedents in First Amendment jurisprudence.
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a modernist novel by the Irish writer James Joyce. Partially serialised in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, the entire work was published in Paris by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, Joyce's fortieth birthday. It is considered one of the most important works of modernist literature and a classic of the genre, having been called "a demonstration and summation of the entire movement".