Legendary publisher and WoWasis friend Barney Rosset died this week at the age of 89. Although primarily known as the publisher of Grove Press and the Evergreen Review, he is particularly memorable in Thailand for publishing Patpong Sisters, the late Cleo Odzer’s role-switching romp through the nightlife of Bangkok. We interviewed him back in 2004 on the subject of Odzer, and he divulged that he prompted her to add her personal memoirs to her PhD dissertation, a voila, an amazing book emerged. He sent us a copy of Odzer’s Goa Freaks, an out-of-print book that he somehow dug out of his own library. Barney was creative, brought vibrant new material to publishing, and was a champion of First Amendments rights. He lived an amazing life, and we’ve included a couple of links at the bottom of this post if you’d like to read about him. Barney was one of these people who made a difference, and we’re celebrating his life this week. So long, Barney, and thanks for being you.
Bangkok writer Dean Barrett wrote about Barney this week:
The death of Barney Rosset is not unexpected exactly; he was 90 and was living mainly on gin when I knew him in Manhattan over ten years ago. He was a man who changed the literary landscape of America forever. When no one would touch Samuel Beckett, Henry Miller, the Beatniks, and, yes, what was considered pornographic in the 50’s he published them and went to court to fight for the right to publish them.
Besides starting Grove Press, the most innovative and daring press in the 60’s and on, he started Evergreen Review magazine and Blue Moon Books, which was the largest publisher of erotic novels in the world. He also read [my book] Mistress of the East, loved it, and said it was notches above his Blue Moon line but he would give me back the publishing rights in three years if I would let him have it. He kept his word and I have republished it for Kindle, etc., as A Love Story: The China Memoirs of Thomas Rowley.
Barney loved Asia and especially Asian women and especially Korean and Thai women. He told me a story once about how he walked into Billy’s Topless bar in Manhattan, spotted a beautiful dancer, and he talked with her. She turned out to be Thai but she was leaving for Thailand the next day. He wasn’t a young man at the time but asked if he could go with her. She was surprised but shrugged and said yes. He did. He later lost track of her and wanted to find her again but he was in Manhattan. So he asked Christopher Moore if he could help him, and Chris did his detective thing and located her for him.
The last time I saw him was in Thailand, Sukhumvit soi 11. He was going to Chiengmai to put on part of a Beckett piece at Chiangmai University that even American directors found too difficult to stage. I had a feeling it was Barney’s excuse to get back to Thailand one last time.
Truth is, they don’t make them like him anymore.
More on Barney Rosset:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/24/books/barney-rosset-loved-breaking-publishings-rules.html?_r=1&hpw
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