Faksimile

Text

11. Reigen
box 19/1
ran for several wecks. There was no interference
in either instance by the authorities.
At the present time a production is being organ¬
ized in Paris by the eminent French actress
Madame Falconetti. During this very weck, in a
course on contemporary German literature at
Columbia University in New York City,“ Reigen“
is being studied and discussed as a modern liter¬
ary classic by students of both sexes.
The entire history of“ Reigen“, as a book and as
a play, indicates its acceptance by the civilized
world.
Inthe Light of All Recent Cases in This
State,Reigen Is Not Obscene.
The judiciary of New York State have always
guarded as precious the right of free press. The
Court’s attention is respectfully directed to the sig¬
nificant fact that in recent years there has not been
d single instance where a book, modern or classic,
which was first generally accepted by the press,
literary critics, the reading public and the commu¬
nity at large, and which was openly dealth with the
publishers and the book-trade, was ultimately con¬
demned by the courts, even though criminal prose¬
cution was instigated or abetted by the New York
Society for the Suppression of Vice, the original
complainant in the instant case. This statement is
fully borne out bythe following books and cases:
MADENOISELLE DE MAUriN, by Theophile
Gantier, a beok which is partly homosexual in
theme and in which the author champions for¬
nication and adultery, condemns virtue, glori¬
fies vice and counsels the seduction of every
woman (Halsey v. New York Society, 234
N. F. 1).
MADELEINE, the diary of a prostitute, describ¬
ing in detail abortions, pimps, venereal dis¬