As a result of this decision, Joyce was unable to secure an American publisher for his book, although a pirated version did appear in New York in 1929. In February 1921, the New York Court of Special Session ruled that Joyce’s work was obscene and fined the editors of The Little Review fifty dollars each. In 1920, after the publication of the “Nausicaa” episode, which includes a description of Bloom masturbating, the secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice filed a complaint, and the post office halted mailing of The Little Review pending a court decision. New York court ruled Ulysses was obscene, fined magazine for publication The novel, which describes a day in the life of Leopold Bloom, was published in book form in Paris in 1922 by Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company. court while it was being published serially in the American literary magazine The Little Review from 1918 until 1920. James Joyce’s Ulysses, one of the most important novels of the twentieth century, was declared obscene by a U.S. (AP Photo, used with permission from the Associated Press)

Circuit Court of Appeals in a precursor to later obscenity-speech cases. The decision was upheld by the Second U.S. This challenge resulted in a district court judge addressing the issue of freedom of expression and concluding the book was not obscene. A few years later, Random House Publishers wanted to publish the book in the United States and arranged a challenge. magazine that was publishing segments of Ulysses was fined in 1921 by a New York court that found the book obscene after a chapter was published describing the main character masturbating.

Irish novelist James Joyce, author of 'Ulysses,' is shown in this 1931 photograph.