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COMMUNITY
STANDARDS
From the
chapter "The Gentlest Decade"
COMMUNITY
STANDARDS
Reading
material was rigidly controlled by our parents and school
officials. Two
books of that time that caused a lot of trouble were
Peyton Place
and Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Somebody in our high school got hold of a bootleg
copy of
Peyton Place
and became
an instant celebrity, much in demand at lunch, study hall,
and after school.
Peyton Place
was passed
around with more subterfuge and intrigue than someone trying
to pass the blueprints of a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine to a
Russian spy. The
book went from student to student, with the corners of the
“good pages” turned down so you could get right to the
nitty-gritty without having to waste time reading the rest
of the book.
The
other dirty book was not nearly as popular, although it was
more high-brow and graphic than
Peyton Place
.
I believe its lack of popularity was due to the fact
that it was like trying to read a dirty book written by
William Shakespeare. Lady
Chatterley’s Lover was filled with sexual innuendos,
but if you don’t know much about sex, an innuendo was
pretty useless.
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