The Resume

(April 12, 1919-July 3, 1990)
Born in Paris, France
Birth name was Maurice Kahane
Son of publisher Jack Kahane
Inherited Obelisk Press from his father (1939)
Founded Olympia Press (1953)
Was the first to publish Vladimir Nabokov's 'Lolita,' William S. Burroughs' 'Naked Lunch,' Samuel Beckett's trilogy of 'Molloy,' 'Malone Dies' and 'The Unnamable,' Henry Miller's trilogy of 'Sexus,' 'Nexus,' and 'Plexus,' J.P. Dunleavy's 'The Ginger Man,' and Pauline Rege's 'The Story of O'

Why he might be annoying:

In addition to publishing literary classics with sexual content, he published plenty of straight-up pornography, ranging from public domain classics (Cleland's 'Fanny Hill,' the works of the Marquis de Sade, etc.) to new works in which he would dream up a salacious title, then hire a literary hack to write a book to go with it.
He ticked off many of his more serious authors by advertising Olympic's pornographic titles on the back covers of their books.
He tried to avoid paying royalties to the authors whose books he published, resulting in endless litigation.
Nabokov complained that the Olympic Press edition of 'Lolita' was 'swimming with typographical errors.'
He used his profits from publishing to open a nightclub that soon went broke.
While living in the US, he was busted for tax evasion (1974).

Why he might not be annoying:

He adopted his mother's maiden name to hide his half-Jewish background when the Nazis occupied Paris.
He was the original target of Valerie Solanas: when she arrived at his New York office and found out he was on vacation in Canada, she decided to shoot Andy Warhol instead.
He published Robert Kaufman's 'Inside Scientology' (1972), one of the first critical looks at the religion.
He fought constantly against censorship.
He was frequently harassed by the French vice squad.
He said, 'Freedom must be total. To restrict it to literary or artistic expression is not enough. It must govern our lives, our attitudes, our mental outlooks.'

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• Born Half-Jewish
• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 82]
• Catholics who are Partially Jewish
• I am a Citizen of France
• I Died in 1990 (Ranked: 71)
• I Died in the City I Was Born In
• Look at Me, I'm Thirsty
• Look at My Ass
• Profiles 51501-51750 (Ranked: 51686)
• Tax Evaders

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying