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The Artist's Novel
Lena / Lana, 1968-2009
Literary synopsis
This 2009 edition of this seminal pornographic novel – first published in 1968 under a series of different pennames including A.C. McWhortle, Allan Bronson, A.L. Bronson, and eventually AA Bronson – is designed for AA Bronson by Mike Gallagher and Gareth Long with a cover by Richard Prince. The narrative chronicles the sexual adventures of a 14-year-old black girl, relishing the graphic details of its decidedly politically incorrect subject matter. Originally penned by AA Bronson, A.S.A. Harrison, and a group of friends, the book was banned in Canada shortly after it was published for its radically subversive content.
Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice
Interviewer: The first Lena was published under the name A.L. Bronson. How did you come up with that name? Is that how you became AA?
Bronson: I didn't come up with the name. That's the name that was printed on the book when it appeared on the stands. I was never consulted. The book was seized by the police and burned soon afterward, and somehow everyone remembered it as AA Bronson, I think because of a joke about being first in the telephone book. - AA Bronson in reference to Lena
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