Robert Brustein

Robert Brustein maintains in the following viewpoint that the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)—a federal program that funds artists and art projects—should not censor art which the majority deems pornographic. Basing artistic merit on the majority’s sense of decency, Brustein asserts, silences minority opinions. Brustein contends that original and imaginative works of art challenge and educate the electorate and make democracy possible. Robert Brustein is a staff writer for the New Republic, a weekly magazine.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Brustein, what book by James Joyce was banned from the United States because it violated “community standards”?
2. In Brustein’s opinion, why is the word “obscene” difficult to define?
3. Why must the government continue to support...