 The 1920 prosecution in the US was brought after "The Little Review" serialised a passage of the book dealing with characters masturbating.Three earlier chapters had been banned by the US Post Office, but it was John S. Sumner, Secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, who had instigated this legal action  The Post Office did partially suppress the "Nausicaä" edition of "The Little Review".Legal historian Edward de Grazia has argued that few readers would have been fully aware of the orgasmic experience in the text, given the metaphoric language.