I must read at least 12 erotic fiction books in 2012. This is work not play, and yet the list is kind of tricky:
The Story of O by Pauline Rega
The Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
100 Days of Sodom by de Sade (although I might do Justine instead)
The memoir of Josephine Metzenbacher by Felix Salten (who wrote Bambi. I love this. I was obsessed by his books when I was a kid)
Ada or Ardor by Nabokov
The Story of the Eye by Bataille (which is my favourite erotic text)
Fanny Hill by John Cleland,
Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch,
Sadopaidea by Anonymous
Helene and Desire by Alexander Trocchi
The Tropic of Cancer (or Capricorn) Henry Miller
The Golden Lotus by Jin Ping Mei (suggested to me by the wonderful Eliot Weinberger)
I keep thinking I may have missed something, some key text I should be looking at. I am also not too excited about a couple of them, Henry Miller I have tried before and he feels like a dirge. I feel like there should be more surrealists texts in this list so if anyone knows of another surrealist erotic novel let me know. It is also very boysy but I suppose Paulina Regae and Anais Nin are strong enough to counter that. Anyway as I plunge into the fray y'all must be my guide. Happy 2012.
5 comments:
Colette, the Collected Short Stories is great. Not erotica but erotic. And what about Catherine Millet?
Emmanuelle by Emmanuelle Arsan (for some retro-'70s erotica). I read that almost as a companion piece to Story of O.
The [execrable] 'Wife' book by Nikki G.
Does it have to be fiction? The Hite Report features real fantasies...
What about Fanny by Erica Jong? Funny and erotic and very meta textual.
Jong has also just edited a collection of stories called Sugar in My Bowl - probably worth a look.
There's also Fallon's Working Hot - Aust writer. Seems to me you could try a bit harder for erotic writing by women!
Thanks CJM and thanks everyone for your suggestions. I am trying to avoid more modern examples and trying to stick to classics. I will check out Emmanuelle. Does anyone know any weird arse classic german erotica? Preferably with machines?
PS about the women thing: It is a little difficult when I am doing older classics. I have Nin and Story of O and I may sneak Angela Carter in there although she is way too modern. Would love some women writers but many of the older classics are male. I will still keep hunting around. I have only just started in on Asia and am sure to uncover some female Japanese or Chinese writers. I have the Pillow book but it isn't really erotic literature.
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