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A brief guide to erotic fiction

By Charlotte Philby

Friday, 12 June 2009

<b>Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson</b><br/> Winterson refutes that her first novel is a wholly autobiographical account, but there are undeniable parallels with her own life story: Oranges tells of a girl named Jeanette who – raised by northern, working-class Evangelist parents – is on her way to becoming a Pentecostal Christian missionary. At the age of sixteen, however, she falls passionately in love with another young woman, and everything changes. Direct and uninhibited, this novel- first published in 1985- is an exploration of a deep emotional and physical connection between two women, and helped secure Winterson as one of Britain’s most celebrated living writers.
 

From the tender to the grotesque, throughout history, erotic literature has offered us a private space in which to celebrate and contemplate the intricate workings of human sexuality. Here, we explore some of the key works of this genre.

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What a very odd list
[info]jonsummys wrote:
Friday, 12 June 2009 at 03:48 pm (UTC)
Charlotte, we're spending the summer in a cramped hotel in Tunis together and you're leaving your masochism fiction behind. (And I'm leaving my cricket bat and riding crop)
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Re: What a very odd list
[info]jleach wrote:
Friday, 12 June 2009 at 08:05 pm (UTC)
I'd reconsider, if I were you mate. Have you read Wetlands? Can you get your money back?
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Re: What a very odd list
[info]jonsummys wrote:
Saturday, 13 June 2009 at 12:26 pm (UTC)
No, not Wetlands but then again Written on the Body was a favorite of some years ago. However, you'd have to agree that there is a strong element of obsessive fetishising of love and sex in Winterson's writing as well, and WOTB was certainly an exercise in emotional masochism. I'll take a look next time I'm out, but I'm finding a lot of writing about the female experience of romance rather dull lately, so a bisexual romance is likely to be doubly unsatisfying.
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(no subject) - [info] - Friday, 12 June 2009 at 10:52 pm (UTC)
[info]jonsummys wrote:
Saturday, 13 June 2009 at 12:32 pm (UTC)
Well then. Had I known it were that simple, I'd have already made the offer long ago!
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Response to 'A Brief Guide to Erotic Fiction'
[info]jensden52 wrote:
Monday, 15 June 2009 at 01:50 pm (UTC)
Yes a very odd list indeed and no author's name, no wonder!

'O' the most erotic book ever we are told 'deals with' - ugh! O from the first time she is told to take off her gloves sitting in the car; begonning her training and entering a aparralel universe, to her pride in sexual satisfaction and the final party wearing a cockscomb on her head - is an adventure of the mind, that defies any woman reader not to climax reading it, from Chapter one onwards!

As erotic now as when first written, the whips, blindfolds and other toys are the least of it - the change in mind for subject and reader are all!

And the first chapter alone is the most erotic fantasy for any woman - a real turn on, mind and body mmmm.............and who on earth put it down the list? O is a fabulous journey into a new world where mind games, control and release should be required reading for any woman who has ever 'laid back and thought of England'......leaving images remaining for life!
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(no subject) - [info] - Monday, 15 June 2009 at 09:27 pm (UTC)
Re: Response to &#39;A Brief Guide to Erotic Fiction&#39;
[info]jensden52 wrote:
Tuesday, 16 June 2009 at 01:15 am (UTC)
I see that your name is more important to you than just what you wrote? Why am I not surprised!

From here i can see your name but from there one couldn't Ok 'A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.'
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