[<<] September 2005 Jahsonic (08) [>>]
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"Method of this work:
literary montage.
I have nothing to say only to show." (Passagenwerk (1927 - 1940) - Walter Benjamin)
2005, Sep 26; 07:53 ::: Jahsonic Yahoo! pick of the day
NOUN: 1a. Web site montage of articles, pictures, reviews of books and films, and more. 1b. Alias of webmaster Jan Geerinck 2. A map of modern culture.
It's difficult to define a site like Jahsonic. If anything, it's a testament to the value of serendipity. Sure, we all expect the Search box to give us exactly what we want, but sometimes the real rewards of knowledge-seeking come from unexpected discoveries. Jahsonic documents one individual's obsessions with high and low culture, running the gamut from Candido to Aristotle, Goya to Frankenstein, Detroit techno to French pomo. What starts as a mild fascination may soon become a lifestyle. Explore Jahsonic and find your own definition. --http://picks.yahoo.com/picks/i/20050926.html
Jahsonic: A testament to the value of serendipity
Serendipity is finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely. For instance, the discovery of the antibacterial properties of penicillin by Alexander Fleming is said to have been serendipitous, because he was merely cleaning up his laboratory when he discovered that the Penicillium mould had contaminated one of his old experiments. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity [Sept 2005]Another nice comment today (due to being Yahoo!'s pick, I'm sure)
Un sitio excelente de Cultura-General-Visual
GUAUH!! que sitio, he estado navegándolo por horas, es increible la cantidad de información visual que podemos sacar de allí.
Se habla de Alta y baja cultura, Marqués de Sade, Frankenstein, Luis Buñuel, ilustración erótica, etc. etc.
Un lugar que debe ser recomendado en las escuelas de Diseño, sobre todo por mostrar una mezcla entre educación formal e informal. --http://www.vecindadgrafica.com/blogVecindad/archives/000655.html [Sept 2005]
See also: unexpected - comments
2005, Sep 25; 21:08 ::: The Erotic Museum in Berlin (2000) - Hans Jurgen Dopp
The Erotic Museum in Berlin (2000) - Hans Jurgen Dopp [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
About the Author
Hans Jurgen Dopp has taught at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt for a considerable number of years, giving courses on psychoanalytical interpretation and on the cultural history of erotic art. And for some thrity years or more he has in addition been a collector if objects of erotic art himself. That collection has now attained its own considerable celebrity thanks to his publications and his exhibitions.Book Description
When we think of Berlin in the roaring twenties, many images stream forth, but the most endearing is the of the Alexanderplatz, the heart of nighttime Berlin and the capital of amusement in Europe. With such sensuous history, the Erotic Museum has an appropriate home inBerlin. The collection is vast, recording erotic life from classical antiquity to the body-cult in the late 20th century. This collection of eroticism spans 2,000 years of the history of mankind. In this book, Professor Hans Jurgen Dopp brings together over 400 photogrpahs, objects, prints and paintings of each phase of human life, illustrating how erotic preferences changed throughout the centuries. The Erotic Museum treats eroticism with taste and delicacy thanks to its author, who has written extensively on the art world. --via Amazon.comSee also: erotic art - Berlin - erotic museum
2005, Sep 25; 21:08 ::: Romantique: Erotic Art of the Early 19th Century (1997) - Hans-Jurgen Dopp
Romantique: Erotic Art of the Early 19th Century (1997) - Hans-Jurgen Dopp [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
See also: Hans Jürgen Döpp - erotic art - 1800s - Romanticism
2005, Sep 25; 20:42 ::: Erotic Fantasies: A Study of the Sexual Imagination (1969) - Phyllis Kronhausen, Eberhard Kronhausen
Erotic Fantasies: A Study of the Sexual Imagination (1969) - Phyllis Kronhausen, Eberhard Kronhausen [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Gathers erotic folklore and writings about homosexuality, transsexualism, bondage, sadomasochism, incest, and fetishism, and discusses the psychological aspects of sexual fantasies. --via Amazon.com
See also: erotic fantasy - Kronhausen - imagination
Aristophanes Lysistrata - Lucian The Mimes of Courtesans - Longus Daphnis & Chloe - Apuleius The Golden Ass - Giovanni Boccaccio The Decameron - Pietro Aretino Sonetti Lussuriosi - Nicolas Chorier Aloysia Sigea - Crebillon Tableaux des Mœurs - Crebillon La Nuit et le Moment - Fèlix Nogaret L'Arétin François - Argens Thérese philosophe - Anonimo Vénus en rut - Gervaise de Latouche Histoire de Dom Bougre - Anonimo Mémoires de Suzon - Mirabeau Le Libertin de qualité - Anonimo Histoire Sainte - Restif De La Bretonne L'Anti-Justine - Andrea de de Nerciat Le Diable au corps - John Cleland Fanny Hill - Madame Riccoboni Histoire de Miss Jenny - John Cleland Memoirs of a Coxcomb - Anonimo The Lustful Turk - Andrea de de Nerciat Félicia ou Mes Fredaines - Andréa de Nerciat Felicia - Andrea de Nerciat Monrose - Dominique Vivant Denon Point de Lendemain - Alfred de Musset Gamiani - John Birch Ophelia Cox --http://www.sademarchese.org/classica/index.html [Sept 2005]
2005, Sep 25; 10:33 ::: Erotic fiction classicsSee also: erotic fiction - classic
2005, Sep 25; 10:03 ::: Excerpt from Thérèse PhilosopheThe venerable Father Dirrag opened his fly. A throbbing arrow shot out of his trousers which looked exactly like that fateful snake which my former father confessor had warned me about so vehemently.
The monster was as long and as thick and as heavy as the one about which the Capuchine monk had made all those dire predictions. I shivered with delightful horror. The red head of this snake seemed to threaten Eradice's behind which had taken on a deep pink coloration because of the slaps it had received during the Bible recitation. The face of Father Dirrag perspired and was flushed a deep red.
'And now,' he said, 'you must separate your soul from the senses. And if my dear daughter has not disappointed my pious hopes, she shall neither feel, nor hear, nor see anything.'
Then with his bare hand he released a torrent of slaps on Eradice's naked buttocks. However, she did not say a word. I noticed only an occasional twitching of her bum, a sort of spasming and relaxing at the rhythm of the priest's blows.
'I am very satisfied with you,' he told her after he had punished her for about five minutes in this manner. 'The time has come when you are going to reap the fruits of your holy labours. Don't question me, my dear daughter, but be guided by God's will which is working through me. Throw yourself, face down, upon the floor; I will now expel the last traces of impurity with a sacred relic. It is part of the venerable rope which girded the waist of the holy Saint Francis himself.'
The good priest put Eradice in a position which was extremely fitting for what he had in mind. I had never seen my girl friend in such a beautiful position. Her buttocks were half-opened and the double path to satisfaction was wide-open.
After the old lecher had admired her for a while, he moistened his so-called rope of Saint Francis with spittle, murmured some of the priestly mumbo-jumbo which these gentlemen generally use to exorcise the devil, and proceeded to shove the rope into my friend.
I could watch the entire operation from my little hideout. The windows of the room were opposite the door of the alcove behind which Eradice had hidden me. She was kneeling on the floor, her arms were crossed over the footstool and her head rested upon her folded arms. Her skirts, which had been carefully folded up to her shoulders, revealed her marvellous buttocks and the beautiful curve of her back. This exciting view did not escape the attention of the venerable Father Dirrag. His gaze feasted upon the view for quite some time. He had clamped the legs of his penitent between his own legs, and his hands held the monstrous rope.
He lingered for some time in this devotional position and inspected the altar with glowing eyes. He seemed to be undecided how to effect his sacrifice, since there were two inviting openings. His eyes devoured both and it seemed as if he were unable to make up his mind. The top one was a well known delight for a priest, but, after all, he had also promised a taste of Heaven to his penitent. What was he to do? Several times he knocked with the tip of his tool at the gate he desired most, but finally, I must do him justice, I saw his monstrous prick disappear the natural way, after his priestly fingers had carefully parted the rosy lips of Eradice's lovepit.
The labour started with about three forceful shoves which made him enter about halfway. And suddenly the seeming calmness of the priest changed into some sort of fury. My God, what a change! Mouth half-open, lips foam-flecked, teeth gnashing and snorting like a bull about to attack a cud-chewing cow. However, he measured his shoving very carefully, seeing to it that he never left her lovepit and also that his belly neverr touched her arse. He did not want his penitent to find out to whom the holy relic of Saint Francis was connected! What an incredible presence of mind!
I could see that about an inch of the holy tool constantly remained on the outside and never took part in the festivities. I could see that with every backward movement of the priest the red lips of Eradice's love-nest opened and I remember clearly that the vivid pink colour was a most charming sight. However, whenever the good priest shoved forward, the lips closed and I could see only the finely curled hairs which covered them. They clamped around the priestly tool so firmly that it seemed as if they had devoured the holy arrow. It looked for all the world like both of them were connected to Saint Francis' relic and it was hard to guess which one of the two persons was the true possessor of this holy tool.
What a sight, especially for a young girl who knew nothing about these secrets. The most amazing thoughts ran through my head, but they all were rather vague and I could not find proper words for them. I only remember that I wanted to throw myself at the feet of this famous father confessor and beg him to exorcise me the same way he was blessing my dear friend. Was this piety? Or carnal desire? Even today I could not tell you for sure.
But let us go back to our devout couple! The movements of the priest quickened; he was barely able to keep his balance. His body formed an 'S' from head to toe whose frontal bulge moved rapidly back and forth in a horizontal line.
'Is your spirit receiving any satisfaction, my dear little saint?' he asked with a deep sigh. 'I, myself, can see Heaven open up. God's infinite mercy is about to remove me from this vale of tears, I . . .'
'Oh, venerable Father,' exclaimed Eradice, 'I cannot describe the delights that are flowing through me! Oh, yes, yes, I experience Heavenly bliss. I can feel how my spirit is being liberated from all earthly desires. Please, please, dearest Father, exorcise every last impurity remaining upon my tainted soul. I can see . . .the angels of God . . . push stronger . . . ooh . . . shove the holy relic deeper . . .deeper. Please, dearest Father, shove it as hard as you can . . . Ooooh! . . . oooh!!! Dearest holy Saint Francis . . . Ooh, good saint . . . please, don't leave me in the hour of my greatest need . . . I feel your relic . . . it is so good . . . your . . . holy . . . relic . . . I can't hold it any longer . . . I am . . . dying!'
The priest also felt his climax approach. He shoved, slammed, snorted and groaned. And then he stopped and pulled out. I saw the proud snake. It had become very meek and small. It crawled out of its hole, foam-covered, with hanging head.
What else shall I tell you? Dirrag left, Eradice opened the door to the alcove and embraced me, crying out, 'Oh, my dearest Therese. Partake of my joy and delight. Yes, yes, today I have seen paradise. I have shared the delights of the angels. The incredible joy, my dearest friend, the incomparable price for but one moment of pain! Thanks to the holy rope of Saint Francis my soul almost left its earthly vessel. You have seen how my good father confessor introduced the relic into me. I swear that I could feel it touch my heart. Just a little deeper and I would have joined the saints in paradise!' --http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:omGo2kGG1KYJ:www.blproductions.com/wa/e-book2.htm+%22therese+philosophe%22+excerpt&hl=en [Sept 2005]
See also: erotic fiction - 1700s - Thérèse Philosophe
2005, Sep 25; 10:03 ::: Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750 (2002) - Jonathan I. Israel
Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750 (2002) - Jonathan I. Israel [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the complete demolition of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief by the new philosophy and the philosophes, including Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. The Radical Enlightenment played a part in this revolutionary process, which effectively overthrew all justification for monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical power, as well as man's dominance over woman, theological dominance of education, and slavery. Despite the present day interest in the revolutions of the eighteenth century, the origins and rise of the Radical Enlightenment have received limited scholarly attention. The greatest obstacle to the movement finding its proper place in modern historical writing is its international scope: the Radical Enlightenment was not French, British, German, Italian, Jewish or Dutch, but all of these at the same time. In this wide-ranging volume, Jonathan Israel offers a novel interpretation of the Radical Enlightenment down to La Mettie and Diderot, two of its key exponents. Particular emphasis is placed on the pivotal role of Spinoza and the widespread underground international philosophical movement known before 1750 as Spinozism.See also: enlightenment - 1700s - Spinoza - radical
2005, Sep 25; 09:28 ::: Traité des trois imposteurs (1719) - Anonymous
Image sourced here.Author unknown. The Traité des trois imposteurs is one of the most famous French clandestine manuscripts. First edited in 1719 under the title L'Esprit de Spinosa. This is a late edition (1768).
However important it may be for all men to know the Truth, very few, nevertheless, are acquainted with it, because the majority are incapable of searching it themselves, or perhaps, do not wish the trouble. Thus we must not be astonished if the world is filled with vain and ridiculous opinions, and nothing is more capable of making them current than ignorance, which is the sole source of the false ideas that exist regarding the Divinity, the soul, and the spirit, and all the errors depending thereon.
The custom of being satisfied with born prejudice has prevailed, and by following this custom, mankind agrees in all things with persons interested in supporting stubbornly the opinions thus received, and who would speak otherwise did they not fear to destroy themselves. --http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/unknown/three_impostors.html [Sept 2005]
French clandestine manuscripts are one of the most interesting phenomena of early Enlightenment. A great number of texts have been discovered and studied since Gustave Lanson's (1912) and Ira O. Wade's (1938) pioneer studies. The most famous and widely spread manuscripts are the Traité des trois imposteurs, the Mémoire by Jean Meslier, Du Marsais' Examen de la religion and Fréret's Lettre de Thrasybule à Leucippe. The philosophical inspiration of these treatises is not always the same. They only share an anti-christian attitude, leading sometimes either to a deist (Examen de la religion) or to an atheist position (Meslier's Mémoire, Fréret's Lettre de Thrasybule à Leucippe). Some critical editions of these texts are already available, and a collection entirely devoted to clandestine philosophical texts is directed by Antony McKenna at the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford. We offer here a limited but representative selection of texts, hoping to increase for the future the extent and quality of our electronic corpus. --http://www.vc.unipmn.it/~mori/e-texts/ [Sept 2005]
See also: clandestine - 1700s - Spinoza - materialism
2005, Sep 25; 09:16 ::: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - Robert Aldrich
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) - Robert Aldrich [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Amazon.com essential video
A cultish horror favorite, 1962's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? will make you think twice before hungrily unveiling a covered plate of food. Bette Davis stars as Jane Hudson, a onetime child actress and singer. As an elderly woman, she wishes to revive her vaudevillian career, but she has become a grotesque caricature of her former self. Over the years as her star faded, the star of her older sister Blanche (Joan Crawford) rose, outshining the career of the has-been Baby Jane. Jane was relegated to minor roles, which she only won when Blanche demanded that she be awarded them. The film opens years after a calamitous car accident leaves Blanche in a wheelchair, with no one to care for her except the increasingly insane and sadistic Jane and their servant, Norman. Trying to punish Blanche for her years of success, Jane tortures the housebound woman, slowly trying to starve her to death, all the while attempting to recapture the fame of her youth. This dark drama also stars Victor Buono as the hefty pianist who answers Jane's ad for an accompanist, hoping to milk some money off the demented old woman. Both Buono and Davis were nominated for Oscars for their roles in this suspenseful and somewhat sick thriller that exploited well the real-life antagonism between Davis and Crawford, while at the same time rejuvenated both their careers. --Jenny BrownWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 psychological/horror film starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford
This cult classic was directed by Robert Aldrich. It was adapted for the screen by Lukas Heller, based on the novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Henry Farrell.
It began a trend of movies featuring older women in peril or on the brink of insanity, a genre colloquially referred to as psycho-biddy.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Ever_Happened_to_Baby_Jane%3F_(1962_movie)
Psycho-biddy
Psycho-biddy is a colloquial term for a sub-genre of the horror/thriller film also known by the name Older women in peril which was most prevalent from the early sixties through the mid-seventies.The genre began in 1962 with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
Definition, themes, and influences
Psycho-biddy thrillers are a bricolage of many genre elements and themes: gothic, Grand Guignol, black comedy, psycho-drama, melodrama, revenge, camp, and even the musical. But neither of these, nor their combination, mark a particular film as belonging to this peculiar sub-genre.A psycho-biddy film, by its very nomenclature, must possess a psycho-biddy: a dangerous or mentally insane woman of advanced years. Often times (but not always), there are two older women pitted against one another in a life-or-death struggle, usually the result of bitter hatreds, jealousies, or rivalries that have perculated over the course of not years, but decades. These combatants are often blood-relatives, and live a life of relative wealth.
The psychotic character is often brought to life in an over-the-top, grotesque fashion, emphasizing the unglamorous process of aging and eventual death. Characters are often seen pining for lost youth and glory, trapped by their idealized memories of their childhoods, and the traumas that haunt their past.
The Genre's influence
Though the genre is more-or-less dead, the influence of the psycho-biddy flick can be felt in many films. One example would be Requiem for a dream, the Darren Aronofsky film. A highly-technical anti-drug film, the most memorable and effecting performance is perhaps that of Ellen Burstyn, which owes quite a bit to psycho-biddy tradition. Aging unglamorously, pining for youth and the ability to fit in "the red dress", reality warping around her: the only thing that's really missing is the cruelty, back-stabbing, hidden secrets, and the trappings of wealth. Online film critic Harry Knowles in fact, trumpeted Burstyn's performance as being like Davis's in Baby Jane: one by which all other performances will be judged. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-biddy [Sept 2005]See also: 1962 - horror film - American cinema
2005, Sep 25; 08:16 ::: The Thrill of Fear: 250 Years of Scary Entertainment (1991) - Walter M. Kendrick
The Thrill of Fear: 250 Years of Scary Entertainment (1991) - Walter M. Kendrick [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
From Kirkus Reviews
In The Secret Museum (1987), Kendrick traced the rise and influence of literary pornography. Here, in an equally freewheeling study, the Fordham English professor excavates another cultural back-alley--that of horror literature and film. Kendrick's basic thesis is two-fold: that horror arises from ``the fear of being dead,'' and that, since this fear is endemic to the modern (i.e., post-1750) condition, horror entertainments tend to recycle the same themes and styles. Drawing on impressively deep research, he develops both ideas admirably (although failing to deal adequately with the theory, propounded by Stephen King in Danse Macabre and by others, that the modern horror glut has arisen in response not only to death but to the terrors of contemporary life: nuclear war, urban violence, etc.). Kendrick finds horror to be a primarily emotional medium, with its roots in the 18th-century ``invention'' of intentional emotionality: ``modern fright is a kind of connoisseurship, a deliberate indulgence that recognizes no aim beyond itself.'' By century's end, he shows, with the appearance of Graveyard poetry and the novels The Castle of Otranto and The Monk, horror's course had been set, with the obsession with the past and sepulchral settings, even the tendency to graphically depicted terrors, all in place. During the next two centuries, these traits underwent many transformations, which Kendrick details thoroughly and colorfully--his discussions of Grand Guignol theater and of mid-20th-century horror films are particularly insightful, while his appreciation of contemporary horror's self-awareness, as exemplified in fans' ``sophisticated'' approach to film gore and in the rise of ``psychotronic'' criticism, is refreshingly on the mark. Of most value for its in-depth look at the genre's seminal works, Kendrick's lively and penetrative ramble through horror's vaults is an excellent companion to King's Danse Macabre, which remains the last word on contemporary horror. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --via Amazon.comSee also: horror - fear - Walter Kendrick
2005, Sep 25; 07:16 ::: Pierre Gandon
Illustration by Pierre Gandon
Image sourced here.Pierre Gandon was an French illustrator and engraver of postage stamps. He was born January 20, 1899 in L'Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne) and disappeared July 23, 1990. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Gandon [Sept 2005]
See also: erotic illustration - French erotica - 1900s
2005, Sep 24; 18:27 ::: Gerda Wegener
Gerda Wegener
Illustration by Gerda Wegener
Image sourced here.
Illustration by Gerda Wegener
Illustration by Gerda Wegener
Gerda Wegener (1886-1940) Danish illustrator and painter, from the provinces but moved to Copenhagen to pursue her education at the Royal art Academy, and married fellow artist Einar Wegener in 1904.After moving to Paris in 1912, found much success both as a painter and illustrating for Vogue, La Vie Parisienne, Fantasio, and many other magazines. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerda_Wegener [Sept 2005]
See also: erotic illustration - 1900s
2005, Sep 24; 17:06 ::: Venus in the Cloister (1683) - Abbé du Prat
This edition:
Paris, Bibliothèque des curieux ; (Argenteuil, impr. de Coulouma)1934.220 p. ;9,5x15,5 cm.
Le Coffret du bibliophile illustré. 1ª serie (F.lli Briffaut
Image sourced here.
Venus in the Cloister (1683) - Abbé du Prat [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Quatrième de couverture
Sous la forme de cinq entretiens entre soeur Agnès et soeur Angélique, prétendument racontés à la mère abbesse du couvent par l'abbé du Prat pour tenter de " rendre à la voix et aux actions le beau feu dont elles ont été animées ", Vénus dans le cloître - paru dès 1672 - inaugure le roman érotique d'éducation sexuelle à l'adresse des jeunes filles, dont Thérèse philosophe (Babel ne 37) et le Rideau levé ou l'Education de Laure (Babel ne 121) seront les fleurons. Ici, l'évocation des plaisirs emprunte à la religion son vocabulaire et à la rhétorique ses subtilités pour subvertir plus sûrement et de l'intérieur la morale close de l'Eglise. Et, par le jeu du paradoxe, donner à ce roman précurseur une grande liberté de ton. --via Amazon.frSDM
"Roman érotique d'éducation sexuelle à l'usage des jeunes filles". L'expression d'un libertinage contraint de composer avec des autorités répressives (les dialogues de soeur Angélique et de soeur Agnès sont plutôt discrets "quant à la mise en scène de la sexualité"). Une oeuvre épicurienne qui prêche pour l'acceptation (publique) et le contournement (privé) de l'ordre social. -- Services Documentaires Multimédia --via Amazon.frEdmund Curll
Edmund Curll (1675 - December 11, 1747) was an English bookseller and publisher.He was born in the West Country, of a poor family. After being apprenticed to an Exeter bookseller he came to London and started up in business, advertising himself by a system of newspaper quarrels. His connection with the anonymously-published Court Poems in 1716 led to the long quarrel with Alexander Pope, who took his revenge by immortalizing Curll in the Dunciad. Curll became notorious for his indecent publications, so much so that "Curlicism" was regarded as a synonym for literary indecency. In 1716 and again in 1721 he had to appear at the bar of the House of Lords for publishing matter concerning its members. In 1725 he was convicted of publishing obscene books, and fined in 1728 for publishing The Nun in her Smock and De Usu Flagrorum, while his Memories of John Ker of Kersland cost him an hour in the pillory. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Curll [Sept 2005]
1725 – Edmund Curll (1683-1747) is arrested in England for publishing Venus in the Cloister [An English translation of Vénus dans le Cloître, 1683] and Meibomius's Treatise of Flogging (translation by George Sewell). He's released but he's arrested again in 1726 after further investigation by the police and for publishing The Prisoner's Advocate, a government spy's (John Ker) memoirs of his experiences in the King's Bench Prison. Curll is finally sentenced in February 1728. He's fined 25 marks for each of the two erotic books and 20 marks plus one hour in the pillory for publishing Ker's memoirs. It is Curll's trial that leads the Court of King's Bench to define the law of obscene libel. --http://www.eroticabibliophile.com/censorship_history.html [Sept 2005]
2005, Sep 24; 16:53 ::: Mighty Lewd Books : The Development of Pornography in Eighteenth-Century England (2003) - Julie Peakman
Mighty Lewd Books : The Development of Pornography in Eighteenth-Century England (2003) - Julie Peakman [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
Mighty Lewd Books describes the emergence of a new, home-grown English pornography as seen in flagellation novellas which burst to the fore in the 1770s. Prior to this, English erotica had included a particular style of bawdy material marked by its euphemisms and double entendres. Through the examination of over 500 pieces of British erotica, this book looks at sex as seen in erotic culture, religion and medicine throughout the long eighteenth-century, and provides a radical new approach to the study of sexuality. --Amazon.comSee also: British erotica - erotic books - 1770s
2005, Sep 24; 16:50 ::: When Flesh Becomes Word: An Anthology of Early Eighteenth-Century Libertine Literature (2004) - Bradford K. Mudge
When Flesh Becomes Word: An Anthology of Early Eighteenth-Century Libertine Literature (2004) - Bradford K. Mudge [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Book Description
When Flesh Becomes Word collects nine different examples of British libertine literature that appeared before 1750. Three of these--The School of Venus (1680), Venus in the Cloister (1725), and A Dialogue Between a Married Lady and a Maid (1740)--are famous "whore dialogues," dramatic conversations between an older, experienced woman and a younger, inexperienced maid. Previously unavailable to the modern reader, these dialogues combine sex education, medical folklore, and erotic literature in a decidedly proto-pornographic form. This edition also presents a range of other examples of libertine literature, including bawdy poetry, a salacious medical treatise, an irreverent travelogue, and a criminal biography. The combination of both popular and influential texts presented in this edition provides an accessible introduction to the variety of material available to eighteenth-century readers before the publication of John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure in 1749.See also: whore dialogues - libertine - 1700s
2005, Sep 24; 14:02 ::: The best of Gino Soccio (1995) - Gino Soccio
The best of Gino Soccio (1995) - Gino Soccio [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Gino Soccio is a disco producer born in 1955 in Montreal. His only US Hot 100 entry was the #48 Dancer in 1979, but he did hit #1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart twice ("Dancer" / "Dance To Dance" in 1979 and "Try It Out" / "Hold Tight" in 1981 - six weeks each).
He also assembled and produced the disco studio group Witch Queen, best known for their Top 10 Dance hit "Bang A Gong" / "All Right Now" in 1979. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gino_Soccio [Sept 2005]
2005, Sep 24; 14:02 ::: The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France (1995) - Robert Darnton
The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France (1995) - Robert Darnton [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Amazon.com
More popular than the canon of the great Enlightenment philosophers were other books, also banned by the regime, written and sold "under the cloak." These formed a libertine literature that was a crucial part of the culture of dissent in the Old Regime. Robert Darnton explores the cultural and political significance of these "bad" books and introduces readers to three of the most influential illegal best-sellers, from which he includes substantial excerpts. Winner of the 1995 National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.From Publishers Weekly
More specialized than The Great Cat Massacre, Darnton's latest still cogently demonstrates through tables, case studies, analysis and anecdotes just how different the pre-Revolutionary French were from postmodern Americans. In this second volume of a trilogy that began with The Business of Enlightenment, Darnton returns to the extensive publishing records of the Societe typographique de Neuchatel (STN) to trace the demand for books forbidden as a threat to morals and politics. These "philosophical books," as they were called, included Rousseau's Social Contract. But with only one order in STN's records, it was hardly a bestseller. Accordingly, Darnton focuses on three widely disseminated books representing different popular genres: the pornographic Therese philosophe (probably by Marquis d'Argens); the philosophical utopian fantasy L'An 2440 by Louis-Sebastien Mercier; and the libelle (think libelous) Anecdotes sur Mme la comtesse du Barry ascribed to Mathieu-Francois Pidansat de Mairobert. His discussion of the distribution, reception and influence of these books is convincing and careful (general readers may find some sections on methodology a little too careful). Darnton sees these works as literature, not just sociological artifacts; and, if lengthy excerpts from L'An 2440 seem a little dated, those from Therese and Anecdotes are still ribaldly amusing. --Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. via Amazon.comFrom Library Journal
With this volume, Darnton consolidates his position as one of the most innovative and influential historians of 18th-century France. For over 25 years, Darnton (Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of European History, Princeton) has been studying reading habits and book selling during the period often referred to as the Enlightenment. The present work is published conjointly with a companion volume, The Corpus of Clandestine Literature in France, 1769-1789. The latter gives statistical details for what Forbidden Bestsellers covers more descriptively. The gist of what Darnton says is that philosophes like Voltaire and Rousseau had far less impact on French readers than did the anonymous authors of scandalous, libelous, treasonous, and/or pornographic works, most of which were smuggled into France from the Netherlands, Switzerland, or the German states. Taken together, they had a corrosive effect on all established values and practices and thus contributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution. Very highly recommended for all libraries.?T.J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., N.Y. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --via Amazon.comSee also: clandestine - Robert Darnton - 1700s - forbidden - bestseller - French Revolution - libertine
While the first obscene novels were usually dialogues L'École des filles (The School for Girls) in 1655 and L'Académie des Dames (Women's Academy), first in Latin and in French in 1680—the 18th-century obscene libertine novel may also be epistolary, written in the first or third person, a memoir-novel, dialogues, or even very close to drama. The first obscene bestseller of the Enlightenment was Histoire de D[om Bougre], Portier des Chartreux (1740; History of Dom Bougre) by Gervaise de Latouche, a book which Adélaïde, daughter of Louis XV, appreciated so much that she wanted to share it with her brother. Their father intervened. Dom Bougre even spawned an entire obscene dynasty: later in the century, his sister's raunchy confessions were also published as Mémoires de Suzon, sœur de Dom Bougre (1777; Memoirs of Suzon, Sister of Dom Bougre) as were his niece's memoirs, Histoire de Marguerite, fille de Suzon, nièce de Dom Bougre (1784; History of Marguerite).
2005, Sep 24; 12:59 ::: Libertine novelThe most popular obscene novel throughout the 18th century, published the same year as John Cleland's Fanny Hill, was Thérèse philosophe (1748; The Philosophical Thérèse), attributed to Boyer d'Argens. It tackles the philosophical problems of human nature, temperament, and social organization and is written in an anti-clerical vein. It was reprinted throughout the century, and Sade even calls it the first truly immoral book in his Juliette (1797). Then came Fougeret de Monbron's Margot la ravaudeuse (1750; The Amorous Adventures of Margot), Andréa de Nerciat's Félicia; ou, Mes fredaines (1775; Félicia; or, My Mischief) and many other scantily dressed confessions. --http://www.routledge-ny.com/enc/eros/topic.html [Sept 2005]
See also: obscene - libertinism - erotic fiction - literature
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