Erotic fiction
Parent categories: erotica - fiction
The Naughty Bits : The Steamiest and Most Scandalous Sex Scenes from the World's Great Books (2001) - Jack Murnighan [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
"Better were it that such literature did not exist. I consider it pernicious and hurtful to the immature but at the same time I hold that, in certain circumstances, its study is necessary, if not beneficial." --Catena Librorum Tacendorum (1885) -- Henry Spencer Ashbee
Secondary texts: The Pornographic Imagination (1967) - Susan Sontag
20th century publishers and presses: Brandon House - Grove Press - Maurice Girodias - Eric Losfeld - Obelisk - Olympia Press - Jean-Jacques Pauvert - Barney Rosset
"I authorize the publication and sale of all libertine books and immoral works; for I esteem them most essential to human felicity and welfare, instrumental to the progress of philosophy, indispensable to the eradication of prejudices, and in every sense conducive to the increase of human knowledge and understanding." (Juliette, 1797)
Related: banned books - Henry Spencer Ashbee - erotic books - literature - libertine novel - Pietro Aretino - sex manual - sex in literature - stroke book - whore dialogues
Titles (20th century): Emmanuelle - Lady Chatterley's Lover - The Image - Story of O - Tropic of Cancer
Titles (19th century): The Lustful Turk (1828) - Gamiani - My Secret Life
Titles (18th century): Fanny Hill - Bijoux Indiscrets - Dom Bougre - Juliette - Justine - Thérèse Philosophe
Titles (17th century): Académie des Dames - Ecole des Filles - Vénus dans le Cloître
Titles (Antiquity): Ars Amatoria - Kama Sutra - The Satyricon
Connoisseurs: Patrick J. Kearney - Steven Marcus - Peter Mendes - Jack Murnighan
Story of O (1954) - Pauline Réage et al [Amazon.com]
Definition
Erotic fiction or less commonly erotic literature is the name given to literature that deals with sex or sexual themes, in a literary or serious way, and sometimes including elements of satire or social criticism.Further subdivisions can be made within this category. Pornographic magazines and stroke books are made only to arouse the reader without pretension to literary merit. Sex manuals give instruction in sexual technique. Some erotic literature is of novel length, although there are also erotic short stories.
There is a substantial overlap between erotic literature and pornography, with the distinction typically being made on perceived literary merit. Many banned books have been suppressed because they used erotic imagery.
Works of significant literary merit within the 'erotic' category include:
- The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter
- Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
- Ulysses by James Joyce
- Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin
- The Story of O by Pauline Réage
Based on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotic_literature [2004-2006]
Playboy's '25 sexiest novels ever written' (2006)
1. Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, by John Cleland
2. Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
3. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
4. The Story of O, by Pauline Reage
5. Crash, by J.G. Ballard
6. Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice
7. Portnoy's Complaint, by Philip Roth
8. The Magus, by John Fowles
9. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Murakami
10. Endless Love, by Scott Spencer
11. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
12. Carrie's Story, by Molly Weatherfield
13. Fear of Flying, by Erica Jong
14. Peyton Place, by Grace Metalious
15. Story of the Eye, by Georges Bataille
16. The End of Alice, by A.M. Homes
17. Vox, by Nicholson Baker
18. Rapture, by Susan Minot
19. Singular Pleaures, by Harry Mathews
20. In The Cut, By Susanna Moore
21. Brass, by Helen Walsh
22. Candy, by Terry Southern
23. Forever, by Judy Blume
24. An American Dream, by Norman Mailer
25. The Carpetbaggers, by Harold Robbins -- http://www.playboy.com/sex/features/25novelsList compiled by Jim Petersen. See Susie Bright's post.
List of early erotic fiction
1500s1600s
- Sonetti Lussuriosi (1527) - Pietro Aretino
- Ragionamenti (1534-36) - Pietro Aretino
1700s
- La Puttana Errante (c.1650-1660) - Anonymous
- Académie des Dames (1659) - Chorier (also known as Satyra Sotadica)
- Ecole des Filles (1668) - Millot
- Vénus dans le Cloître (1683) - Abbé Du Prat
- Sodom (1680) - John Wilmot
- Dom Bougre (1741) -
- Thérèse Philosophe (1748) -
- Bijoux Indiscrets (1748) -
List of authors of erotic works
This is a list of notable authors of erotic literature.
Sex manuals [...]
- Vatsayana -- famous for the Kama Sutra
- Ovid -- Roman author famous for the Ars Amatoria
Fiction [...]
- Li Yu -- author of The Carnal Prayer Mat
- Laura Antoniou -- author of The Marketplace
- Aran Ashe
- Georges Bataille
- Penny Birch
- Patrick (Pat) Califia -- author of Macho Sluts
- John Cleland -- author of Fanny Hill
- James Joyce
- Arabella Knight
- D. H. Lawrence -- author of Lady Chatterley's Lover
- William Levy
- Leopold von Sacher-Masoch -- author of Venus in Furs
- Barry N. Malzberg--author of Screen and writer/editor for Olympia Press
- Henry Miller -- author of Tropic of Cancer
- Anais Nin
- Pauline Réage -- author of Histoire d'O
- Anne Rice, also writing as A. N. Roquelaure
- Catherine Robbe-Grillet
- the Marquis de Sade -- author of Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue
- Wendy Swanscombe
- Alexander Trocchi
- Mark Twain -- author of 1601
Poetry
- Catullus -- Roman erotic poet
- Sextus Propertius -- Roman poet
- Sappho -- Greek poetess from the island of Lesbos who wrote love poetry to young women.
Autobiography
- Catherine Millet
- Frank Harris
- "Walter", author of My Secret Life
- Lisa B. Falour
- Nancy Friday
--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_authors_of_erotic_works [Feb 2005]
Erotic fiction classics
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]Bibliography
A history of Erotic Literature (1982) - Patrick J. Kearney Clandestine Erotic Fiction in English, 1800-1930: A Bibliographic Study (1993) - Peter Mendes The Other Victorians, A study of sexuality and pornography in mid-nineteenth-century England (1964) - Steven Marcus The Pornographic Imagination (1967) - Susan Sontag Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature (Aug 2006) - Gaetan Brulotte
Encyclopedia of Erotic Literature (Aug 2006) - Gaetan Brulotte [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Two-volume set in print. Due in September 2006 by Routledge (New York) it involves some 700 contributors from different parts of the world.
Gaétan Brulotte est un écrivain québécois. --http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ga%C3%A9tan_Brulotte [Feb 2006]
See also: erotic literature - encyclopedia - Routledge
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