“Victorian morality called for a strict separation between men and women. Even books written by male authors were not placed on the shelf where works by women were already placed. Some women refused to sleep in rooms where male portraits hung on the walls. Piano legs, in turn, , covered up out of modesty - their curves could remind of the seductiveness of a woman's legs... In addition, Victorian etiquette banished all references to sexuality from the language. Therefore, reading French novels came to be considered indecent. Women also could not use words such as “sex” or “panties” ", and the topic of underwear was taboo in polite society.
In turn, they said about pregnant women and postpartum women that they “went to the village.” No references to erogenous zones were allowed, so the body from head to chest was called the “bust”, and everything below was vaguely called the “belly”, which was not supposed to be talked about. The most that the Victorians could afford was to sometimes whisper about “twin bunnies”, “sausages” and “hot desserts”. A young couple should not be left alone. It is customary to display wedding gifts on a separate table - everything except the linen given to the newlywed must be hidden immediately. This sight can shock the groom, and the poor bride will blush like a lobster from shame.
It was believed that an honest woman could not have any carnal desires. It is typical that during sexual intercourse women were advised to keep their eyes closed and think about their homeland.
Sylvan Stull's 1897 guide, What a Young Man Needs to Know, emphasizes that sex can be had at most once a week, in a dark room. Under no circumstances should partners undress together. And yet, if we rely only on etiquette guides, our understanding of the Victorians will be limited. Their double morality is clearly demonstrated by the fact that there have never been so many brothels in London as in that era. In other words, in civilized circles and in public, sex was a taboo subject, but behind the scenes the picture was completely different. Baroness Staff knew this too, and gave advice on how a good wife should treat the fact that her husband spends time in brothels: “Never talk about your suspicions. You may be unhappy and your heart is broken into a thousand pieces, but don’t "Seek consolation on the side: it is dangerous, and your life may be filled with sin. Better take care of raising your children."
(from the book: Turunen A. Only after you: World history of good manners / Translated from Finnish - M.: Alpina Publisher, 2019).
Frivolous literature, with an erotic element at its core, has always presupposed freedom of expression and freedom of thought as such. Its emergence can be directly linked with the advent of writing, and its mass distribution with the development of printing in the 15th century. Moreover, the first experiments in this literary field that have reached us concern erotic poetry (especially ancient Greek and Roman): from the lyrics of Sappho, Catullus, Ovid and Juvenal to the poetic kisses of John Secundus.
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The phrase “frivolous prose” arose only in the 17th century, although formally works of earlier periods can be attributed to it: from the “Song of Songs” from the Old Testament to the medieval “Decameron” by Boccaccio. However, true standards were established only in the eighteenth century. It was then that the works of John Cleland, Denis Diderot, Choderlos de Laclos, and later the Marquis de Sade were published. Over four centuries, the plot foundations of this genre have changed little, except that the stylistic boundaries have expanded somewhat.
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The desire to consider this phenomenon in a cross-sectional manner prompted the creation of this material, although attempts to compile a list of “The most revealing books” had already been made previously. But it’s just that American literary critics and publishers of erotic magazines “sinned” with this. And therefore, such lists often showed bias or, even worse, the popularization of “local” fiction. Recognizing the fact that absolute objectivity in such collections is practically impossible, a certain attempt was made to avoid unnecessary bias. In addition, in order to avoid accusations of authoritarianism and some kind of rating systematization, the books are arranged in chronological order by date of publication.
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Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure
About what: The story of a naive provincial girl who first came to London. A series of erotic adventures as a comfort woman, however, does not prevent the young heroine from finding and finding true love. The book is written in the first person and in bright colors depicts the everyday life of the brothel and the work of the courtesans in every detail.
Why: The novel by the English writer John Cleland has long gained fame in the history of literature as a frivolous and obscene book. In America, this novel was under censorship ban for more than two hundred years and only in the 1960s was it “amnestied” by the courts as a talented literary work that did not offend public morality. The narrative, presented with a frankness unprecedented at the time, is a bold dive into the diversity of sensory experience. The author's text is full of subtle irony and metaphor.
Quote: “We saw how satisfaction sparkled in her eyes when the gentleman introduced into her the plenipotentiary representative of his fury, how it flared up while he penetrated to the very limit, how it finally shone during his frantic convulsions.”
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Dangerous Liaisons / Les liaisons dangereuses
Choderlos de Laclos
First publication: Amsterdam and Paris, 1782
About what : The heroes of the novel in the letters of the French officer Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - the Parisian aristocrats Viscount de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil - come up with an intrigue to seduce the young Cecile de Volanges, who has just left the convent school. The correspondence in the book, according to the author, is the real correspondence of secular characters of that time.
Why: The appearance of “Dangerous Liaisons” was accompanied by success and, no wonder, by scandal. The success was explained by the exceptional merits of the book itself, which was later called a world masterpiece, and the scandal arose because the ubiquitous criticism and public opinion considered the novel indecent and... pornographic. The book described in detail the morals and manners of secular drawing rooms, love and the war of whims, manipulation, methods of seduction and other love vicissitudes. The writer was accused of promiscuity and admiring vice. It was because of this that the doors of many capital salons were closed to Laclau and even his military career was at stake.
Quote: “The first truth is that every woman who agrees to associate with an immoral man becomes his victim. The second is that every mother who allows her daughter to place more trust in some other woman than in herself is, at best, careless.”
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Teleny or The Reverse of the Medal
Oscar Wilde
First publication: London, 1893
About what: A love story between two young people, described in all psychological, anatomical and erotic details.
Why: An erotic novel, which, on the basis of numerous indirect data, is attributed to the great English witty writer, the head of European aestheticism and symbolism, Oscar Wilde. It was published anonymously in 1893, three years after The Picture of Dorian Gray, and has since been considered an absolute masterpiece of its genre. According to another version, this gay novel was created by a group of young people under the general leadership of Wilde (which, however, does not diminish its artistic merits).
Quote: “There are two types of voluptuousness. Both are equally strong and irresistible. The first type is a hot, burning, sensual passion that flares up in the genitals and rises to the brain, forcing people to bathe in joy, sensing in their souls the winged divine power that hovers above the earth. The second is the cold, bilious passion of the imagination, an acute inflammation of the brain that dries up the blood, like young hops in wine.”
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Lady Chatterley's Lover
David Herbert Lawrence
First publication: Florence, 1928
About what: In the story, twenty-two-year-old Constance Reid suffers while married to the paralyzed baronet Clifford Chatterley. The girl, feeling moral and physical dissatisfaction, finds solace in her relationship with the forester Oliver Mellers. With him, she liberates herself and for the first time realizes what it means to love deeply and sensually and to be loved.
Why: Lawrence's last novel, published by a private Italian publisher in 1928, became something of a slap in the direction of puritanism and bigotry. The writer's ethical liberalism, his conviction that every person is given the right to free moral choice, did not appeal to many representatives of the so-called nobility. The intensity of passions and the brightness of the love scenes of this novel were perceived by moral guardians as a challenge to public opinion. The book was banned immediately after its publication, and the finished edition was confiscated and destroyed. The ban was in effect for more than 30 years, and only in 1960, after a high-profile trial, the novel was rehabilitated, and since then it has remained one of the most read in the world.
Quote: “A true marriage is based on a union of blood. The phallus is a column of blood. And he fills the valley of woman's blood. The great stream of male blood rushes to the very sources of the great stream of female blood - without invading, but within its boundaries.”
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Lono Irene / Le Con d’Irène
Louis Aragon
First publication: Paris, 1928
About what: The everyday life of a young man who, after breaking up with his passion, decided to stay a little at his parents’ house. The emotional drama, coupled with the boredom that reigns in a provincial town, maintains an atmosphere of constant unrest in the 25-year-old hero. The obscene fantasies that haunt the young man’s dreams often break out, taking on hypertrophied erotic forms.
Why: “This is the best, most beautiful text touching on eroticism,” said Albert Camus about the book. And sometimes I can’t even believe that this erotic opus is the work of one of the “creators of socialist realism.” However, the truth is that in the early 20s, the future communist Louis Aragon was associated with the surrealists, who opposed generally accepted views and values. Often their books were published underground and sold in special stores, displayed not on the shelves, but under them. The book, being in a sense a portrait of the author's youth, was published under a pseudonym (with a circulation of only 150 copies). “Irene’s Bosom” is a part of “The Defense of Infinity” that has survived to this day, one of the most controversial works of our time. It is no wonder that when in 1968 Jean-Jacques Pauvert wanted to republish the book under the real name of the author, Aragon, to whom he turned for permission, answered him exclusively in the third person: “... the author refuses... the author forbids... it is impossible for the author...”, thereby, as if once again emphasizing his non-involvement in the creation of this text.
Quote: “Oh sweet bosom of Irene! So tiny and so priceless! Only here a man worthy of you can finally achieve the fulfillment of all his desires.”
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Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller
First publication: Paris, 1934
About what: There is still no consensus on what genre “Tropic of Cancer” can be classified into: documentary, fiction or autobiographical prose. However, each of the versions is not without plausibility. The poetic narrative about the “Parisian” period of Henry Miller’s life is initially multi-layered.
The whole world is concentrated in a second of orgasm. Our land is not a dry, healthy and comfortable plateau, but a huge female with a velvet body that breathes, trembles and suffers under the raging ocean...
Why: “Pornographer,” “sexist,” “male aggressor” are the usual epithets that characterized Henry Miller after the publication of this novel. At the same time, the writer received a lot of praise, including from such literary authorities as Thomas Eliot, Norman Mailer, George Orwell, Ezra Pound. The last of them, by the way, has the catchphrase: “Here is an indecent book that deserves to be read.” But the first wave of popularity in Miller’s homeland arose there only a decade after its publication, when American soldiers, finding themselves in Paris, completely sold out the entire English edition. And another decade and a half passed before they finally decided to publish the book in the States, and even then, the publishers had to endure more than fifty trials (of course, on charges of corruption of morals). Nowadays, volumes of research have been written about it, it is studied at universities and is constantly republished.
Quote: “Do what you want, but let what you do bring you joy. Do what you want, but let what you do cause ecstasy. When I repeat these words, thousands of images come into my head - funny, terrible, maddening: a wolf and a goat, a spider, a crab... and a womb with a door on hinges, always open and ready to absorb everything...”
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Our Lady of the Flowers / Notre Dame des Fleurs
Jean Genet
First publication: Paris, 1943
About what: The novel reveals the life story of the transvestite prostitute Divina (derived from the French - Divine). At the beginning of the novel, Divina dies of tuberculosis, and ultimately is ranked among the saints.
Why: The debut novel was written by Jean Genet in prison, where he was serving another sentence for stealing a volume of a still unknown Marcel Proust from a bookstore. The story about the life of the Parisian bottom is largely autobiographical. Covering the topics of homosexuality and crime, which were severe taboos in the middle of the 20th century, against the will of the writer, made Genet one of the symbols and inspirers of the gay movement for equality.
Quote: “Her body showed itself every second. Manifested itself in a thousand bodies. No one knew what was happening and did not know about the tragic moments of Divina fighting with God.”
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