Product Description

This study of French literary pornography and erotica in the 20th century explores the limits of pornography as a literary genre, and its capacity to subvert the status quo. French culture has long been perceived by the English-speaking reader as somehow more "erotic" than its Anglo-Saxon equivalent. French literary pornography has a unique history, reflecting a fascination with libertine writing that can be traced back to Rabelais and de Sade. Its subversive potential was reinvigorated in the 20th century by the surrealists, and by the Tel Quel group, who saw it as part of the battle for emancipation and liberation. This book traces the history of literary pornography and considers the moral and political issues surrounding it, looking particularly at feminist debates on pornography and at the case for and against censorship. It provides a more detailed study of particular texts - by Reage "The Story of O", Apollinaire, Louys, Anais Nin, Bataille, Robbe-Grillet, Arsan "Emanuelle", de Berg and Duvert - looking at reception and censorship, sadomasochism, erotic fantasy, paedophilia and homoeroticism. The book shows how "pornography" - censored, driven underground or otherwise suppressed in the Anglo-Saxon world - occupies an altogether different space in French culture, as a part of the avant-garde, and a legitimate challenge to the status quo.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1930768 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From the Author
Sex and censorship in twentieth century French literature
My book discusses some of the most pornographic French novels of this century, that might be considered to have an interesting complexity of form. It contains detailed new studies of erotic classics such as Apollinaire's The Eleven Thousand Rods, Bataille's Story of the Eye, Réage's Story of O, and Arsan's Emmanuelle. It also includes a brief history of censorship in France since the sixteenth century, and evidence that, in spite of claims that anything goes in the 1990s, censorship is still a potent force in the modern world. If you agree that erotic fiction has been unjustifiably suppressed in the 20thC, especially in colleges and universities where much could be gained from the study of the portrayal of sex in great literature, please buy my book and recommend it to your friends. And I'd be delighted to read your own review of it here on the internet.