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Erotic fiction is a part oferotic literature and agenre offiction that portrayssex or sexual themes, generally in a more literary or serious way than the fiction seen inpornographic magazines. It sometimes includes elements ofsatire orsocial criticism. Such works have frequently been banned by the government or religious authorities. Non-fictional works that portray sex or sexual themes may contain fictional elements. Calling an erotic book 'a memoir' is a literary device that is common in this genre. For reasons similar to those that make pseudonyms both commonplace and often deviously set up, the boundary between fiction and non-fiction is broad.
Erotic fiction has been credited in large part for the sexual awakening and liberation of women in the 20th and 21st centuries.[where?][citation needed]
The Satyricon ofPetronius Arbiter (later made into afilm byFellini) is an ancient Roman novel, which has partially survived, narrating the misadventures of an impotent man named Encolpius, who has been cursed by the godPriapus. The novel is filled with bawdy and obscene episodes, including orgies, ritual sex, and other erotic incidents.[1] The discovery of several fragments of Lollianos'sPhoenician Tale reveal that a genre of picaresque erotic novel also existed in ancient Greece.[2] Some of theancient Greek romance novels, such asDaphnis and Chloe, also contain elements of sexual fantasy.[3]
From the medieval period, there is theDecameron (1353) by the ItalianGiovanni Boccaccio (made into afilm byPasolini) which features tales of lechery by monks and the seduction of nuns from convents. This book was banned in many countries. Even five centuries after publication, copies were seized and destroyed by the authorities in the US and the UK. For instance, between 1954 and 1958 eight orders for destruction of the book were made by English magistrates.[4]
From the 15th century, another classic of Italian erotica is a series of bawdy folk tales called theFacetiae byGian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini.The Tale of Two Lovers (Latin:Historia de duobus amantibus) written in 1444 was one of the bestselling books of the 15th century, even before its author,Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, becamePope Pius II. It is one of the earliest examples of anepistolary novel, full of erotic imagery. The first printed edition was published byUlrich Zel in Cologne between 1467 and 1470.[5]
The 16th century was notable for theHeptaméron ofMarguerite de Navarre (1558), inspired by Boccaccio'sDecameron and the notoriousI Modi which married erotic drawings, depicting postures assumed in sexual intercourse, byGiulio Romano, with obscene sonnets byPietro Aretino.[6]
Aretino also wrote the celebratedwhore dialogueRagionamenti, in which the sex lives of wives, whores and nuns are compared and contrasted.[7][8] Later works in the same genre includeLa Retorica delle Puttane (The Whore's Rhetoric) (1642) byFerrante Pallavicino;[9][10]L'école des filles (The school for girls) (1655), attributed to Michel Millot and Jean L'Ange.[11][12] andThe Dialogues of Luisa Sigea (c. 1660) byNicolas Chorier.[13][14] Such works typically concerned the sexual education of a naive younger woman by an experienced older woman and often included elements of philosophising, satire andanti-clericalism.[15]Donald Thomas has translatedL'École des filles, asThe School of Venus, (1972), described on its back cover as "both an uninhibited manual of sexual technique and an erotic masterpiece of the first order".[16][17] In his diarySamuel Pepys records reading and (in an often censored passage) masturbating over this work.[18] Chorier'sDialogues of Luisa Sigea goes a bit further than its predecessors in this genre and has the older female giving practical instruction of a lesbian nature to the younger woman plus recommending the spiritual and erotic benefits of a flogging from willing members of the holy orders.[19] This work was translated into many languages under various different titles, appearing in English asA Dialogue between a Married Woman and a Maid in various editions.[20]The School of Women first appeared as a work inLatin entitledAloisiae Sigaeae, Toletanae, Satyra sotadica de arcanis Amoris et Veneris. This manuscript claimed that it was originally written inSpanish byLuisa Sigea de Velasco, an erudite poet and maid of honor at the court ofLisbon and was then translated into Latin by Jean orJohannes Meursius. The attribution to Sigea and Meursius was a lie; the true author wasNicolas Chorier.
A unique work of this time isSodom, or the Quintessence of Debauchery (1684), acloset play by the notoriousRestoration rake,John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester in which Bolloxinion, King of Sodom, authorises "that buggery may be used O'er all the land, so cunt be not abused", which order, though appealing to soldiery, has deleterious effects generally, leading the court physician to counsel: "Fuck women, and let Bugg'ry be no more".[21]
An early pioneer of the publication of erotic works in England wasEdmund Curll (1675–1747), who published many of theMerryland books. These were an English genre of erotic fiction in which the female body (and sometimes the male) was described in terms of alandscape.[22] The earliest work in this genre seems to beErotopolis: The Present State of Bettyland (1684) probably byCharles Cotton. This was included, in abbreviated form, inThe Potent Ally: or Succours from Merryland (1741). Other works include A New Description of Merryland. Containing a Topographical, Geographical and Natural History of that Country (1740) by Thomas Stretzer,Merryland Displayed (1741) and set of maps entitledA Compleat Set of Charts of the Coasts of Merryland (1745). The last book in this genre appears to be a parody ofLaurence Sterne'sA Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768) entitledLa souricière. The Mousetrap. A Facetious and Sentimental Excursion through part of Austrian Flanders and France (1794) by "Timothy Touchit".[22]
The rise of the novel in 18th-century England provided a new medium for erotica. One of the most famous in this genre wasFanny Hill (1748) byJohn Cleland. This book set a standard in literary smut and was often adapted for the cinema in the 20th century.Peter Fryer suggests thatFanny Hill was a high point in British erotica, at least in the eighteenth century, in a way that mainstream literature around it had also reached a peak at that time, with writers like Defoe, Richardson and Fielding all having made important and lasting contributions to literature in its first half. After 1750, he suggests, when theRomantic period began, the quality of mainstream writing and of smut declined in tandem. Writes Fryer: "sex was driven out of the English novel in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The castration of imaginative English literature made the clandestine literature of sex the most poverty stricken and boring in Europe".[23]
French writers kept their stride. One genre, which vies in oddness with the English "Merryland" productions, was inspired by the newly translatedArabian Nights and involved the transformation of people into objects which were in propinquity with or employed in sexual relationships: such assofas,dildos and evenbidets. The climax of this trend is represented in French philosopherDiderot'sLes Bijoux indiscrets (1747) in which amagic ring is employed to get women'svaginas to give an account of their intimate sexual histories.[24]
Other works of French erotica from this period includeThérèse Philosophe (1748) byJean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens which describes a girl's initiation into the secrets of both philosophy and sex;[25]The Lifted Curtain or Laura's Education, about a young girl's sexual initiation by her father, written by the French revolutionary politicianComte de Mirabeau; andLes Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons) byPierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in 1782.
In the late 18th century, such works asJustine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue and120 Days of Sodom by theMarquis de Sade were exemplars of the theme ofsado-masochism and influenced later erotic accounts ofsadism and masochism in fiction. De Sade (as did the later writer Sacher-Masoch) lent his name to the sexual acts which he describes in his work.
In the Victorian period, the quality of erotic fiction was much below that of the previous century—it was largely written by 'hacks'[citation needed]. Some works, however, borrowed from established literary models, such asDickens. The period also featured a form ofsocial stratification. Even in the throes of orgasm, the social distinctions between master and servant (including form of address) were scrupulously observed. Significant elements ofsado-masochism were present in some examples, perhaps reflecting the influence of the Englishpublic school, whereflagellation was routinely used as a punishment.[26] These clandestine works were often anonymous or written under a pseudonym, and sometimes undated, thus definite information about them often proves elusive.
English erotic novels from this period includeThe Lustful Turk (1828);The Romance of Lust (1873);The Convent School, or Early Experiences of A Young Flagellant (1876) byRosa Coote [pseud.];The Mysteries of Verbena House, or, Miss Bellasis Birched for Thieving (1882) byEtonensis [pseud.], actually byGeorge Augustus Sala andJames Campbell Reddie;The Autobiography of a Flea (1887);Venus in India (1889) by 'Captain Charles Devereaux';[27][28][29]Flossie, a Venus of Fifteen: By one who knew this Charming Goddess and worshipped at her shrine (1897).[30] A novel calledBeatrice, once marketed as another classic ofVictorian erotica from the pen of the ubiquitous "Anon", now appears to be a very clever 20th-century pastiche of Victorian pornography. It first appeared in 1982 and was written by one Gordon Grimley, a sometime managing director of Penthouse International.[31]
Clandestine erotic periodicals of this age includeThe Pearl,The Oyster andThe Boudoir, collections of erotic tales, rhymes, songs and parodies published in London between 1879 and 1883.
The centre of the trade in such material in England at this period was Holywell Street, off theStrand, London. An important publisher of erotic material in the early 19th century wasGeorge Cannon (1789–1854), followed in mid-century byWilliam Dugdale (1800–1868) andJohn Camden Hotten (1832–1873).[32]
An evaluation of 19th-century (pre-1885) and earlier underground erotica, from the author's own private archive, is provided by Victorian writerHenry Spencer Ashbee, using the pseudonym "Pisanus Fraxi", in his bibliographical trilogyIndex Librorum Prohibitorum (1877),Centuria Librorum Absconditorum (1879) andCatena Librorum Tacendorum (1885). His plot summaries of the works he discusses in these privately printed volumes are themselves a contribution to the genre. Originally of very limited circulation, changing attitudes have led to his work now being widely available.[33][34]
Notable European works of erotica at this time wereGamiani, or Two Nights of Excess (1833) by FrenchmanAlfred de Musset andVenus in Furs (1870) by theAustrian authorLeopold von Sacher-Masoch.[35][36] The latter erotic novella brought the attention of the world to the phenomenon ofmasochism, named after the author.
Toward the end of the 19th century, a more "cultured" form of erotica began to appear by poets such asAlgernon Charles Swinburne, who pursued themes ofpaganism,lesbianism and sado-masochism in such works asLesbia Brandon and in contributions toThe Whippingham Papers (1888) edited by St George Stock, author ofThe Romance of Chastisement (1866). This was associated with theDecadent movement, in particular, withAubrey Beardsley and theYellow Book. But it was also to be found in France, amongst such writers asPierre Louys, author ofLes chansons de Bilitis (1894) (a celebration of lesbianism and sexual awakening).
Pioneering works ofgay male erotica from this time wereThe Sins of the Cities of the Plain (1881),[37] which features the celebrated Victoriantransvestite duo ofBoulton and Park as characters,[38] andTeleny, or The Reverse of the Medal (1893).[39][40][41]
Two important publishers of erotic fiction at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th wereLeonard Smithers (1861–1907)[39] andCharles Carrington (1867–1921),[42] both of whom were subject to legal injunctions from the British authorities in order to prohibit their trade in such material. Because of this legal harassment the latter conducted his business from Paris.[43] Erotic fiction published by Carrington at this period includesRaped on the Railway: a True Story of a Lady who was first ravished and then flagellated on the Scotch Express (1894)[44][45][46][47] andThe Memoirs of Dolly Morton (1899) set on a slave-plantation in the Southern States of America.[48][49][50]
20th-century erotic fiction includes such classics of the genre as:Suburban Souls (1901), published by Carrington and possibly written by him also;[51]The Confessions of Nemesis Hunt (issued in three volumes 1902, 1903, 1906),[52] attributed toGeorge Reginald Bacchus,[53][54] printed by Duringe of Paris for Leonard Smithers in London;[39]Josephine Mutzenbacher (1906) by Anon. (presumablyFelix Salten);Sadopaideia (1907) by Anon. (possiblyAlgernon Charles Swinburne);[55]Les Mémoires d'un jeune Don Juan (1907) and the somewhat disturbingLes onze mille verges (1907) byGuillaume Apollinaire;[56]The Way of a Man with a Maid (1908)[57] andA Weekend Visit by Anon.;Pleasure Bound Afloat (1908),Pleasure Bound Ashore (1909) andMaudie (1909) by Anon. (probably George Reginald Bacchus), andMy Lustful Adventures (1911) by the pseudonymous 'Ramrod';Manuel de civilité pour les petites filles à l'usage des maisons d'éducation (1917) andTrois filles de leur mère (1926) by Pierre Louys;,[58][59] a memoirMy Life and Loves byFrank Harris published in four volumes (1922-1927),Story of the Eye (1928) byGeorges Bataille;Tropic of Cancer (1934) andTropic of Capricorn (1938) byHenry Miller; TheStory of O (1954) byPauline Réage;Helen and Desire (1954) andThongs (1955) byAlexander Trocchi;Ada, or Ardor (1969) byVladimir Nabokov;Journal (1966),Delta of Venus (1978)[60] andLittle Birds (1979) byAnaïs Nin[61] andThe Bicycle Rider (1985) byGuy Davenport andLila Says (1999) by an anonymous author.
A study found that the most popular of theArmed Services Editions paperbacks distributed to American soldiers during World War II "are novels that deal frankly with sexual relations (regardless of tone, literary merit and point of view, no matter whether the book is serious or humorous, romantically exciting or drably pedestrian)".[62]
Vladimir Nabokov'sLolita is usually described as an erotic novel, but in the view of some it is a literary drama with elements of eroticism.[citation needed] Like Nabokov'sLolita,Johannes Linnankoski'sThe Song of the Blood-Red Flower is also often described as erotic novel, only a little explicit and cleverly cloaked in gentler romance.[63]
Lolita andThe Story of O were published byOlympia Press, aParis-basedpublisher, launched in 1953 byMaurice Girodias as a rebadged version of theObelisk Press he inherited from his fatherJack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction andavant-gardeliterary works.The Girls of Radcliff Hall is aroman à clef novel in the form of a lesbian girls'school story written in the 1930s by the British composer and bon-vivantGerald Berners, the 14th Lord Berners, under thepseudonym "Adela Quebec", published and distributed privately in 1932.[64]
Another trend in the twentieth century was the rise of thelesbian pulp fiction. Works such asThe Price of Salt (1952),Spring Fire (1952),Desert of the Heart (1964), andPatience and Sarah (1969) were only a few examples of this subgenre. Many of the authors were women themselves, such asGale Wilhelm andAnn Bannon. Many gay men also enjoyedgay pulp fiction, which borrowed the samesexploitation format as the lesbian books.[65]
Chinese literature has a rich catalogue of erotic novels that were published during the mid-Ming to early-Qing dynasties. Some well-known erotic novels with explicit sexuality during this period includeRuyijun zhuan (The Lord of Perfect Satisfaction),The Embroidered Couch,Su'e pian,Langshi,Chipozi zhuan,Zhulin yeshi, andThe Carnal Prayer Mat. The critic Charles Stone has argued that pornographic technique is the "union of banality, obscenity, and repetition", and contains just the "rudiments" of plot, style, and characterization, while anything that is not sexually stimulating is avoided. If this is the case, he concluded, thenThe Lord of Perfect Satisfaction is the "fountainhead of Chinese erotica", but not pornography.[66] The novelJin Ping Mei (orThe Plum in the Golden Vase), written by an author who used only a pseudonym (as his real name is unknown), is generally regarded as the greatest of all Chinese erotic novels. Its literary status is unparalleled among erotic fiction and it has been described by criticStephen Marche in theLos Angeles Review of Books as "one of the world's great novels, if not simply the greatest."[67]
There is also a tradition of erotic fiction in Japan.Jun'ichirō Tanizaki often touches on erotic themes in his novels, eg. obsession inNaomi, lesbianism inQuicksand or sexuality inThe Key. Some portion of this isdoujinshi, or independent comics, which are oftenfan fiction. Thesharebon (洒落本) was a pre-modern Japanese literary genre. Plots revolved around humor and entertainment at the pleasure quarters. It is a subgenre ofgesaku.
In the 21st century, a number of female authors, includingAlison Tyler,Rachel Kramer Bussel, andCarol Queen, rose to prominence.Mitzi Szereto is an editor and author who said she wants to see the termerotica removed from novels and anthologies that include depictions of sexual activities. Other authors celebrate the term but also question why literature featuring sexual activity should be considered outside literary fiction.
The debate was rekindled in 2012 by the release of the50 Shades of Grey trilogy written byE. L. James. The success of her erotica for every woman, dubbed 'mommyporn', gave rise to satires likeFifty Shames of Earl Grey by 'Fanny Merkin' (real nameAndrew Shaffer), a book of essays calledFifty Writers on Fifty Shades (ed.Lori Perkins) and editors of erotic imprints re-evaluating the content and presentation of the genre.[68]
One development in contemporary erotica is the knowledge that many women, and not just men, are aroused by it. This is regardless of whether it is traditional pornography or tailor-madewomen's erotica.Romantic novels are sometimes marketed as erotica—or vice versa—as "mainstream" romance in recent decades has begun to exhibit blatant (if poetic) descriptions of sex.Erotic romance is a relatively new genre of romance with an erotic theme and very explicit love scenes, but with a romance at the heart of the story. Erotic fantasy is asubgenre offantasy fiction and utilizeserotica in a fantasy setting. These stories can essentially cover any of the other subgenres of fantasy, such ashigh fantasy,contemporary fantasy, or evenhistorical fantasy. The extents of the genre to break existing conventions and limits in subject matter have managed to shock popular audiences, with genres such asmonster erotica emerging with the ease of digital publishing.
Erotic fantasy fiction has similarities toromantic fantasy but is more explicit. Erotic fantasy can also be found infan fiction, which uses plot elements and characters from popular fiction such as television, film, or novels. Erotic fan fiction may use characters from existing works innon-canon relationships, such asslash (homoerotic) fan fiction. Fan fiction and its Japanese counterpart,doujinshi, account for an enormous proportion of all erotica written today.[citation needed]
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The Internet and digital revolution inerotic depiction has changed the forms of representing scenes of a sexual nature.
Erotica was present on the Internet from its earliest days, as seen from rec.arts.erotica onUsenet. This news group was a moderated forum for the exchange of erotic stories that predated the creation of theWorld Wide Web. Most of this migrated to thealt.* hierarchy forums by the 1990s, includingalt.sex.stories. The bandwidth/speeds available to end users on the internet influenced usage, and during early days of dial-up internet connections, the limited speeds, especially in developing countries, limited the number of users trying to access visual forms of erotica including images and videos, and might have created a niche for erotic literature. Platforms such as nifty.org presented a vast library of erotic literature categorized according to the narrative, including heterosexual, gay, bisexual and transgender themes. The vast majority of Internet erotica is written by amateurs for the enjoyment of the author and readers instead of for profit. The increased interactivity and anonymity allows casual or hobby writers the opportunity not only to author their own stories but also to share them with a world-wide audience. Many authors adopt colorful pseudonyms and can develop cult followings within their genre, although a small number use their real names. Amongtransgender ornon-binary authors, it is a common practice to adopt a feminine or masculine alter-ego, although a writer may use their own given name.
...the first complete English translation of theChin Ping Mei, one of the world's great novels, if not simply the greatest, was released only last month.... It's a masterpiece an epic scholarly achievement.... Like all the great works of humanistic realism, theChin Ping Mei relishes its own contradictions.
