It should probably come as no surprise that I'm something of an erotica enthusiast. I mean, yes, I make a newsletter every weekday about erotica that requires me to flip through about a thousand blog entries; and, yes, I edit erotica for Circlet Press, which is about as iconic as erotica publishers go. However, it's not just a job for me. I once seduced a man by explaining to him the relevance of erotica as a literary genre. I'm not even kidding. So, my love for this stuff goes deep.
Which is why it's alarming when I start to feel burned out about it. Lately, I've been bad about getting the newsletter out on time, getting my daily quota of editing done, and even about answering my emails. Sometime around two this morning I decided something needed to be done. Erotica and I need to fall in love again.
For inspiration, I turned to Susie Bright's brilliant How to Write a Dirty Story. In it, she has a reading exercise that encourages the reader to explore all facets of erotic fiction. Her list of recommended reading is as follows.
Erotic Romance: The Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone, Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers
Erotic Sci-Fi: Cecilia Tan, Anything from Circlet Press, Crash by J.G. Ballard
Gothic: Anne Rice writing as A.N. Roquelaure
Horror: Lucy Taylor, Poppy Z. Brite
Plain Brown Wrapper: Anything by Anonymous, Penthouse Letters
Victorian: The Pearl, A Man and a Maid
Women's Erotica; Herotica, Fear of Flying, Delta of Venus
Modern Classics: Henry Miller, Lady Chatterley's Lover
The Classic: The Story of O
Mystery/Thriller: In the Cut, the Noirerotica series
Lesbian: Pat Califa, Tristain Taormino, Hot and Bothered
Gay: John Preston, John Rechy, Flesh and the Word, Aaron Travis
So, eliminating Stuff I've Read, Stuff I Don't Own, and People I Work For (and have therefore read extensively), here's my reading list:
Crash by J.G. Ballard
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure
Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
Penthouse: Naughty by Nature
The Way of a Man with a Maid
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
In the Cut by Susanna Moore
If anyone feels I'm missing something (and wants to donate an e-copy of that something to me ;-) please let me know. I'll post updates as I read through.
I would add Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs, just because it is the ur-text of the poor cousin of erotica, the femdom/malesub story. You can get it at Project Gutenberg.
ReplyDeleteIs there an erotica canon?
Probably as much as there is a canon in any form of literature. Meaning, of course, if there is, it's highly contested. :-)
DeleteI've read Venus in Furs, so I can't count it on this list. Any other suggestions?