Reading my first erotic work

[Brigit Astar]

I was about fifteen (I started late) when I read my first Victorian work of erotica. I was captivated by both the erotic nature of it and the literary quality of it. That writer (and I've forgotten who it was) knew how to write. She (Yes, it was woman!)was a very good writer, albeit a little flowery in her description. I have since tried to find that work, but I haven't been able to. It was a novel about a virgin who finally gives up her virginity, and she grows to love fucking.

[luvrof69]

I must have read that one to Brigit, because I grew up to love fucking.

[crzy67]

Good luck in your search. There are books from when I was younger that I am still looking for.

[ImmortalBeloved]

I was reading a bit of Colette the other night and suddenly want to track down her works to re-visit... been a long time. Thinking about what it is about that older literary erotica that turns me on so much, for me I think that it's something to do with the "shock horror" taboo of ordinary sex acts that tends to underlie so much of it. There's an innocence/niavety about the characters, so that something as simple as lifting a dress to finger a pussy seems incredibly erotic. So for me the erotic tension is built up from what is akin to tasting the forbidden fruit so to say. The writers seemed to have a capacity for making sex seem mysterious and a little dangerous, often hinted at rather than in one's face.

[Brigit Astar]

I think it's safe to say that erotica written up to World War II was considered as a branch of literature. The writers of erotica (especially the Victorian writers) viewed erotica as literature. There is a literary quality to written erotica prior to World War II that is lacking in modern erotic writing.

[Alice Bluegown]

There is a literary quality to written erotica prior to World War II that is lacking in modern erotic writing.

Some of us are trying very hard to change that (walks away whistling, hands in pockets...)

[Riverwood]

I hope that somewhere there are a graphic artists or video artists who are taking direct inspiration from the erotic stories of that era. Even if the 'wording' has to be adjusted for most of us in 21st century (ie. that 'flowery' problem), there's such a strong visual component in that writing. It deserves to be sustained.

[Brigit Astar]

There are numerous sites on the net where one can find Victorian erotic art and literature (and 21st century examples of "imitation" of it).
All you have to do is type in the search space Victorian Erotic Art and Literature.

[Alice Bluegown]

I've seen a couple of "erotic" videos that attempted to ape a Victorian style, with limited success (hairstyles all wrong, modern lingerie, high heels(!)) - the problem is that such projects are necessarily high-budget if you're going to do them properly (think TV costume dramas). The recent Viv Thomas production 'Prim & Improper' struck me as having something of a Victorian sensibility about it, with its wordy script, upper class attitudes and lush feel, even though it's set in the present day. Anyway, I'm still dreaming of the day when the current retro craze in fashion extends to the bustle...

[Brigit Astar]

I find it interesting that the Victorians in trying to hide or suppress eroticism and sexuality in general actually accentuated it and brought it out in disguised forms. This is true of both fashion and literature.

[Alice Bluegown]

The Victorians were nowhere near as sexually repressed as the popular image suggests (just as well, really - if they hadn't been interested in sex, none of us would be here). Victoria herself was far from a prude, at least in her younger days, and Edward Prince of Wales was a positive rake (if anyone's interested, there's a story on my website called 'The Gentle Waves' that uses some of this as background). Like many "repressed" cultures, the Victorians worked a fine line in hypocrisy, saying one thing but doing quite another, and I've seen it argued that it was the Edwardians who were more genuinely repressed (possibly as a response to 'Bertie's' youthful shenanigans, and the whole "naughty nineties" phenomenon).

[Brigit Astar]

Any way you look at it, the Victorians were incredibly prolific in writing erotic literature.

[abhubby]

Anyway, I'm still dreaming of the day when the current retro craze in fashion extends to the bustle... I, myself, yearn for a period a few decades prior: the corset of the 1850's to the early to mid 1860's and all of the fashion associated with it. Perhaps it's because of all of the studying that I have done into the material culture of antebellum and war-time America.

[Alice Bluegown]

I, myself, yearn for a period a few decades prior: the corset of the 1850's to the early to mid 1860's and all of the fashion associated with it.

Does that mean you're into crinolines? Crinolines are awesome!

[Carol53000]

I still have The Pearl that I read on occasion

[Brigit Astar]

I have The Pearl too. It's a gem.