Scenes of a Sexual Nature: The Best Erotic Reads

14.02.12

1Culture

In honour of Valentine's Day, we look at some of the raunchiest works of literature ever created

Thanks to the annual Literary Review's Bad Sex Award, we all know how difficult it is to write about the act of love without resorting to cheap metaphor or cringe-worthy cliché. The results are often toe-curling (and not in a good way), as is so aptly demonstrated by 2011 winner David Guterson's alarmingly prudish lexical choice ("his middle fingertip settled on the no-man's-land between her 'front parlour' and 'back door'"). The award was founded 18 years ago by Auberon Waugh, its main aim being to name and shame those contemporary novelists prone to awkward, grotesque or nonsensical prose when writing about sex. There is nothing perhaps more excruciating on this earth than bearing witness to the falling flat of an attempt at eroticism, and, in parallel, an ability to write skilfully and beautifully about a sexual experience is perhaps the greatest testament to a novelist's ability. Here, we pay tribute to some of the most erotic works of literature but be warned- the coy amongst you best look away now...

Spy in the House of Love, by Anaïs Nin  (1954)

French-Cuban Nin wrote several works of erotic fiction during her lifetime, with the posthumously published Delta of Venus dealing with a range of sexual themes and practices, many of them (such as incest and prostitution) taboo. Novella Spy in the House of Love details the escapades of Sabrina, an adulterous, lying wife with a penchant for seduction, and is perhaps less intimidating to the new reader. It combines vivid prose with a compelling narrative that centers around the presence of a mysterious "Lie Detector", hell-bent on exposing Sabrina's misdeeds.

Quote: "They fled from the eyes of the world, the singer’s prophetic, harsh, ovarian prologues. Down the rusty bars of ladders to the undergrounds of the night propitious to the first man and woman at the beginning of the world, where there were no words by which to possess each other, no music for serenades, no presents to court with, no tournaments to impress and force a yielding, no secondary instruments, no adornments, necklaces, crowns to subdue, but only one ritual, a joyous, joyous, joyous, joyous impaling of woman on man’s sensual mast.”

Birdsong, by Sebastian Faulks (1993)

Now a major BBC adaptation, Birdsong juxtaposes the hero Stephen's horrific experiences of the Great War with his memories of a doomed love affair. The novel is beautifully written and poignantly detailed, and Faulks' sex scenes are unpretentious in their realism but stirring in their portrayal of the overwhelming passion and reckless longing central to the protagonists' relationship. Faulks succeeds in merging visceral physicality with romanticism (there is no pretence here), and what results are scenes that are touching in their realism.

Quote: "She felt his fingertips gently run down the cleft of her skin. She wondered if they were soft enough for him to feel the quality of her flesh or whether they were too calloused to register the different texture of what they touched. She was overcome with desire as his fingers probed the abrasion. It was as though they were not on her cheek, but were opening the flesh between her legs; she felt again the soft intrusion of his tongue; she re-experienced the ecstasy of abasement and possession."

Fear of Flying, by Erica Jong (1973)

Revolutionary in its approach to female sexuality, it was this novel which coined the term "zipless fuck" to characterise a sexual liaison with little or no emotional involvement. The protagonist, Isadora White, embarks on a no-strings-attached seduction while on a trip to Vienna that results in her taking on a kind of 'sex tour' around Europe, with often hilarious results.

Quote: “The zipless fuck is absolutely pure. It is free of ulterior motives. There is no power game. The man is not "taking" and the woman is not "giving." No one is attempting to cuckold a husband or humiliate a wife. No one is trying to prove anything or get anything out of anyone. The zipless fuck is the purest thing there is. And it is rarer than the unicorn. And I have never had one."

Les Liasons Dangereuses by Choderlos de Laclos (1782)

For those who, in their teenage years, thought Cruel Intentions was the apex of sensuality, the original story from the eighteenth century may come as something of a shock. The story details the sexual game-playing and manipulations of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, ex-lovers who use seduction as a way of wielding power and controlling others. A sensual tale of seduction and revenge, Les Liasons Dangereuses has retained its scandalous reputation and reportedly included Marie Antoinette amongst its admirers.

Quote: “On arriving at my temple of love I chose the most elegant negligee I could find: a delicious one of my own creation. It reveals nothing and suggests everything.”

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera (1984)

A love triangle, but not as we know it. Kundera's novel follows the lives of Tomas, his wife Tereza and his mistress Sabina as they try to reconcile their very different conceptions of what it means to love and be loved. Albeit more playfully philosophical in tone than erotic, the novel has some powerful scenes dealing with sex, marriage and infidelity, and some shrewd reflections on modern relationships. It is not so much a raunchy page-turner as it is a must for anyone looking for a new perspective on the politics of sex. A love story: yes, but not like any that you've read before.

Quote: “Making love with a woman and sleeping with a woman are two separate passions, not merely different but opposite. Love does not make itself felt in the desire for copulation (a desire that extends to an infinite number of women) but in the desire for shared sleep (a desire limited to one woman).”

Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier (1943)

A nameless narrator, a strange house, a creepy housekeeper and the looming figure of a deceased ex-wife may not seem like much of a turn-on, but the mysterious figure of Rebecca, with her uninhibited sexuality, casts a sensual shadow over the central characters. It's not so much a bodice-ripping yarn as it the anticipation wrought by long, meaningful looks and repressed emotions, and a lurking sense of frisson. Sex is implicit in its absence, proving that you don't need crude language and explicit description to produce a naughty thrill.

Quote: "You're not like the other one... tall and dark she was... She gave you the feeling of a snake. I seen her here with my own eyes..."

Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert (1856)

Flaubert's tale of Emma Bovary and her adulterous liaisons is an erotic masterpiece. Accusations of obscenity and a subsequent trial made it a bestseller, much in the same way as censorship did for Lady Chatterley's Lover (see below) A biting critique of the bourgeoisie and their romantic delusions, Flaubert paints Emma as a kind of proto-sex addict; happy only when she is being indulged. Subsequently, unsatisfied with her husband, she embarks upon a number of extra martial affairs, turns to pornography and falls victim to the desires which will ultimately mark her demise.

Quote: "The cold made them clasp each other the tighter; their sighs seemed more profound; their eyes, though they could scarcely discern them in the gloom, seemed bigger, and in the stillness that enfolded them a word, softly murmured, would fall upon their hearts like the note of a crystal bell and pass, trembling with infinite vibrations, into silence."

Lady Chatterley's Lover, D.H. Lawrence (1928)

The lady of the house canoodling with the gardener may have become a cliché of romantic fiction, but it originated in the tale of Lady Chatterley, who, bored and lumbered with an impotent husband, is crying out for some sexual attention. Cue much romping amongst the gardenias. Depending on your age it may make you snigger (I personally giggled through it like a schoolgirl), but there's no denying that Constance's trysts with Mellors carry a certain...ahem...clout. Once banned for obscenity and passed covertly from housewife to housewife, it would perhaps serve you well to avoid the political pontificating in between and skip straight to the dirty bits.

Quote: “His body was urgent against her, and she didn't have the heart anymore to fight...She saw his eyes, tense and brilliant, fierce, not loving. But her will had left her. A strange weight was on her limbs. She was giving way. She was giving up...she had to lie down there under the boughs of the tree, like an animal, while he waited, standing there in his shirt and breeches, watching her with haunted eyes...?"

The Ages of Lulu, Almudena Grandes, (1989)

One can scarcely scan these pages without blushing a little; finding a suitable quote to include was rather a task. This tale of a young woman's loss of sexual innocence and subsequent adventures is detailed and descriptive, and, as the protagonists' desires increasingly stray towards the darker side of the sexual spectrum, she enters a world of dangerous obsession. Lulu's erotic cravings result in her involvement in a dangerous power struggle as her predelictions become more and more outré- it's certainly not one for the timid or prudish reader, but the prose has a descriptive power which some will find irresistibly tantalising.

Quote: “His tongue was hot, and tasted of gin. He licked my whole face, my chin, my throat, my neck, and then I decided not to think anymore, for the first time- not to think-he’d do the thinking for me.”

The Sexual Life of Catherine M, Catherine Millet (2003)

Sex certainly sold for French author Catherine Millet, whose candid descriptions of her sexual adventures were the ingredients for an instant bestseller. Hot on the heels of the Belle de Jour publishing sensation, The Sexual Life of Catherine M. was hailed as one of the most sexually explicit books ever written by a woman- and for that reason alone is worth a flick through. In this semi-autobiographical novel, the heroine has sex in pretty much every way that you can imagine, in every place that you can imagine. It's certainly not a sensual read, and at times can seem a little clinical, but it's certainly er, detailed.

Quote: "My first sexual experience, and many others since, took place in circumstances which could lead one to believe that oxygen has an aphrodisiac effect on me. My nudity feels more complete to me out in the open than in a closed room. When the surrounding temperature, whatever it may be, can be felt by an area of skin it doesn't normally reach, such as the small of the back, the body no longer presents an obstacle to the air, it is penetrated by it and is, therefore, more open, more receptive."

Tipping the Velvet, Sarah Walters, 1998

About as sex drenched as historical fiction comes, Tipping the Velvet revolves around Nan and her journey of erotic discovery. Dabbling in prostitution embarking on a lesbian love affair, Nan eventually becomes a kind of "male impersonator"/concubine for a rich woman of specialist tastes. Vivid depictions of the heroine's sexual antics take place against a backdrop of Victorian London, and brought about a whole new genre of literary fiction exploring same-sex relationships in a historical context.

Quote: “But he was not like Walter, who might take his pleasure where he chose it. His pleasure had turned, at the last, to a kind of grief; and his love was a love so fierce and so secret it must be satisfied, with a stranger, in a reeking court like this. I knew about that kind of love. I knew how it was to bare your palpitating heart, and be fearful as you did so that the beats should come too loudly, and betray you.”