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A review by lilith_knight
Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin
Did not finish book.
TW: rape, pedophilia, incest, bestiality, racial slurs, sexual harassment and who knows what else
DNF @ 30%
Short review: Yikes.
Long review:
I was meaning to read Anaïs Nin for years, but it turns out I picked the wrong book to do so. You see, she is famous for her published diaries rather than her erotic stories, and I can see why now.
I want to start with a little backstory information about this book: Delta of Venus is a collection of erotica, commisioned in the 40's by a private collector. That I know, because in the prologue of the book, there is a part of Anaïs's aforementioned diaries, in which it is explained that these stories where written intentionally to be absurd. The collector instructed specifically that he wanted 'more sex, less poetry' so Anaïs and a close group of people in need of money (including Henry Miller, her lover at the time) started forming these stories and making it kind of a personal joke between them (but also loathing the fact that they had lost their agency).
Thus, the context might explain some of the trigger warnings. I still can't completely comprehend why somebody would consciously want to put these things in an erotica collection, but I do understand why they were written in the first place. De Sade and Bataille have written equally, if not more, disturbing stories in the past, and their works are considered masterpieces, so I guess I can't really get it, or stomach it for that matter.
But I need to say this: if I was about to read one of the two aforementioned writers I would probably be able to ready myself for the vile things that are to come, but with Delta of Venus I was completely clueless. When I picked this book up I thought I was about to read some vintage 40's erotica, a little kinky, maybe a little fun. Something light. So imagine my utter shock when the very first story was about a man who molests young children (including his own). Naturally, I skipped some parts and made vomiting sounds in the ones that I didn't.
Also there is a very loose version of consent in here, that I guess it is considered kinky in the text, but as a young woman living in the modern 20's, I cannot see it as such.
To give credit where credit is due some of the stories I read were actually what I expected (wanted?) them to be. Mostly unproblematic, a true bohemian sexfest. Also I can understand the slurs used due to the time period Delta of Venus was written, and to Nin's credit she didn't depict any person of colour as inferior. Quite the contrary. At least as far as I read.
In conclusion, I woke up this morning asking myself: do I really want to read 200 pages of explicit, potentially disturbing, erotica and zero character growth (because that was not the point of the commision)? I suppose you can guess my answer.
DNF @ 30%
Short review: Yikes.
Long review:
I was meaning to read Anaïs Nin for years, but it turns out I picked the wrong book to do so. You see, she is famous for her published diaries rather than her erotic stories, and I can see why now.
I want to start with a little backstory information about this book: Delta of Venus is a collection of erotica, commisioned in the 40's by a private collector. That I know, because in the prologue of the book, there is a part of Anaïs's aforementioned diaries, in which it is explained that these stories where written intentionally to be absurd. The collector instructed specifically that he wanted 'more sex, less poetry' so Anaïs and a close group of people in need of money (including Henry Miller, her lover at the time) started forming these stories and making it kind of a personal joke between them (but also loathing the fact that they had lost their agency).
Thus, the context might explain some of the trigger warnings. I still can't completely comprehend why somebody would consciously want to put these things in an erotica collection, but I do understand why they were written in the first place. De Sade and Bataille have written equally, if not more, disturbing stories in the past, and their works are considered masterpieces, so I guess I can't really get it, or stomach it for that matter.
But I need to say this: if I was about to read one of the two aforementioned writers I would probably be able to ready myself for the vile things that are to come, but with Delta of Venus I was completely clueless. When I picked this book up I thought I was about to read some vintage 40's erotica, a little kinky, maybe a little fun. Something light. So imagine my utter shock when the very first story was about a man who molests young children (including his own). Naturally, I skipped some parts and made vomiting sounds in the ones that I didn't.
Also there is a very loose version of consent in here, that I guess it is considered kinky in the text, but as a young woman living in the modern 20's, I cannot see it as such.
To give credit where credit is due some of the stories I read were actually what I expected (wanted?) them to be. Mostly unproblematic, a true bohemian sexfest. Also I can understand the slurs used due to the time period Delta of Venus was written, and to Nin's credit she didn't depict any person of colour as inferior. Quite the contrary. At least as far as I read.
In conclusion, I woke up this morning asking myself: do I really want to read 200 pages of explicit, potentially disturbing, erotica and zero character growth (because that was not the point of the commision)? I suppose you can guess my answer.