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A review by doggerdog
Delta of Venus: Erotica by Anaïs Nin
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
“…We reviled him, because he almost caused us to take vows of chastity, because what he wanted us to exclude was our own aphrodisiac - poetry.”
- Anaïs Nin, December, 1940
Despite being forced to subdue the “language of sex” by her client, as she states in the postscript, Nin’s voice as a sexually embodied woman is still prevalent throughout her stories. Allowing her to often beautifully express the dichotomy of woman’s sensuality: to be loved/worshipped and to be ravished.
These two sides of sensuality can also be divided into gendered categories, with the former largely being represented as a traditionally female perspective in literature (especially in the 1940s). Whereas the latter appeals heavily to men, and has been bastardised within culture as an act that only involves the man taking pleasure, without understanding the nuances of the act that allow women to seek out this form of sex. To be ravished is to be worshipped. To be ravished is to be loved.
In some of these stories, we see Nin be influenced by her client, taking a more male approach to the idea of ravishing women, in a way that is almost tongue and cheek to the women reading. Whilst it may seem undoubtedly erotic and factual to some men reading (particularly contextual men). They want to take from us, that’s the role we serve in sex. Yet Nin still plays with this idea even in these moments, using language to suggest that these women are enjoying this merely because they were worshipped prior to this act. Nin let’s us know that this dichotomy is symbiotic. A woman will not let you ravish her if you do not court her.
- Anaïs Nin, December, 1940
Despite being forced to subdue the “language of sex” by her client, as she states in the postscript, Nin’s voice as a sexually embodied woman is still prevalent throughout her stories. Allowing her to often beautifully express the dichotomy of woman’s sensuality: to be loved/worshipped and to be ravished.
These two sides of sensuality can also be divided into gendered categories, with the former largely being represented as a traditionally female perspective in literature (especially in the 1940s). Whereas the latter appeals heavily to men, and has been bastardised within culture as an act that only involves the man taking pleasure, without understanding the nuances of the act that allow women to seek out this form of sex. To be ravished is to be worshipped. To be ravished is to be loved.
In some of these stories, we see Nin be influenced by her client, taking a more male approach to the idea of ravishing women, in a way that is almost tongue and cheek to the women reading. Whilst it may seem undoubtedly erotic and factual to some men reading (particularly contextual men). They want to take from us, that’s the role we serve in sex. Yet Nin still plays with this idea even in these moments, using language to suggest that these women are enjoying this merely because they were worshipped prior to this act. Nin let’s us know that this dichotomy is symbiotic. A woman will not let you ravish her if you do not court her.