Title: Delta of Venus
Author: Anaïs Nin
Publisher: Penguin Classics (30 March 2000)
ISBN: 978-0141182841
‘At the time we were all writing erotica for a dollar a page, I realized that for centuries we had had only one model for this literary genre – the writing of men. I was already conscious of a difference between the masculine and feminine treatment of sexual experience.’
- Anaïs Nin, Los Angeles, 1976
To me, Anaïs Nin’s writing embodies what really good erotica is all about; it’s clever, stylish, and knicker-meltingly sexy. But best of all it’s unashamed, by which I mean that it happily explores themes and ideas that push the envelope in terms of the taboo. It maintains its dignity and doesn’t ever cross over the line into porn – despite some of the trickier subject matter it contains – because Anaïs Nin understands the power of the feminine voice. Her stories gently permeate the senses and allow us to play with and enjoy ‘forbidden’ concepts that we would be uncomfortable exploring anywhere but in the privacy of our own heads. I have read and re-read the Delta of Venus many, many times over the years and it still has the same power and impact it did when I first discovered it as a teenager.
Delta of Venus is not a novel but a collection of short stories that explore a variety of sexual themes. Some are extremely short, others quite lengthy (Mallorca, for example is only two and half pages long, while Elena weighs in a roughly sixty pages) but all eloquently display Anaïs’s beautifully poetic writing style and her lovely turns of phrase. Interestingly, the private collector, for whom the Delta of Venus stories were originally written asked her to curb her lyrical, descriptive style, but Anaïs refused to do so, pointing out the importance of emotional texture to the pieces she was writing for him:
“‘Less poetry,” said the voice over the telephone. ‘Be specific.’
But did anyone ever experience pleasure from reading a clinical description? Didn’t the old man know how words carry colours and sounds into the flesh?’”
It is difficult to pick a favourite story from Delta of Venus – the quality of the writing is such that it makes the task all but impossible – but Linda is probably the entry that I enjoy reading most. In a mere sixteen pages, a seamless sexual adventure that starts with a husband, runs through an orgiastic party, and ends with a priest. The level of detail that Nin manages to pack into it is astounding and reading about Linda’s escapades is akin to being swept along in a warm, swirling current of sexuality.
‘The orgy was in full bloom. Women caressed one another. Two men would set about teasing a woman into a frenzy and then stop merely to enjoy the sight of her, with her dress half-undone, a shoulder strap fallen, a breast uncovered, while she tried to satisfy herself by pressing obscenely against the men, running against them, begging, lifting her dress.’
A word of caution. This is erotica so it touches on things that some readers may have difficulty with – snuff (Pierre), inappropriate Jesuit priests (The Boarding School), and familial relationships (The Hungarian Adventurer) – but I would stress that Delta of Venus is a work of fantasy. It’s intent is to titillate and arouse the senses, not to suggest that you go out and recreate the scenarios you’re reading about. Allow yourself to enjoy the stories for what they are: arousing sexual adventures.
If you’ve never read what I’d call ‘pure’ erotica before, Delta of Venus is the perfect entry point. It’s a classic of the genre, very well written and the stories are as fresh and provocative now as when they were penned over seventy years ago. Delta of Venus is not a compilation of erotic romance stories – don’t pick it up expecting classic heroes, heroines, or happy endings because it’s not that sort of book. It is, however, an intricately woven mesh of the sensual and an absolute masterclass in the depiction of sex in its many different and exciting forms.
Tickle your fancy? Click on the following links to buy Delta of Venus from: Amazon.co.uk (Kindle ; Paperback), Amazon.com (Paperback).
