Required Reading

Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin

I remember I was hanging out with a bunch of friends on the beach after a pretty grueling final when we got to talking about some of our favorite authors. I had just finished reading Delta of Venus; I considered it a break from all the studying that needed to be done for the final and I made time to wind down with some personal reading. I mentioned that I had finally read some Anaïs Nin when one of my friends looked at me and and said something like “isn’t that a bit porn-ish?” Well…sort of. For the time, writing about sex, especially the way she wrote about it, was risky. It was basically erotica, and I guess it is still considered as such.

Consider this, an excerpt from Delta of Venus:

There was a Hungarian adventurer who had astonishing beauty, infallible charm, grace, the powers of a trained actor, culture, knowledge of many tongues, aristocratic manners. Beneath all this was a genius for intrigue, for slipping out of difficulties, for moving smoothly in and out of countries.

He traveled in grandiose style, with fifteen trunks of the finest clothes, with two great Danes. His air of authority had earned him the nickname the Baron. The Baron was seen in the most luxurious hotels, at watering places and horse races, on world tours, excursions to Egypt, trips through the desert, into Africa.

Everywhere he became the center of attraction for women. Like the most versatile of actors, he passed from one role to another to please the taste of each of them. He was the most elegant dancer, the most vivacious dinner partner, the most decadent of entertainers in tête-à-têtes; he could sail a boat, ride, drive. He knew each city as though he had lived there all his life. He knew everyone in society. He was indispensable.

When he needed money he married a rich woman, plundered her and left for another country. Most of the time the women did not rebel or complain to the police. The few weeks or months they had enjoyed him as a husband left a sensation that was stronger than the shock of losing their money. For a moment they had known what it was to live with strong wings, to fly above the heads of mediocrity.

If you continue on with this section, you’ll find that the Baron has sexual relations with children.

Nin was commisioned to write a book in the 1940s after Henry Miller turned down the offer. The task: write erotica. Some would argue that pornography is not art, and if you look at what most people consider pornography today, I would have to agree. Anaïs Nin changes all of that.

I hadn’t planned on posting this anytime soon but I was thinking of buying my own copy; the one I read belonged to an old friend. As I was reading the comments left about Delta of Venus on Amazon, I ran across this, a comment left that read:

When I first read “Delta of Venus”, I was but a 20-something, as yet uneducated in the ways of love and the world. But I wasn’t too young to feel the effect of Nin’s dreamy prose, the heightened tease of her language, the titillation of the poetic images of lovers of every variety and combination, all experiencing the joys of the flesh. I never knew descriptions of heretofore “clinical” bodyparts could seem so … beautiful.

That is exactly how I would put it. What an amazing writer. If you have never read it, please do so. This isn’t just a novel, this isn’t just erotica; it’s art. It should be appreciated.

You can read Delta of Venus here on Google Books.

This is part of the Required Reading series, which should be considered more recommendation than requirement.