🚀 go-pugleaf

I think the distinction between erotica and pornography is highly
overrated.  What it usually means is that the piece has pornographic 
scenes surrounded by non-pornograph material of some higher
degree of literary quality than what is sold in adult bookstores.
The sex scenes themselves may be well and subtly depicted, but
the effect is the same.  Unless it is a clinical treatise,
the depiction of physical sex has the effect of arousing the
reader's own sexual feelings, and writers and publishers know
this very well.  Literary writers and the reviewers they are in 
bed with like to characterize their pornography as erotica because 
it lends a note of legitimacy and high culture to it.  But
what it really does is sell books.  You  can't write pornography
to sell in Waldenbooks, but you can write erotica.  Same-o
same-o. 

My reading experience with literary erotica has been that the 
sex scenes invariably call attention to themselves alone and
add nothing to either plot or character development, and books
of pure erotica are mainly about the pornographic parts, with 
the non-pornographic parts being literary filler.  There may
be exceptions, of course, and there surely many PhDs who make
their living on the literary merits of erotica. Doubtless they
will have many enlightening things to say about it.  I certainly
wouldn't want to question the prosperity of the Henry Miller 
industry.

As for the literary quality of purely pornographic books, I
heard from the instructor of a writing class I took that 
almost all successful writers have written porn books, and
most of those who don't command high royalties regularly
do it.  These are those 175 page paperbacks for which they
receive about $1,000 flat fee, which a seasoned writer can
crank out in a week or so.  It comes in handy when the 
rent is due.  Does anyone in this thread know whether this is
true?  (I can honestly say that it has been many years since
I read such books or erotica either, for that matter. At the 
time I had no interest in the literary qualities of the 
material :-).


Gerry Palo (73237.2006@compuserve.com)

  "The concept 'falling in love' and the concept 'sex' are related
   to each other as the concept 'train' is related to the concept
   'being run over'." 
                       Rudolf Steiner (paraphrased from memory)