Category: 24.2 Literatuur en Erotiek

Masterclass | On Sadomasochism, Fantasy and Transgression: Rethinking Power and Gender through Histoire d’O Abstract Histoire d’O by Pauline Réage is described by some critics as horrible sadomasochistic pornography which glorifies patriarchy and violence against women. However, if one reads the novel as a fictional exploration of certain ideas instead of a depiction of reality,… Continue reading 24.2 | Coco d’Hont

Masterclass | A ‘Perverse’ Stereoscopic Vision in Gustave Flaubert’s Salammbô Abstract This article investigates the possibility of a stereoscopic vision in Gustave Flaubert’s novel Salammbô, a gloomy narrative of erotic obsession. Referring to Jonathan Crary’s study Techniques of the Observer in which the author explains the epistemological differences between eighteenth century and nineteenth century notions… Continue reading 24.2 | Joost Vormeer

Lezen doe je niet met je lichaam: Wat is literaire pornografie? Abstract Pornography presents the viewer with sexuality in a deliciously facile way and allows him to fantasise taking part in it. For the reader of pornographic literature there’s nothing to see, however. In this article I explore the conceptual possibility of ‘literary pornography,’ given… Continue reading 24.2 | Rob van Gerwen

Het ontklede woord: Literatuur en erotiek volgens Georges Bataille Abstract Literature and erotism seem to be two very different cases. Can a novel be literary and erotic at the very same time? And is there a literary quality that can be subscribed to erotism? In his essay “Het ontklede woord”, Bart Smout tries to answer… Continue reading 24.2 | Bart Smout

Phallus and Void in Kipling’s “The Vampire” and Its Progeny Abstract On one level, Rudyard Kipling’s “The Vampire” (1897) and the works inspired by it, particularly Porter Emerson Browne’s “A Fool There Was” (1909) and its 1915 film adaptation, dramatize anxieties surrounding the woman’s superiority to male attempts at sexual domination. Freud’s contemporaneous theories on… Continue reading 24.2 | Anne Morey and Claudia Nelson

Bronzino’s Del pennello and the Pleasures of Art Abstract Agnolo Bronzino was a Florentine artist in the sphere of the Medici court who was also an accomplished and recognized poet. His most appreciated poems were in the genres of parody and burlesque humor that often employed sexual puns and metaphors as expressive means. This article… Continue reading 24.2 | Bette Talvacchia

Verlangen als verhaalmotor: lust, list en liefde in de middeleeuwse literatuur Abstract The sin of lust proves to be a powerful story engine in medieval romance and other genres. King Uther’s lust allows Merlin to manipulate him into fathering Arthur; a devil sleeps with Merlin’s pious mother and Lancelot’s desire for the queen makes it… Continue reading 24.2 | Frank Brandsma