Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of human sexual relationships which have the power to or are intended to arouse the reader sexually. Such erotica takes the form of novels, short stories, poetry, true-life memoirs, and sex manuals. A common feature of the genre are transgressive sexual fantasies on such themes as prostitution, orgies, homosexuality, sado-masochism, cross-dressing, incest and many other taboo subjects and fetishes, which may or may not be expressed in explicit language. Other common elements are satire and social criticism. Despite cultural taboos on such material, circulation of erotic literature was not seen as a major problem before the invention of printing, as the costs of producing individual manuscripts limited distribution to a very small group of readers. The invention of printing, in the 15th century, brought with it both a greater market and increasing restrictions, which took the form of censorship and legal restraints on publication on grounds of obscenity. Because of this, much of the production of this type of material became clandestine.
Much erotic literature features erotic art, illustrating the text.
Read more about Erotic Literature: Erotic Fiction
Famous quotes containing the words erotic and/or literature:
“No hand has been allowed to touch
The rose I hide,
Though eyes have looked upon it and desired it.”
—Unknown. The Thousand and One Nights.
ErPo. Erotic Poetry; the Lyrics, Ballads, Idyls, and Epics of Love—Classical to Contemporary. William Cole, ed. (1963)
“Literature is not exhaustible, for the sufficient and simple reason that a single book is not. A book is not an isolated entity: it is a narration, an axis of innumerable narrations. One literature differs from another, either before or after it, not so much because of the text as for the manner in which it is read.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)