Magic!

And I must confess that it did trigger a memory of Hugh Jackman in some movie where he played a Victorian toff, gadding about in top boots and riding a white horse.

I must admit that I don’t mind a bit of well-written heat! But no, “throbbing cocks” isn’t really it, is it? A few beautifully rendered lines about the nature of the passion can tell me a lot about the characters, their relationship and even how it is changing; eg, is it tender or wild; familiar and loving or all sensory discovery of the hectic and haptic persuasion.

Writing well about sex is something that most writers feel self-conscious about. And trying to depict “good sex” is really, really difficult. The writer feels exposed, literally, which is why (I reckon) many male writers who are held up as being part of the great literary “canon” (definitely no pun intended) cop out and write deliberately about bad, cheap, tawdry, ugly, nasty sex.

A few years back I attended a conference where a Literary Professor gave an address titled “Bad Sex” and analyzed some of the sex scenes written by Beckett and Coetzee. I was really struck by how misogynistic their depictions were. They all involved revolting men and awful women engaged in unlovely couplings loaded with disgust, repulsion and hatred but zero joy, pleasure, delight or love.

I got a bit cranky! I thought to myself, “What cowards!” They’re not prepared to expose themselves, or real emotions in their writing so they hide behind these awful literary constructs and garner praise for writing so savagely about something that can be so beautiful.

So, I guess my contribution to the debate is, that it takes more guts to try and present something lovely than something ugly and doing so without resorting to Playboy’s Letter-of-The-Week-Language ain’t easy.

I personally do not like graphic sex in a book. I have a fine imagination and do not need to have a picture drawn. I will say that the Duchess of Marlborough certainly could draw a picture with very few words – ha!

Writing about sex is a perilous pastime.

I’ve read “Hardball”. It makes me think over my days around 1960s to 70s also. I especially was touched by Sister Francis who fought for social justice and civil liberty, and Tony’s letter to Tori.

By the way I found a nice review on the New York Times, P.D.James’s comment on the female detective. Have you read it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/books/07book.html?_r=1

“He did. It was.”

While it has been some years since I read “Sons”, the sex was key to the individuals and where they were within their generation(s). It was meaningful to me. My wife has a very different reaction to sex in her reading… we have overlapping interests… than I do, but we trust the writer a lot. I hope I do not need manuals, yet.

Thank you for “Hardball”. I am a product of the busses to Mississippi, and this helped me understand the big city integration a bit more.