Major LaCaritilie

This is a collection of 29 short stories and extracts from (probably) longer works, all concerning aspects of the way women's sexuality and behaviour are treated in the large corpus of erotic literature. It does seem to do this job with reasonable competence, but as no bibliographic details are provided for the extracts given – none at all! - the book completely lacks authority as a source. Even with my own reasonable extensive knowledge of (at least) the most significant examples of Victorian erotic literature I was unable to assign origins to any of the examples provided. If you're looking for a statement on female sexuality, you will find it impossible, therefore, to distinguish fact from (probably male) imagination. It doesn't help, of course, that (for some obscure reason) character names have been modified, on one occasion sloppily using search-and-replace, with fairly amusing consequences. As a collection of erotic short stories the book stands up surprisingly well, however, and it will be appreciated by many as a source of erotic stimulus, despite the frustrations of these shortcomings.… (plus d'informations)

The combined Victorian and Edwardian eras saw a veritable explosion in the availability of erotic literature, work which fulfilled both educational and titillatory functions at a time of public disapproval of such matters. The standard of the writing and publication was highly variable, probably a result of the lack of open scrutiny accorded to individual items, and together with the quantity of material, this has led to its current availability being patchy. There has also been a modern trend, in some ways matching the original one, for the better writings to be reissued under false identification and attribution. This volume offers a wealth of original material from the Victorian period, and it therefore plays an important part in supplementing the current provision, which is based on what seems to be a minor part of the available literature, even though this minor part may well represent the better part. It undoubtedly achieves its modern titillatory aim, although I feel it falls short on two counts. The opportunity has been missed to provide some (at least) bibliographic detail of the extracts chosen; the volume includes a mere three-page description of the contents by ‘Dr Major La Caritilie’. And there are some items here that are definitely not Victorian; the extract from the 1960s ‘Darling’, normally ascribed to ‘Harriet Daimler’ is perhaps the most glaring anachronism. A useful, interesting book, but with shortcomings.… (plus d'informations)

Flagellation, lesbianism and a little light orgying. Hmm, the vicotians seems quite strait-laced in their perversions, although since the orgies were mostly set in 20s Hollywood, I'm not entirely sure they should be included in a book of Victorian erotica.

Its hard to tell whether these excerpts truly reflect society's tastes, or whether theres some selection bias on the part of whoever put the book together.

For example, the excerpt from [My Secret Life] focussed on lesbiansim, whereas from what I remember of the book (and admittedly my copy is abridged - and one of the few books I dont want an unexpurgated copy of - blimey it was dull)Walter was more interested in molesting serving girls, ladies pissing in the street and two men with one woman scenarios. The other victorian books I have are equally diverse.

Having said that, its a fair collection of stories , including something from most books I've heard of from that period. Good bedside reading.… (plus d'informations)