I've been thinking about sex. I just can't seem to help myself.
Books just seem to be trending hotter and hotter these days. I've heard more authors than I can count talking about being asked to "sex up" their books by editors, agents, critique partners... The whole sex-it-up trend has started me thinking about the direction the romance industry is heading and why. (I'm a knowledge nerd. I always want to understand the whys.)
I recently read The Reader by Bernhard Schlink (now a major motion picture with Kate Winslet). It's a great book. A profound book. An intrinsically philosophical book. And do you know what one of the quotes on the back of my copy said? "What Schlink does best, what makes this novel most memorable, are the small moments of highly charged eroticism." Noooooooo. You are so wrong, Reviewer from Elle. You would have to put in distinct effort to be more wrong. Yes, there is a sexual affaire (forbidden, oooooh) in the book, but that is just a small part of its brilliance. The subtle philosophy, the moral quagmire... but I digress.
I was largely unaffected by the sexual details ("the small moments of highly charged eroticism") in the book - which had me wondering whether that was due to the fact that Schlink has such a matter-of-fact style or whether it was me. Have I been desensitized to the erotic? Stories are getting hotter and hotter, and my reaction to them seems to be growing more and more tepid.
Is it me, or is it all of us? Are we inured to the sensational? Immune to the titilating? Are writers having to go more and more graphic to get the same reaction they once got with much more tame language? And is graphic necessarily sexier? We are pushing the boundaries of what is sexy because we've all been told countless times that Sex Sells, but what is sexy? And will the pendulum ever swing back toward the implied heat of restrained sexual tension or are we forever locked into a competition to out-do ourselves with sexier and sexier books?
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3 comments:
Everyone has their own personal ick toleration factor when it comes to erotica.
Kelly
True, Kelly, but I think it's more than just erotica. I feel like this is a trend in romance across the board.
I agree there is a trend toward more explicit sex in romance writing across the board. But in my opinion graphic definitely does not necessarily equal sexier. Sex scenes that seduce my brain with visceral images, sensations experienced, and emotional connection will always be far more compelling to me than scenes that seem calculated to add a blatant sex factor.
Don't get me wrong -- I love well-written erotica and I'm not offended by graphic content. But given the choice between reading something that stimulates all my senses and emotions and something sexually explicit that's missing those deeper elements, I will go for the less graphic, more complete experience every time.
Perhaps that's the romantic in me. Or maybe it's a purely female perspective. I wonder which type of scene would be more evocative for a man?
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