A classic I never get tired of re-reading is D.H.Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
This sexually explicit novel caused a scandal in Britain at the time and saw the publishers Penguin Books put on trial for obscenity.
It became notorious for its explicit descriptions of sex, its use of then-unprintable four-letter words and a reference to anal sex, which was illegal at the time.
Lawrence’s 1928 novel tells the story of a love affair between an upper class woman and a working class man.
Constance Chatterley’s husband is paralysed from the waist down due to a war injury. Sexually and emotionally unfulfilled in her marriage, she begins an affair with the gamekeeper Mellors.
Lawrence,in this book, writes some of the best descriptions of sexual experience in the English language. He maps the full erotic experience by talking openly and honestly about it.
Lawrence, rather than writing a work of pornography, as some claimed (and still claim) has produced an passionately erotic novel that shows sex should be about pleasure and not shame.
Sex in literature still provokes strong reactions and it was one of the reasons why I wanted to set up this account, to address society’s continued discomfort with these kinds of books.
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The Secret World of Cydney 