Pitt-Kethley, Fiona. The Literary Companion to Sex: an anthology of prose and poetry. Random House, 1992.
Reason read: July is National Parenting Month. Parenting comes about from having unprotected sex (among other ways) so…
I liked Pitt-Kethley’s approach to organizing The Literary Companion to Sex. It made sense to break the book into five sections according to the ages rather than a strict chronology that could be disputed. First we have the Ancient World which includes the Bible, Talmud and writings from such as Homer and Virgil. Next comes the eighteenth century with excerpts from Dafoe, Milton, and Marvell. (I think everyone knows “To His Coy Mistress”.) The nineteenth century features writings from Richard Burton, Honore de Balzac, and Emile Zola, to name a few. “The Magic Ring” from Kryptadia was one of my favorites. The twentieth century surprised me. Yes, I know Philip Roth, Henry Miller, and John Updike would be included, but what about Edmund White?
I also appreciated Pitt-Kethley’s statement that she “inserted the rude words omitted” like a warning to keep your hands inside the moving vehicle at all times. You have a more enjoyable ride if you know what’s coming. Pun totally intended.
Here is what I got out of reading The Literary Companion to Sex. Like all good pornography, the plot is minimal in most stories. Benjamin Franklin believed sex with an older woman was better because the woman they would be so grateful (among other reasons). Women can be harsh about other women’s bodies describing breasts that hang heavy and “navel-low”.
What I really want to know is how Pitt-Kethley found all of these juicy parts of poems, plays, novels, letters, journals, and essays? I cannot begin to imagine the research that went into compiling the contents of The Literary Companion to Sex.
Editor fact: Pitt-Kethley had a blog here where she lists cats and karate as interests.
Book trivia: I had a really hard time finding this in a local library. I couldn’t even borrow Literary Companion to Sex from any library across the state so I ended up reading it on Internet Archive.
Nancy said: Pearl didn’t say anything about The Literary Companion to Sex except to say it is a collection of the really “good” parts of novels.
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Sex and the Single Reader” (p 218) as if the married reader couldn’t enjoy a romp between the pages every once in awhile.
~*LunaSea*~ 