Eroticism and its plight

Literature

And this was no wonder in an age when even piano legs were discretely covered and chairs wore skirts; by the 1920s, the female leg, for the first time since ancient Greece was a public view. Since that era, the trend to expose and to discuss more specifically sexual portions and the body has grown rapidly.”

Right from the days of ancient India, Greece or Roman historic mythology, this question of sex and erotica is being discussed all through the centuries. In India, we have those grand and eloquent displays in holy temples, of liberal and spiritual works of sculptures embodied on stone walls. A cursory look into the text of Rati Rahasya or Vatsayana’s Kamasutra, you realise the sanctity and spiritual values allotted to this topic. There have been considerable references to this subject in orthodox Hindu texts.

In this connection, it is very appropriate to remember the statement of ‘William Temple and his Message’. Under the title ‘sex’, Temple observes that “There is nothing nasty about sex as god made it; there is no reason why it should not be spoken of in a natural and matter of fact way; but it must be treated with respect and even with reverence, because it is the means by which men and women are enabled to act on behalf of god in the creation of his children, which is why parents are said to procreate.”

When we discuss this topic, we want to invariably refer to some of the judgments made in connection with banned books: several classics by eminent literary giants have come under this merciless attack. For example, on March 13, 1915, copies of D H Lawrence’s The Rainbow, which were published by Methuen & Co, UK were declared to be destroyed as an immoral book.

But look at today’s situation, so different and liberal: George Bernard Shaw once said “If I had a marriageable daughter, what would I give her to read, to prepare her? Dickens? Thackery? George Eliot? Walter Scott? Trollope? Or even any clever modern woman who takes such a fiendish delight in writing very able novels, but leave you hopeless and miserable... but she would learn something from Lady Chatterley’s — it should be on the shelves of every college for budding girls.” Havalock Ellis’s studies in the psychology of sex had been condemned as “lewd, wicked, baudy, scandalous and obscene.” These were observations in the year 1898 but how it is now treated; an excellent and thoroughly scientific book.

By his works, Henry Miller had any amount of harassment and had to face over the years; he had to flee from Brooklyn to Paris to save his intellectual and creative life. After years of struggle, Miller was ultimately recognised as one of the outstanding writers of the 20th century.

I still remember the amount of anxious moments I went through when my collection of Henry Miller’s works as well as the work Erotic Art, with a unique introduction by Henry Miller were about to be seized by the India Customs at Madras and Bombay.

Look at the following guidelines denoted by the outstanding American writer of whom a special citation from the Formentor Prize Committee called him “one of the most important literary figures of the 20th century” to the upcoming young writers. “I believe we are all born creative and that this creative spirit wants to manifest itself much more freely were it has not for our archaic notions of education. Those who are able to emerge as creative individuals owe it to their stubborn, steadfast devotion, their complete unswerving dedication to their chosen role. Inspiration is open to all, but the successful realization of one’s aims depends upon discipline, obsessive perseverance and absolute belief in what one is doing. The urge to create may spring from good, or bad conditions. Utopia, whether for the creative individual or the common man, always remains just around the corner.”