Peyton Place and Spencer’s Mountain ( pre-John Boy Walton) educated me to adult relationships when I was in 7th grade. I would use brown paper bags to hide the covers when I read them in school, and these books showed me a brand new exciting world of adulthood.
The Other Side of Midnight and Jaws were the first two books in which I came across any explicit content whatsoever. These I read surreptitiously. Certainly no harm was done. I agree this is an "as ever" issue.
At the same time, when I was a very young teen I was not discouraged from reading a slew of romance novels by authors like Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt, which were never explicit but often sent twisted messages about emotionally abusive men being attractive. In one I recently reread, the protagonist ends up with a man who attempts to rape her, and the reader is supposed to feel good about it. This kind of messaging can be powerful IMO.
On the topic of these covers, though, I'm trying to figure out what the publishers are thinking. OTOH, I'd think given the current climate, they'd want to avoid controversy like this. OTOH, maybe it's clever marketing designed to create this brouhaha.
It's interesting to go back to some of these very popular books from back in the day and see what kinds of behaviors and relationships were normalized. Not just books too.
I remember the Luke and Laura storyline on General Hospital where Laura was sexually assaulted by a drunk Luke and then somehow their relationship was turned into a storybook romance. The pushback was pretty mild as I recall.
I also heard Molly Ringwald interviewed on Fresh Air recently and she talked about her own mixed feelings for the movies she starred in as a teen, the pride she had in being in movies that took teenage girls' lives seriously, but also the messed up nature of how her characters related to men. She's watching them with her daughters and said that her daughters are picking up on the bad dynamics which is really interesting.
Oh, yes, Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney! I haven’t thought about those in years. I also read Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) approximately one million times.
Romance is a genre that constantly changes. Those kinds of romances now would be considered problematic. I enjoy the genre and there are certain conventions that are standard now: consent is big as well as discussions and depictions of birth control. The truth is the romance back then merely depicted where we were in the culture at that time. I am glad it’s evolved.
Oh, Shogun was the rage when I was in college. Who in their right or left mind would have enough time to read that book AND watch the mini-series? It was a book that was hard to come by. I also read Clan of the Cave Bear, but was a bit older than you, when that was read.
In high school over one boring weekend visiting relatives, read The Thorn Birds. Considered racy, back in the day, and of course a mini-series too! Thanks!
Yes! The intro story about the thorn birds had me bawling. I loved that Meggie was a strawberry blond, like me. The book where I learned about French letters.
I had to read Shogun - there was a sword on the cover! And samurais! But I enjoyed Tai-pan even more. Books are still the best way for kids to learn about history and other cultures. Ive always felt it should be a sin to lie to children that are smart enough to ask questions. Censoring, banning, or worse, burning books are the cruelest lies of all.
I never read The Exorcist, but one of the first times I was allowed to stay home alone without a babysitter while my parents were out I watched it on TV, which would've been a censored broadcast version, but it still terrified me for years. My brain was screaming for me to turn it off, but I couldn't stop!
Oh yeah, it was terrifying and I couldn’t explain the nightmares to anyone! It wasn’t my first secular book, but it left a big impression. (It wasn’t too long after that we left the church and I could read whatever I wanted and I tore through King’s catalog, so not too scarring!!)
John another brilliant article. I quote you but dont get an impression that the whole text is not relevant to me. I think its the best that can get.
'I don’t know, maybe I’m romanticizing things in my old age, but I think there was something meaningful about being able to explore the adult world through books without my parents necessarily fully knowing what was going on. I’m sure I didn’t understand huge swaths of these books, but that seemed okay to me. I was a kid, I wasn’t supposed to know much of anything yet, and how else was I supposed to be figuring things out other than reading a bunch of books?'
Johan its kind of seminal work. Believe me. yes the whole article. And you are not sure. Be sure. I think the world has sensitized to much on adult content. So much that even the children have become somewhat sensitised. Yes the world needs to realise that Children just dont understand huge swaths of any of the adult content. Yes as a child and teen ager my whole sexual fantasy would revolve around just getting a chance to kiss a girl of my age. That is about it. I used to watch a lot of holly wood movies and any scenes that may be put as adult content would just never register. Now as a grown up dad with two young daughters I wonder what the world has come to. We are no more a relaxed society. There is too much interospection. Therefore I read the message in your article and that is please give children a break. But yes be vigilant to protect them. Great article. I want you to write something that Elon Musk on X has highlighted and that is more explicit sexual education or at least its practice by WOKE movement. I am liberal but I feel Elon Musk is right to get offended as I would be too. What the expert psycologists say. Why now. Anything changed since I have grown up?
I was reading James Joyce at 13 & 14. Did I understand all of it? Probably not, but I had the time and the inclination to work through something like that, so I am glad that I did. Would that I have the time now.
I have a 12 year old, who while not quite as precocious , is reading above her age. We are blessed with librarians who take an interest, and know what she is reading, so are happy to allow her. As a parent my rule has always been "if you can read it, it's appropriate". If I was ever tempted to stop her reading anything it was the endless Rainbow Fairy books. I didn't, though, but also didn't hold back about my opinions, and why I felt that way and I'm glad because I have a keen reader and we can happily discuss books together, and I have a kid who is quite capable of deciding what is appropriate for herself (and sets stricter boundaries than I would).
There are a lot scarier things out there for kids than books, and some of the best things we can do for kids is to enable them to know they can make judgments they can trust and can have open conversations where they will be listened to. Books are a great trying out ground for this and I'll take the benefits over the danger my kid will see a drawing of a penis any time.
Joyce at 13 is awesome. I'm guessing it was similar to me reading Tom Wolfe, a visit to a world that you're unfamiliar with, but which your subconscious knows is interesting even when you can't figure it out.
The really dangerous thing was reading Kerouac a little while later and realising I could just stick my thumb out and go places. Once that happened I was basically uncontrollable as a teenager, but that was only a matter of time, regardless.
Michener’s “Hawaii” was probably one of the first adult books I read, around 7th grade. I think my mother probably thought, “Oh good, I won’t have to tell her about sex.” And she never did.
I know I read some Michener too, though I can't recall a specific one. I think we had copies of all of his books laying around. You sort of don't see books like those anymore. Or maybe you do and I'm just not aware of them.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is the most epic of a boo I read recently that comes to mind, but it's also very "literary" in a way Michener wasn't necessarily, at least by today's standards.
I think MICHENER was and still is underestimated as a highly gifted narrative writer and hence spurned and jeered at by the Ameriican literary snobs.If Justinee Beaudoin wants
"sweeeping historical epics " she should could read the following "writers of color"- Margaret Walker's Jubilee, the brilliant Civil War and post Civil War corrective to the saccharine baloney of Gone With The Wind; Denise Giardenia's Storming Heaven and its sequel The UnQuiet Earth exploring fifty years of the United Mine Workers union; The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Urrea about Chicano immigration and escape from certain brutalitie that still exist today, and, especially Toni Morrison's Beloved and Paulie Marshall's The Chosen Place The Tfmeless People. You all also might want to take a look at the astonishing four part greatest long poem in American llterature LETTERS TO AN IMAGINARY FRIEND BY THE NORTHDAKOTANBLACKLIISTED RHODES SCHOLAR THOMAS MCGRATH, A LYRICAL HISTORICAL RIVER ABOUT THE RIPROARING ROLLING MIDWST AND THEN SOME
The Women's Room - sex and empowerment? My parents had no idea. I also read the Clan books and yep, wow. My theory about reading "up" a level is that you only recognize what is happening in the story when you are ready for it. (I was a reading fiend who couldn't believe I could get books out of the adult section of the library. As exciting as a bank robbery!) I surely read a lot of passages that first time through made absolutely no sense. I just skimmed to the part of the story that I was interested in. Later on, loved the risque stuff. Still do.
That's a good point about skipping the stuff you don't get but latching onto the stuff you do. That's how I was with Wolfe. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I loved the way he talked about it. The book reveals itself to you as you level up as an adult.
Totally, when I went back and reread books like Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I was like, "Where did this part come from?" Plot elements that I didn't understand at 10 or 12 just went over my head so that they didn't even register.
Funny you should mention Exodus - reading that at 13 lead me to other Leon Uris novels as well - Mila 18, QB7 and Trinity. The others I remember reading around that time were MASH, East of Eden and All the President’s Men.
I read All the President's Men pretty early too now that I think about it, probably around 14 or 15. I was very into politics as a kid. I was John Anderson's mock election campaign manager when I was in grade school for the 1980 election.
When I was in middle school, it got around that there was a steamy sex scene in Puzo’s The Godfather, in the library. So kids started visiting that location & reading, my brain insists but IDK, page 26. But being the nerd I am, I wasn’t satisfied with just that, so I checked the book out.
My dad, who gave me a big stack of classics every year on my birthday, saw me with it & sat down. He asked if I didn’t think that book was a little old for me. I said no. He hesitated for a long time & then said okay & walked away.
And I promptly lost interest in the book. It wasn’t in fact where I was developmentally, tho I couldn’t have put it in those terms, it just got stupid and boring, imo. But letting me find that out for myself was a really wise move on my dad’s part. He trusted my judgement, or at least it felt like that (maybe he was just at a loss what to do lol?) & I’ve carried that little glow ever since.
(If it’s not clear, btw, this story is in support of the idea that kids are asking for less spice. Shock value gets old really really quickly.)
It's interesting how indelible that experience was for you. I think there is something in kids having their own kind of wisdom to know what is and isn't interesting to them. In a way it reminds me of what I wrote about at my Inside Higher Ed blog this week about taste. Part of taste is knowing your interests and sensibilities. Your dad gave you the freedom to map out those boundaries.
Oh, my, Clan of the Cave Bear. I also read Flowers in the Attic. Oh somehow stumbled into a soft core romance book, Shanna, that titillated me no end. I’m a firm believer in letting teens go where they will in reading, and a lot of it will likely be dreck, but so what?
My mom’s copy of Judith Krantz’s Scruples — the first time I ever encountered a description of an erect penis. I think I was 12 or 13. Less sexy, but younger, I also devoured every Agatha Christie mystery in the house, which were sometimes creepy/grisly (And Then There Were None) but more critically opened my eyes to glamorous midcentury England/Europe, totally alien to my life as a child on the west coast in the 1970s. I also think I read Sophie’s Choice when I was maybe 15?
Scruples was definitely a novel that was around. I remember the cover well, but I think that probably made me think it wasn't for me. I didn't read Christie until I was an adult, but I remember being surprised about how un-cozy they were.
Sophie's Choice at 15 would be heavy, but not necessarily inappropriate to my memory. I sort of wish it's one I'd latched onto back then.
There was a copy of Death Be Not Proud in our 6th grade classroom. So I read it. That’s what I did, I read whatever I saw. I can’t think of anything I read that traumatized me, but I’m sure lots went over my head.
I wonder if the fact that stuff goes over one's head makes it hard to be traumatized by some of these "inappropriate" books. Is it that you can only understand what you're ready for?
starting in 7th grade,I sought out books for sex scenes and was sorely disappointed. Some of the novels were semi best sellers with "quickie" sex, such as Not As A Stranger about an ambtious doctor who is a very standup guy. More quick sex, not more than a paragrap in Battle Cry, andthe oddlytame Pey ton Place. At fifteen I read all three volumes of the Studs Lonigan triology and almost vomited after reading what coud b argued as Stud's rape of his girlfriend Cathereine. There were also a number of new world wrting anthologies where it seemed that there was often a very sad and brutal story about a gang bang, totally from a malee misogynist pointw of view bywriters who were called"minor writers such as Ivan Gold in a short story ( I forget the title) and a chapter in Hubert Selby's Last Exit To Brooklyn.
There was no love in these writings and no "rellatiionship" whatsoever. The women were things, prone to anything.
At sevnteen my parents let me read Henry Miller, a writer who was explicit and who used all the sex words explicity causing suits and much notoriety. And all through my years in college t o my MAs endd, I never read or heard of any college teacheer who used Henry Miller in here or his classroom.
Last but not least, there is Norman Mailer's vitriolic "The Time of her Life" which, befor the age of 21, I read about six times. I first read Mailer when he wrote The Naked And TheDead, hoping the title would bring some llibido perks. It neve happed and his substititution of fuggin fot ffucking maybe a way of he and his editors to avoid an obscnity suit, left me ccold. But the novel, as a war novel, did have some powerfu moments. Mailer went downhil from there although there are some fasciating parts to Deer Park and some of his shorter piecs al oveershadowed by the inceasing amounts of violennce andd a savagery in much of his writiing for wthe rest of his caree. His work on Marilyn Monroe is embarassing. IHis efforts to glorify Jack Abbot, a convicted murdere Mialer heped spring so he coulf kill again can nevrer foargiven.
Peyton Place and Spencer’s Mountain ( pre-John Boy Walton) educated me to adult relationships when I was in 7th grade. I would use brown paper bags to hide the covers when I read them in school, and these books showed me a brand new exciting world of adulthood.
The Other Side of Midnight and Jaws were the first two books in which I came across any explicit content whatsoever. These I read surreptitiously. Certainly no harm was done. I agree this is an "as ever" issue.
At the same time, when I was a very young teen I was not discouraged from reading a slew of romance novels by authors like Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt, which were never explicit but often sent twisted messages about emotionally abusive men being attractive. In one I recently reread, the protagonist ends up with a man who attempts to rape her, and the reader is supposed to feel good about it. This kind of messaging can be powerful IMO.
On the topic of these covers, though, I'm trying to figure out what the publishers are thinking. OTOH, I'd think given the current climate, they'd want to avoid controversy like this. OTOH, maybe it's clever marketing designed to create this brouhaha.
It's interesting to go back to some of these very popular books from back in the day and see what kinds of behaviors and relationships were normalized. Not just books too.
I remember the Luke and Laura storyline on General Hospital where Laura was sexually assaulted by a drunk Luke and then somehow their relationship was turned into a storybook romance. The pushback was pretty mild as I recall.
I also heard Molly Ringwald interviewed on Fresh Air recently and she talked about her own mixed feelings for the movies she starred in as a teen, the pride she had in being in movies that took teenage girls' lives seriously, but also the messed up nature of how her characters related to men. She's watching them with her daughters and said that her daughters are picking up on the bad dynamics which is really interesting.
Yes! I heard that interview. So interesting.
Oh yes, Victoria Holt! I’d forgotten about her! I didn’t remember about the emotionally abusive men. Wow.
Oh, yes, Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney! I haven’t thought about those in years. I also read Rebecca (Daphne Du Maurier) approximately one million times.
Romance is a genre that constantly changes. Those kinds of romances now would be considered problematic. I enjoy the genre and there are certain conventions that are standard now: consent is big as well as discussions and depictions of birth control. The truth is the romance back then merely depicted where we were in the culture at that time. I am glad it’s evolved.
Oh, Shogun was the rage when I was in college. Who in their right or left mind would have enough time to read that book AND watch the mini-series? It was a book that was hard to come by. I also read Clan of the Cave Bear, but was a bit older than you, when that was read.
In high school over one boring weekend visiting relatives, read The Thorn Birds. Considered racy, back in the day, and of course a mini-series too! Thanks!
The Thorn Birds. I think I tried that one, but it didn't stick. I think it was too much romance stuff for me.
Yes! The intro story about the thorn birds had me bawling. I loved that Meggie was a strawberry blond, like me. The book where I learned about French letters.
Strawberry blonde here too!
I had to read Shogun - there was a sword on the cover! And samurais! But I enjoyed Tai-pan even more. Books are still the best way for kids to learn about history and other cultures. Ive always felt it should be a sin to lie to children that are smart enough to ask questions. Censoring, banning, or worse, burning books are the cruelest lies of all.
The Exorcist.
I never read The Exorcist, but one of the first times I was allowed to stay home alone without a babysitter while my parents were out I watched it on TV, which would've been a censored broadcast version, but it still terrified me for years. My brain was screaming for me to turn it off, but I couldn't stop!
I read a lot of the same books when I was young. I still remember them with a feeling of warmth!
I was raised religious and I will never forget the copy of The Shining I hid between my bed and the wall when I was 12.
I can't imagine. That must've been something dipping into that world. I read it as an adult and it spooked me.
Oh yeah, it was terrifying and I couldn’t explain the nightmares to anyone! It wasn’t my first secular book, but it left a big impression. (It wasn’t too long after that we left the church and I could read whatever I wanted and I tore through King’s catalog, so not too scarring!!)
John another brilliant article. I quote you but dont get an impression that the whole text is not relevant to me. I think its the best that can get.
'I don’t know, maybe I’m romanticizing things in my old age, but I think there was something meaningful about being able to explore the adult world through books without my parents necessarily fully knowing what was going on. I’m sure I didn’t understand huge swaths of these books, but that seemed okay to me. I was a kid, I wasn’t supposed to know much of anything yet, and how else was I supposed to be figuring things out other than reading a bunch of books?'
Johan its kind of seminal work. Believe me. yes the whole article. And you are not sure. Be sure. I think the world has sensitized to much on adult content. So much that even the children have become somewhat sensitised. Yes the world needs to realise that Children just dont understand huge swaths of any of the adult content. Yes as a child and teen ager my whole sexual fantasy would revolve around just getting a chance to kiss a girl of my age. That is about it. I used to watch a lot of holly wood movies and any scenes that may be put as adult content would just never register. Now as a grown up dad with two young daughters I wonder what the world has come to. We are no more a relaxed society. There is too much interospection. Therefore I read the message in your article and that is please give children a break. But yes be vigilant to protect them. Great article. I want you to write something that Elon Musk on X has highlighted and that is more explicit sexual education or at least its practice by WOKE movement. I am liberal but I feel Elon Musk is right to get offended as I would be too. What the expert psycologists say. Why now. Anything changed since I have grown up?
I was reading James Joyce at 13 & 14. Did I understand all of it? Probably not, but I had the time and the inclination to work through something like that, so I am glad that I did. Would that I have the time now.
I have a 12 year old, who while not quite as precocious , is reading above her age. We are blessed with librarians who take an interest, and know what she is reading, so are happy to allow her. As a parent my rule has always been "if you can read it, it's appropriate". If I was ever tempted to stop her reading anything it was the endless Rainbow Fairy books. I didn't, though, but also didn't hold back about my opinions, and why I felt that way and I'm glad because I have a keen reader and we can happily discuss books together, and I have a kid who is quite capable of deciding what is appropriate for herself (and sets stricter boundaries than I would).
There are a lot scarier things out there for kids than books, and some of the best things we can do for kids is to enable them to know they can make judgments they can trust and can have open conversations where they will be listened to. Books are a great trying out ground for this and I'll take the benefits over the danger my kid will see a drawing of a penis any time.
Joyce at 13 is awesome. I'm guessing it was similar to me reading Tom Wolfe, a visit to a world that you're unfamiliar with, but which your subconscious knows is interesting even when you can't figure it out.
The really dangerous thing was reading Kerouac a little while later and realising I could just stick my thumb out and go places. Once that happened I was basically uncontrollable as a teenager, but that was only a matter of time, regardless.
I would never have been that brave. I preferred my thrills vicarious. Still do, really.
Five smooth stones was a real eye opener about race and relationships.
Catcher Joe n the Rye was impactful also.
Michener’s “Hawaii” was probably one of the first adult books I read, around 7th grade. I think my mother probably thought, “Oh good, I won’t have to tell her about sex.” And she never did.
I know I read some Michener too, though I can't recall a specific one. I think we had copies of all of his books laying around. You sort of don't see books like those anymore. Or maybe you do and I'm just not aware of them.
I'm not aware of any recent books like Michener's epics.
Those big, fat Michener books were definitely my jam back in the day.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is the most epic of a boo I read recently that comes to mind, but it's also very "literary" in a way Michener wasn't necessarily, at least by today's standards.
I think MICHENER was and still is underestimated as a highly gifted narrative writer and hence spurned and jeered at by the Ameriican literary snobs.If Justinee Beaudoin wants
"sweeeping historical epics " she should could read the following "writers of color"- Margaret Walker's Jubilee, the brilliant Civil War and post Civil War corrective to the saccharine baloney of Gone With The Wind; Denise Giardenia's Storming Heaven and its sequel The UnQuiet Earth exploring fifty years of the United Mine Workers union; The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Urrea about Chicano immigration and escape from certain brutalitie that still exist today, and, especially Toni Morrison's Beloved and Paulie Marshall's The Chosen Place The Tfmeless People. You all also might want to take a look at the astonishing four part greatest long poem in American llterature LETTERS TO AN IMAGINARY FRIEND BY THE NORTHDAKOTANBLACKLIISTED RHODES SCHOLAR THOMAS MCGRATH, A LYRICAL HISTORICAL RIVER ABOUT THE RIPROARING ROLLING MIDWST AND THEN SOME
I also read GWTW when I was very young - I adored sweeping historical drama.
The Women's Room - sex and empowerment? My parents had no idea. I also read the Clan books and yep, wow. My theory about reading "up" a level is that you only recognize what is happening in the story when you are ready for it. (I was a reading fiend who couldn't believe I could get books out of the adult section of the library. As exciting as a bank robbery!) I surely read a lot of passages that first time through made absolutely no sense. I just skimmed to the part of the story that I was interested in. Later on, loved the risque stuff. Still do.
That's a good point about skipping the stuff you don't get but latching onto the stuff you do. That's how I was with Wolfe. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I loved the way he talked about it. The book reveals itself to you as you level up as an adult.
Totally, when I went back and reread books like Are You There God, It's Me Margaret, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I was like, "Where did this part come from?" Plot elements that I didn't understand at 10 or 12 just went over my head so that they didn't even register.
Funny you should mention Exodus - reading that at 13 lead me to other Leon Uris novels as well - Mila 18, QB7 and Trinity. The others I remember reading around that time were MASH, East of Eden and All the President’s Men.
I read All the President's Men pretty early too now that I think about it, probably around 14 or 15. I was very into politics as a kid. I was John Anderson's mock election campaign manager when I was in grade school for the 1980 election.
Leon Uris was a must read for me when I was a teenager.
When I was in middle school, it got around that there was a steamy sex scene in Puzo’s The Godfather, in the library. So kids started visiting that location & reading, my brain insists but IDK, page 26. But being the nerd I am, I wasn’t satisfied with just that, so I checked the book out.
My dad, who gave me a big stack of classics every year on my birthday, saw me with it & sat down. He asked if I didn’t think that book was a little old for me. I said no. He hesitated for a long time & then said okay & walked away.
And I promptly lost interest in the book. It wasn’t in fact where I was developmentally, tho I couldn’t have put it in those terms, it just got stupid and boring, imo. But letting me find that out for myself was a really wise move on my dad’s part. He trusted my judgement, or at least it felt like that (maybe he was just at a loss what to do lol?) & I’ve carried that little glow ever since.
(If it’s not clear, btw, this story is in support of the idea that kids are asking for less spice. Shock value gets old really really quickly.)
It's interesting how indelible that experience was for you. I think there is something in kids having their own kind of wisdom to know what is and isn't interesting to them. In a way it reminds me of what I wrote about at my Inside Higher Ed blog this week about taste. Part of taste is knowing your interests and sensibilities. Your dad gave you the freedom to map out those boundaries.
Oh, my, Clan of the Cave Bear. I also read Flowers in the Attic. Oh somehow stumbled into a soft core romance book, Shanna, that titillated me no end. I’m a firm believer in letting teens go where they will in reading, and a lot of it will likely be dreck, but so what?
My mom’s copy of Judith Krantz’s Scruples — the first time I ever encountered a description of an erect penis. I think I was 12 or 13. Less sexy, but younger, I also devoured every Agatha Christie mystery in the house, which were sometimes creepy/grisly (And Then There Were None) but more critically opened my eyes to glamorous midcentury England/Europe, totally alien to my life as a child on the west coast in the 1970s. I also think I read Sophie’s Choice when I was maybe 15?
Scruples was definitely a novel that was around. I remember the cover well, but I think that probably made me think it wasn't for me. I didn't read Christie until I was an adult, but I remember being surprised about how un-cozy they were.
Sophie's Choice at 15 would be heavy, but not necessarily inappropriate to my memory. I sort of wish it's one I'd latched onto back then.
There was a copy of Death Be Not Proud in our 6th grade classroom. So I read it. That’s what I did, I read whatever I saw. I can’t think of anything I read that traumatized me, but I’m sure lots went over my head.
I wonder if the fact that stuff goes over one's head makes it hard to be traumatized by some of these "inappropriate" books. Is it that you can only understand what you're ready for?
starting in 7th grade,I sought out books for sex scenes and was sorely disappointed. Some of the novels were semi best sellers with "quickie" sex, such as Not As A Stranger about an ambtious doctor who is a very standup guy. More quick sex, not more than a paragrap in Battle Cry, andthe oddlytame Pey ton Place. At fifteen I read all three volumes of the Studs Lonigan triology and almost vomited after reading what coud b argued as Stud's rape of his girlfriend Cathereine. There were also a number of new world wrting anthologies where it seemed that there was often a very sad and brutal story about a gang bang, totally from a malee misogynist pointw of view bywriters who were called"minor writers such as Ivan Gold in a short story ( I forget the title) and a chapter in Hubert Selby's Last Exit To Brooklyn.
There was no love in these writings and no "rellatiionship" whatsoever. The women were things, prone to anything.
At sevnteen my parents let me read Henry Miller, a writer who was explicit and who used all the sex words explicity causing suits and much notoriety. And all through my years in college t o my MAs endd, I never read or heard of any college teacheer who used Henry Miller in here or his classroom.
Last but not least, there is Norman Mailer's vitriolic "The Time of her Life" which, befor the age of 21, I read about six times. I first read Mailer when he wrote The Naked And TheDead, hoping the title would bring some llibido perks. It neve happed and his substititution of fuggin fot ffucking maybe a way of he and his editors to avoid an obscnity suit, left me ccold. But the novel, as a war novel, did have some powerfu moments. Mailer went downhil from there although there are some fasciating parts to Deer Park and some of his shorter piecs al oveershadowed by the inceasing amounts of violennce andd a savagery in much of his writiing for wthe rest of his caree. His work on Marilyn Monroe is embarassing. IHis efforts to glorify Jack Abbot, a convicted murdere Mialer heped spring so he coulf kill again can nevrer foargiven.