American website Flavorwire has compiled a jolly list for a Wednesday afternoon: the top ten dirtiest male writers. It’s not for the faint-hearted, not least because the Marquis de Sade and John Wilmot, earl of Rochester, have not made the cut. Here is the list, with my thoughts on the selection and links to relevant reviews and articles.
10). Philip Roth. I’m too delicate to contemplate Portnoy’s Complaint and The Humbling at once.
9). William Shakespeare. I recall this line in Brett Easton Ellis’ Rules of Attraction: ‘You’d be on your back if you knew’. If so it’s pinched from Shakespeare: ‘Thou wilt fall backwards when thou hast more wit.’ Shakespeare’s famous idealisation of love is often tempered by a lascivious tone elsewhere, usually displayed by one of his characters. For instance, Iago’s disgust that Desdemona and ‘the moor’ have been ‘making the beast with two backs’ resonates throughout Othello.
8). Henry Miller. Tarred by association as friend and lover of Anais Nin, his love of describing licentiousness led Tropic of Cancer to be censored around the world.
7). Benjamin Franklin. The hero of the United States once wrote a monograph ‘In Praise of Older Women’. Rights are not alone in being considered self-evident.
6). Michel Houellebecq. Enough has been said about his fiction’s sexual content. Houellebecq confesses that he hasn’t made up his mind about sex yet, which perhaps explains why he propositions his female interviewers.
5). John Updike. Updike loitered in the closets of Middle America.
4). James Joyce. I don’t see this choice myself. Joyce reputably ordered his wife to commit adultery so he could explore jealousy. That may be odd, but it’s not perverted.
3). Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita demands his appearance on a list of sleazy men.
2). Geoffrey Chaucer. The imagination that concocted the Canterbury Tales was both lewd and crude. It’s a feast for the bordello.
1). Charles Bukowski. I’ve never read any of his books or short stories, but his reputation precedes him. Like most lotharios, Bukowski was plain ugly. The sozzled chronicler of the lowest of life, he wrote the ‘Notes of a Dirty Man’ for LA underground newspaper Open City. Who better to top the list?
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