The Carnal Desires of Helen

by Alexander Trocchi

WARNING! ADULT ONLY SEX STORIES! Contains sexually explicit erotic pictures, language and fetish / fantasy sex stories (e.g. photographs of naked men and women, sex positions, anal and oral sex, masturbation, bondage, spanking, sadomasochism, BDSM, gay and lesbian sex, threesomes, incest, orgy).

Genres: Sexuality, Fiction, Erotica

259 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 194

About the author

Alexander Trocchi was a Scottish novelist and editor. He lived in Paris in the early 1950s and edited the literary magazine Merlin, which published Henry Miller, Samuel Beckett, Christopher Logue and Pablo Neruda, among others. Although he was never published in Merlin, American writer Terry Southern (who lived in Paris from 1948-1952) became a close friend of both Trocchi and his colleague Richard Seaver, and the three later co-edited the anthology Writers In Revolt (1962).

His early novel Young Adam (1954) was adapted into a film starring Ewan McGregor and Tilda Swinton in 2003.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 3 out of 5]

Composed in the most productive part of Trocchi’s career (1954-1955), when he wrote seven (or eight*) dirty books in a flurry for Maurice Girodias, this novel is a sequel to Helen & Desire. A take on the hardboiled private dick novel, Trocchi’s antihero is commissioned to locate the incorrigible erotic adventurer Helen Seferis, the sexiest woman to be named Helen in all literature. In the last novel, Helen had fallen into a state of sexual servitude at the hands of a bent sheikh, in this one she is largely absent as the story focuses on the antihero’s series of creamy hardcore conquests with every pulchritudinous she-God he happens to bump into in between exhibiting massive swagger and impudence around uptight squares. Given these novels were written at warp speed (probably in a matter of weeks), Trocchi manages to summon up an heroic sequence of squirmy erotic vignettes, serving up the reader a classier alternative to the routine servicing of grimacing weirdos on PornHub, with far more uses of the underused word gamahuche.**

* Sappho of Lesbos was probably written in this period, published later in 1960.
** This edition from Masquerade Books credits Anonymous with authorship, part of the unauthorised bootlegging of Trocchi’s works that took place as a result of Girodias’s terrible management.

[Lars · Rating 4 out of 5]

To start with the résumé: This book is one of the better pieces of erotic literature I know. The author knows how to write, is able to develop an interesting story and manages to give his characters adequate depth. What I liked especially about this work is the film noir-like setting: A private investigator looking for a lost girl, searching for her in North Africa and experiencing criminal and amorous adventures. Regarding his numerous sexual encounters, the descriptions get somehow repititive, but are well and voluptuously written - from a male perspective. I don't know if women will like this book much as there is one hero who has sex with a lot of women, but at least it's a honest description of the sexual fantasies of a male author who is skilled in writing. This book earns the denomination 'literature' - in the erotic genre, this label is not so often to find.

[Howard Schero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh! What a release it is!

This book affirms and supports the need for pornography! Erotica sand Sexuality at its best and takes the reader to new and interesting depths of erogenous behavior. A true work of art and highly recommended as a requirement in High school reading. Humanity needs a better perspective on Sexual freedom!

[Ami J. J. Sanghvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only Trocchi, only Trocchi

[Natalie Gibson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Style was odd. I had trouble following what was happening, except that there was a lot of sex, talking about sex and thinking about sex. I was still left wondering what the story was about even after Helen is found and she explains her journey. I wouldn't recommend this erotica, though maybe it just wasn't my thing. There was plenty to arouse and even jolt the reader and I was not bothered by taboo situations but some readers might be.

[Unclemark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sequel to Helen and desire.......although I found HAD a lot better constructed.....a bit of crossover between a crimenovel and pornographic material....not for the fainthearted....