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Erotica: Delta Of Venus And Little Birds

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Sexually frank stories describe Paris in the 1930s, sexual rivals, frustrated wives, a famous prostitute, and a woman's sexual awakening

Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

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1195 people want to read

About the author

Anaïs Nin

355 books8,880 followers
Writer and diarist, born in Paris to a Catalan father and a Danish mother, Anaïs Nin spent many of her early years with Cuban relatives. Later a naturalized American citizen, she lived and worked in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Author of avant-garde novels in the French surrealistic style and collections of erotica, she is best known for her life and times in The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volumes I-VII (1966-1980).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%...

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5 stars
225 (31%)
4 stars
242 (34%)
3 stars
161 (22%)
2 stars
45 (6%)
1 star
32 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Georgia  Zarkadaki .
428 reviews108 followers
November 21, 2018
Άμα το βρει κανένα παιδί του γυμνασίου κρυμμένο στην βιβλιοθήκη της μαμάς κ του μπαμπά θα κάνει πάρτυ εγώ όμως αποφοίτησα από το γυμνάσιο εδώ και δύο δεκαετίες. Έπρεπε να το παρατήσω από την πρώτη στιγμή όταν διάβασα το υπέροχο κειμενάκι για το πως βάζει κραγιόν στο αιδοίο της μια χορεύτρια. Meh.


*Φυσικά και δεν το τελείωσα.
7 reviews1 follower
December 22, 2010
I've been carrying this book with me since the early 80's I think, and the memory of a certain, very special lover (for a moment or a few days rather), listening to me read it, and reading it aloud to me makes it memorable. Sexy, kinky, but still makes me a little weak. Keep it in my bedstand.
Profile Image for Μαρία Γεωργιάδου.
182 reviews59 followers
August 15, 2016
Ίσως να έχει μια κάποια διεγερτική αξία (αναλόγως τα γούστα), δεν έχει όμως καμία αισθητική ή λογοτεχνική. Από ένα σημείο και μετά ένιωθα ότι διαβάζω την ίδια ιστορία και ανυπομονούσα να τελειώσει.
Profile Image for Audrey Babkirk Wellons.
135 reviews19 followers
June 5, 2008
Surprisingly, this book satisfies as both literature and smut. I am forever turning to the copyright page (after I read some particularly piquant passage) and saying, "Wait, when was this published again?" Ahead of its time in, uh, many ways.
Profile Image for Damian.
94 reviews6 followers
February 11, 2008
One of the best books of erotica ever written. Tasteful yet raunchy. Classy yet kinky. You get the idea. Hot sex AND interesting stories and characters, something that modern day porn seems to be incapable of.
Profile Image for Tiffany.
11 reviews1 follower
Read
October 3, 2017
To critique this is to critique one of the Spiderman movies. It is poetically what it is, and without shame she was able to buy strawberries in winter, as well as her bread and butter. More importantly, Ms. Nin was able to serve her literary and sexual rights of passage while delivering us some very beautiful words.... As is true for 'Little Birds'.
Profile Image for Lee Toong.
3 reviews
November 24, 2014
I was fortunate enough to get my hands on vintage copies of both Delta of Venus and Little Birds - simple, elegant,and full of life. I first discover Anais Nin after watching the movie "Henry and June".

Anais Nin led a life of adventure, love, and strength. If you are new to Literotica, her works is a good start.

Profile Image for Cambra.
64 reviews16 followers
July 22, 2010
This isn't actually the edition I read, but for whatever reason Goodreads doesn't recognize ASIN B000B7A0N4. ANYWAY, kinky and fun. Best read in bed with a little bag of chocolate candies or other sexy snacks.
122 reviews2 followers
May 1, 2008
One of the most sexual books that I have ever read. Good follow up for the movie Henry and June. Anis Nin was the mistress of Henry Miller author of the tropic of cancer. She is unbelievable.
Profile Image for Melissa.
Author 10 books184 followers
January 14, 2009
I read these both in the front seat of my boyfriend's car in high school.
Profile Image for Brooke.
413 reviews4 followers
June 30, 2009
Hot. Although strangely very misogynistic at points. Interesting how she uses the terminology "my sex" alot.
Profile Image for Cheryl Hager.
806 reviews9 followers
dnf
June 6, 2018
Well, I only read a few stories. They may start out erotic (in a creepy sort of way), but two of them (and I'm sure there are others) ended in violence and incest.
2 reviews
Read
August 25, 2022
this woman writes so beautifully. she is officially in my ideal smoke circle
Profile Image for Realini Ionescu.
4,015 reviews19 followers
June 15, 2025
Erotica – The Delta of Venus and More by Anais Nin, author of Artists and Models – my note on this story is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... along with a few hundred other reviews

8 out of 10

The Delta of Venus by Anais Nin is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read list, and The Veiled Woman is just one of the incredibly sensual, exciting stories that constitute the novel, actually a collection of erotica, apparently requested by a collector, who also wanted them censored, that is shorter

This man paid for arousing narratives, but he was focused (exclusively, one could say) on the sex, the penetration and whatever else was lurid enough, but he was not pleased with descriptions, the images of skin like satin, which make the delight of the literati, who would have to think that primitive man nonetheless
The range of sensations, orgasms, positions, perversity (the Hungarian Adventurer has sex with children), places where coitus takes place is incredible, and I think again what would have happened, were we to have access to this treasure for intercourse and more when we were teenagers, and had to do with https://realini.blogspot.com/2023/10/... Rebreanu, Ion and Rascoala

Even when finally reaching Bocaccio, whose Decameron is placed higher, if you will, than The Delta of Venus, because the former is on the same list with War and Peace, Marcel Proust, with the 100 Greatest Novels of All Time https://realini.blogspot.com/2012/05/... that was not the same as The Veiled Woman
Before the Veiled Woman, I have read Lilith – the same name as the wife of Frasier https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... - wherein the husband tells his wife that he had given her a vial with the Spanish Fly, presumably, some sort of Viagra Avant la letter

The woman is off to the movies, and she is with a friend, she begins to fantasize, maybe the woman will put her hand on her sex, she spreads her legs, and experiences what would be called the Placebo Effect, thinking of this French man, who had the Spanish Fly and would go on for three nights and three days, without pause
However, it turns out that this was just a prank, there was no substance in there, and somehow, it shows how ‘there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so’, which is from Hamlet, and it was all taking place in the mind, ‘which is its own place, it can make heaven out of hell, and hell out of heaven’ Paradise Lost

Perhaps the next tale, Marianne, is even more interesting, and arousing, albeit this depends on ‘what your poison is’, this woman is still a virgin, she writes the erotica that is brought to her, and starts imagining her lover, then this young, handsome fellow walks into her studio and says he wants his portrait done
Except, he wants to be naked, he is clearly an exhibitionist, and when she is enchanted with his body and especially the penis, he is erect, with clear, evident pleasure, but he is not making any move, he just comes to undress and have Marianne work at his painting, drawing him, and looking with intense desire at the man

Eventually, she comes near him, descends on her knees, puts her tongue on the penis and then ‘absorbed him’ – I stop here to think that it is one of the passages, maybe all make it clear, where the difference between Anais Nin and a mediocre writer of pornography is displayed, I never thought of a woman absorbing the phallus…
He came in her mouth, then he said ‘you are the first woman’ and repeated that, if I remember well, although he does not make any move to possess her, there is no penetration, Bill Clinton said ‘I did not have sex with that woman’, there are many who see felatio as something else, and oral sex more acceptable that intercourse

In my youth (I am still 35, biologically, what am I talking about) it was the other way round, most, almost all women saw felatio as disgusting (how could you bring something like that up), except, I had sex with more than a thousand, because I did not ask for oral sex, offered myself, cunnilingus was so rare and coveted in those years
Eventually, Marianne and this outré young man (I was going to say lover, but is he, does he qualify, is this just a preference, is it worse, Anais Nin throws some light on various penchants, styles, preferences, ways of having sex) keep in the same vein, she gives him blow jobs, they would say in the present, and he just enjoys it

There is a climax of another kind, Aristotle https://realini.blogspot.com/2014/07/... wrote about the best dramas, the reversal and the climax, which happen at the same time in Oedipus Rex, when the king finds he had killed his father and married his mother, and takes out his eyes
The young man tells Marianne that he wants to be a model, so that others can paint him, but she is devasted and…jealous, which would seem so bizarre, given that the fellow does not, well, do anything, he is not into coitus, he just loves to be admired, exhibitionist, yes, but not ‘active’ in other ways…still, it is enough for Marianne to be against the move, she knows that he will have an intense pleasure, when the women (come to think of it, maybe the men too, it was not explained) will watch him, he will get erect and…well, in fact The Veiled Woman is for the next ‘review’, I was so taken aback by Marianne and Lilith that The Veiled Woman was left waiting…

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’

“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
Profile Image for Νεκτάριος Καλογήρου.
Author 2 books10 followers
May 13, 2017
Τί να πρωτογράψει κανείς;;
Αισθησιασμός στο έπακρο.
Είναι πορνό, αλλά από τη γυναικεία σκοπιά. Υπέροχο σε όλα του!!
Αν είσαι άντρας, σου ανοίγεται ένας ολοκαίνουργιος, ερωτικός κόσμος να τον ανακαλύψεις !!!
Εδώ η Αναϊς Νιν ξετυλίγει το συγγραφικό της ταλέντο γράφοντας ερωτικές ιστορίες για να καλύψει τις τότε μεγάλες οικονομικές της ανάγκες. Ο έρωτάς της για τον Χένρι Μίλλερ φαίνεται σε κάθε μία από αυτές. Ωστόσο είναι ξεκάθαρος και ο μεγάλος της έρωτας για τη Τζουν (σύζυγο του Μίλλερ) με την οποία συνδέθηκε ερωτικά και όλα αυτά 100 χρόνια πριν το Σήμερα.
Σαββατοκύριακο... διαβάστε και ανακαλύψτε ένα καινούργιο κόσμο.
Profile Image for Krystal Galvis.
107 reviews18 followers
February 3, 2021
Did not finish. Had to return to my library.

The first part of the series was difficult for me to read because it was sexist, umcomfortable mentions of pedophilia, and non-consensual touching. Might get the book to read the other section of short stories that weren’t part of the series.
Profile Image for devil doll.
36 reviews3 followers
June 20, 2008
the best work of erotica ever written. i began and ended erotica with this book. everything else i tried to read was absoloutley horrible and poorly written.
Profile Image for Ozell.
2 reviews1 follower
Currently reading
April 19, 2010
really love this woman dearly, read cities of the interior and it just paints wonderous colors with the blood,spirit,and bones
Profile Image for Marcel.
35 reviews1 follower
June 17, 2021
Overhyped, second part slightly better than first but overall didn't live up to its reputation
Profile Image for Ελένη.
63 reviews2 followers
July 14, 2021
Τώρα ωραίο για να ξεχάσεις τι σημαίνει ξηρασία και αν δεν έχεις mb για να δεις ονλάιν.
Παρόλα αυτά κάτι δεν συνέβη σωστά.
Profile Image for Ginny Garber.
14 reviews
May 6, 2024
I was not expecting the general goodreads public to have rated this book so highly. It is eroticized pedophilia and incest, fam. If you can “put aside” your better judgment to enjoy these stories, I guess you’re … lucky?

I have loved Anaïs’ writing for decades but this collection is trash, regardless of the context from which it was created.
Profile Image for Krist.
378 reviews
January 23, 2025
Mooi geschreven, leuke fantasieën, best erotisch.
Raunchful and kinky lees ik in de vorige review, ik vind het eerder redelijk braaf.
(Wat zegt dat over die eerdere reviewer hé?)

Eentje voor op het nachtkastje. Wink wink nudge nudge.
Profile Image for Alexander Stamelos.
337 reviews11 followers
December 30, 2023
Δεν μπορώ να πω ότι ήταν κάτι εκπληκτικό αλλά δεν ήταν και κάτι χάλια. Μια μέτρια κατάσταση.
Profile Image for Maria K..
16 reviews1 follower
September 23, 2024
Είναι ένα βιβλίο που απευθύνεται σε αναγνώστες που αγαπούν την εκλεπτυσμένη λογοτεχνία και τις πολυεπίπεδες ερμηνείες. Δεν θα ικανοποιήσει πλήρως όσους ψάχνουν μια πιο παραδοσιακή αφήγηση...
Profile Image for Lea Saurusrex.
600 reviews60 followers
March 16, 2023
Nope. Niet. Non. No.

Première nouvelle : pédophilie et inceste.

Poubelle.

Spoiler alert : ce sont des crimes, et ce n'est pas subversif d'écrire des récits érotiques de ce style. Le seul genre auquel ça appartient, c'est la catégorie thriller ou horreur.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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