Aroused: A Collection of Erotic Writing

by Karen Finley (Editor), Richard Hell (Introduction)

While posing for Playboy magazine, freelance Bill of Rights defender Karen Finley was told, while chocolate dripped down her nipples, that her smirk wasn't "Playboy sexy." When writing for nerve.com, the so-called erotic on line magazine, she was told she would need to replace the word "cock" with something – something less objectionable? Having heard her friends complain of similar silliness Karen has invited them to write "whatever the hell you want" to reawaken this "exhausted topic." Aroused is an anthology of erotica, sexual culture, passionate texts, sensual encounters and essays on gender bending, neurotic erotic lust, school girl antics, coming of age, and first times, ranging from personal gratification to denying gratification, control, submission, possession, and jealousy, with race, age, and economics thrown in for a more heightened emotional response. Aroused defies our now familiar compartmentalization of sexuality and the erotic hit list of specialties: the best of lesbian erotica, the best of the new erotica, the best of old man and the sea erotica, famous person tattoo erotica, eclectic, esoteric erotica…

Genres: Erotica

352 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2001

About the author

KAREN FINLEYs raw and transgressive performances have long provoked controversy and debate. She has appeared and exhibited her visual art, performances, and plays internationally. The author of many books including A Different Kind of Intimacy , George & Martha , and Shock Treatment , she is a professor at the Tisch School of Art and Public Policy at NYU.

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Reviews

[seth · Rating 3 out of 5]

when i found out vaginal davis had a piece of hers featured in this book i was elated. when i found out karen finley contributed AND edited i was over the moon. i’m a huge fan of both provocateurs and was eager to read more of their work. my reactions to both pieces is pretty evocative of my overall experience with this collection. some great and some bad. davis’s piece was exceptional. delivering a great deal of wit and subversion. finery’s piece was a huge let-down. being boring and uninspired. the rest of the pieces fell into either camp, which really suprises me in retrospect. i’m sure there’s a few that might fall in the middle but when i’m recollecting 34 stories i don’t really have the capacity to split hairs.
the poetry was all bad, either way to purple or way to pretentious. some stories were just not well written, failing in its momentum, tone, characters, or all three.
the wallace shawn piece was hilarious. john waters and richard lewis were also great contributors. i forgot who but there was a wonderful non-fiction piece about a doctor in the 90s who performed sex change operations on a great deal of trans women, leaving either fine, mangled, or dead.
i would easily recommend this to an erotica fan, especially if you like your writing bizarre like i do. i just would caution that a lot of the pieces here are filler. but the home-runs really nail it.

[Guillermo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book for the Hubert Selby, Jr. story. The rest of the works are poorly written. Sadly, I feel bad for spending so much money on the book.