Delta of Venus

Delta of Venus is a book of fifteen short stories by Anaïs Nin published posthumously in 1977[1]—though largely written in the 1940s as erotica for a private collector.[2]

For the film adaptation, see Delta of Venus (film)

Delta of Venus

First edition cover art
Author	Anaïs Nin
Cover artist	Milton Glaser Richard Merkin (photo)
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Short stories, erotica
Publisher	Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Publication date	1977
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	250 pp (first edition)
ISBN	0-15-124656-4

In 1994 a film inspired by the book was directed by Zalman King.

Background

The collection of short stories that makes up this anthology was written during the 1940s for a private client known simply as "Collector". This "Collector" commissioned Nin, along with other now well-known writers (including Henry Miller and the poet George Barker), to produce erotic fiction for his private consumption.[3] His identity has since been revealed as Roy M. Johnson of Healdton Oil, Oklahoma.[4]

Despite being told to leave poetic language aside and concentrate on graphic, sexually explicit scenarios, Nin was able to give these stories a literary flourish and a layer of images and ideas beyond the pornographic. In her Diary (Oct. 1941), she jokingly referred to herself as "the madam of this snobbish literary house of prostitution, from which vulgarity was excluded".[5]

While using the Kama Sutra and other writings such as those of Krafft-Ebing as models, Nin was very conscious that the languages of male and female sexuality were distinct.[6] Although at times she scorned her erotica, and feared for their impact on her literary reputation,[7] they have subsequently been seen by sex-positive feminists as pioneering work.[8]

Short stories

The short stories which Delta of Venus anthologizes are these:

1. The Hungarian Adventurer
2. Mathilde
3. The Boarding School
4. The Ring
5. Mallorca
6. Artists and Models
7. Lilith
8. Marianne
9. The Veiled Woman
10. Elena
11. The Basque and Bijou
12. Pierre
13. Manuel
14. Linda
15. Marcel

The book, unlike the later Little Birds, contains no poetry as such. Its introductory preface contains entries from her Diary, which expressed her hope that its unexpurgated version would one day be published.

See also

• D. H. Lawrence
• Émile Zola
• George Sand
• Little Birds
• Mons pubis
• The Diary of Anaïs Nin

References

1. I. Ousby, ed., The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English (1995) p. 683
2. Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus & Little Birds (1996), pp. 13–16
3. Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus & Little Birds (1996), pp. 13–16
4. Paul Herron, Anaïs Nin:A Book of Mirrors (Sky Blue Press, 1996), p.427
5. • Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus & Little Birds (1996), p. 16
6. Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus & Little Birds (1996), pp. 15 & 19
7. Anne T. Salvatore, Anaïs Nin's Narratives, University Press of Florida (2001) ISBN 0-8130-2113-8, p. 17
8. Susie Bright, Totally Heterotica (1995), p. 2

Further reading

• Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace, Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory, Taylor & Francis, 1997, ISBN 0-8153-0824-8, p. 190
• Andrew Gibson, Postmodernity, Ethics and the Novel: from Leavis to Levinas, Routledge, 1999, ISBN 0-415-19895-X, p. 177
• Noël Riley Fitch, Anaïs: The Erotic Life of Anaïs Nin (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1993) ISBN 0-316-28428-9
• Anaïs Nin, Delta of Venus, Penguin Books, 2008 ISBN 978-0141-03730-1