"I grew up very much alone, and as far back as I recall
I was frightened of anything sexual."
It's a great opening sentence for a novel, don't you think? It's a lot better than "Call me Ishmael."
It just makes you want to keep reading, which is the purpose of a good first sentence. We sense that change took place, or even transformation. The narrator is no longer alone, and ain't "frightened of anything sexual" no more. How did that happen?
It's the opening sentence of Georges Bataille's short novel L'histoire de l'oeil. In English, The Story of the Eye. You can read a beautiful English translation using this link.
http://ps28.squat.net/bataille_story_of_eye.pdf
But maybe do that later. It will take less time to watch the video below:
Whoops. Pay no attention to that photograph. I can't figure out how to delete it. Here's the video:
If literature stays away from evil, it rapidly becomes boring."
Literature has to deal with anguish, and anguish is based on something that is going the wrong way, something that will turn into evil,
When you make the reader face that the characters he cares about will have an evil ending, the result is a tension that makes literature non-boring."
Writing is the opposite of working
You can't really understand what literature means if you don't approach it from a child's perspective.
It's very important to recognize the infantile character of eroticism in general…. To feel eroticism is to be fascinated like a child who wants to take part in a forbidden game. A man fascinated by eroticism is like a child.
"i think it's important for us to confront the danger that is literature.
Literature makes it possible for us to percieve the worst, and to learn how to confront it.
A man who plays the game finds in the game the force to overcome it.
The
Donkey
My
buff-armed love
makes
me talk to his blue-eyed mother.
She
interrupts with screams:
“You
should listen to him!”
My
kissy love rapes me every month
Then
washes under warm water,
milky
tear drops glide over red nipple.
Immediately,
I forgive him.
He
hugs me for a proper good-bye.
My
skull shrinks, saliva drips.
I
love him. I
am a donkey.
Heartbeat
I
am coming to you
High-heels
on
Lip
hair removed
Thrilled
when I saw you
in
my living room
at
the wine bar
Talking
to my husband
Legs shaved
Nails manicured
Pussy trimmed
Dripped
when I felt
in
my busy office
on
my messy desk
your
tasty mouth
Tongue
brushed
Highlights
done
Perfume
sprayed
Raged
when I learned
in
your room
on
the third shelf
about
your wife
Tripped
when I heard they
in
Amsterdam
by
cornflower fields
found
your body