"You can shun obscene books if you like, but you can't scrub erotic fantasies from the mind's hard drive."
— Schillinger, Liesl
Author
Date
September 22, 2015
Metaphor
"You can shun obscene books if you like, but you can't scrub erotic fantasies from the mind's hard drive."
Metaphor in Context
This is not to say that "Tender Torrent" wasn't "fun" (it seems to be out of print today, the most enduring form of censorship); but for me, its greatest entertainment value lay in returning it to its owner, aware of the lewd visions that seethed beneath her sunny exterior. And really, that perception is what even the most unartful obscene books teach us: that the mystery and variety of human desires -- whether actual or notional, romantic or repugnant -- cannot be seen by the naked eye, or restricted to the naked body. They range free in the subconscious, unfetterable. You can shun obscene books if you like, but you can't scrub erotic fantasies from the mind's hard drive. The choice of dreaming about them, acting upon them, repressing them, or reading them is yours, to be made at your own risk, and at your own pleasure.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Schillinger, Liesl, "Why Read Books Considered Obscene?" The New York Times, Sunday Book Review (September 22, 2015).
Date of Entry
09/29/2015
