ABSTRACT

First Published in 2002. It is easy to see that we are living in a time of rapid and radical social change. It is much less easy to grasp the fact that such change will inevitably affect the nature of those disciplines that both reflect our society and help to shape it. Yet this is nowhere more apparent than in the central field of what may, in general terms, be called literary studies. ‘New Accents’ is intended as a positive response to the initiative offered by such a situation. Each volume in the series will seek to encourage rather than resist the process of change. To stretch rather than reinforce the boundaries that currently define literature and its academic study.

chapter |14 pages

Introduction

chapter 1|17 pages

Physiology and Fantasy

the facts of life and My Secret Garden

chapter 2|20 pages

Sexuality at the Edge of the Abyss

The Marquis de Sade

chapter 3|19 pages

Erotic Sainthood and the Search for Self-Annihilation

Story of O and The Image

chapter 4|22 pages

Two Sexual Lives, Entrepreneurial and Compulsive

Fanny Hill and My Secret Life

chapter 5|20 pages

Sexuality and the Life Force

Lady Chatterley's Lover and Tropic of Cancer

chapter 6|19 pages

Sexuality and Self-Fulfillment

Portnoy's Complaint and Fear of Flying

chapter 7|30 pages

Performative Sex and the Values of a Consumerist Culture

Blue Skies, No Candy; Candy and Lolita

chapter 8|8 pages

Conclusion