Why Does Great Literature Have Such Bad Sex?

Marlon and Jake dive into one of literature's trickiest subjects: sex. Why do some writers capture intimacy with honesty while others veer into the unintentionally hilarious? Along the way, they discuss why writing about sex is really writing about people, the differences between American and French attitudes toward sexuality in fiction, ghost stories as a vehicle for taboo desires, and the delicate balance between telling the truth and keeping readers engaged. Tune in for a conversation about why the best writing on sex is rarely just about sex.

Subscribe to our River-herd digital newsletter and our print newspaper, The Eddy, for sneak peeks of our upcoming books, free giveaways, and exclusive content: https://sites.prh.com/the-eddy-newspaper.

• Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth 
• “The Diamond Mine” by Nadine Gordimer
• The Late Bourgeois World by Nadine Gordimer
• Death of Venice by Thomas Mann
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig
• Miracle of the Rose by Jean Genet
• Maurice by E. M. Forster
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• Ernesto by Umberto Saba
• Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
• London Fields by Martin Amis
• The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
• Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown
• G. by John Berger 
• Flashman series
• Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis
• The Old Devils by Kingsley Amis
• The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
• The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• The Godfather by Mario Puzo
• Jaws by Peter Benchley