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Explaining the Explicit
EXPLAINING THE EXPLICIT edited by Jill Waters
A series of thoughtful and challenging personal reflections from five very different writers on how best to write about sex (if at all). In little more than a generation, Western culture has arguably progressed from a largely repressed attitude to portraying the pleasures of the flesh to an altogether more permissive approach. How have writers - and readers - adjusted to these changes and what are authors trying to say when they write about sex ? These essays offer a chance to step back and reflect on some of the subtler aspects of writing about sexuality, arguments that can otherwise get lost in a sea of pneumatic imagery. Somewhere between the conventions of shock, titillation and comedy lies a range of other ideas waiting to be explored.
Julian Barnes – is an internationally acclaimed novelist. He won the Man Booker prize in 2011 for his last novel The Sense of an Ending.
David Bellos is a translator and Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton. His book on translation and meaning Is That a Fish in Your Ear? was published in 2011.
Sarah Churchwell is Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at University of East Anglia. Her book Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby, is due out in April 2013.
Vicki Feaver is an award-winning poet and lecturer. Her last collection The Book of Blood was shortlisted for the Forward Prize in 2006.
Rachel Johnson is a journalist and novelist who won the Bad Sex Award in 2008, the year that the same judges awarded John Updike a ‘lifetime achievement’ award. Her latest novel Winter Games was published in 2012.
Jill Waters – is an independent radio producer with a background in publishing. She commissioned these essays after a conversation with Julian Barnes. They were broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in March 2013 and are published here in full for the first time.
A series of thoughtful and challenging personal reflections from five very different writers on how best to write about sex (if at all). In little more than a generation, Western culture has arguably progressed from a largely repressed attitude to portraying the pleasures of the flesh to an altogether more permissive approach. How have writers - and readers - adjusted to these changes and what are authors trying to say when they write about sex ? These essays offer a chance to step back and reflect on some of the subtler aspects of writing about sexuality, arguments that can otherwise get lost in a sea of pneumatic imagery. Somewhere between the conventions of shock, titillation and comedy lies a range of other ideas waiting to be explored.
Julian Barnes – is an internationally acclaimed novelist. He won the Man Booker prize in 2011 for his last novel The Sense of an Ending.
David Bellos is a translator and Professor of Comparative Literature at Princeton. His book on translation and meaning Is That a Fish in Your Ear? was published in 2011.
Sarah Churchwell is Professor of American Literature and Public Understanding of the Humanities at University of East Anglia. Her book Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby, is due out in April 2013.
Vicki Feaver is an award-winning poet and lecturer. Her last collection The Book of Blood was shortlisted for the Forward Prize in 2006.
Rachel Johnson is a journalist and novelist who won the Bad Sex Award in 2008, the year that the same judges awarded John Updike a ‘lifetime achievement’ award. Her latest novel Winter Games was published in 2012.
Jill Waters – is an independent radio producer with a background in publishing. She commissioned these essays after a conversation with Julian Barnes. They were broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in March 2013 and are published here in full for the first time.
32 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 17, 2013
3 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Julian Barnes
167 books6,720 followersJulian Patrick Barnes is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with The Sense of an Ending, having been shortlisted three times previously with Flaubert's Parrot, England, England, and Arthur & George. Barnes has also written crime fiction under the pseudonym Dan Kavanagh (having married Pat Kavanagh). In addition to novels, Barnes has published collections of essays and short stories.
In 2004 he became a Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His honours also include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was awarded the 2021 Jerusalem Prize.
In 2004 he became a Commandeur of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. His honours also include the Somerset Maugham Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. He was awarded the 2021 Jerusalem Prize.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 4, 2015
I've read this before: about two years ago I went through a minor obsession with Kindle Singles and downloaded almost anything with an author I recognized. I read and even made notes on this one, though I only vaguely recalled the essays as I reread them. And I've got no idea why if skipped reviewing it last time. Mostly what I got out of it was a list of further books to read in the future, but it was an interesting read.
November 3, 2014
Evoking my desire to write of sex without a cliche.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews