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On the Nature of Things Erotic
Essays discuss human desire, male jealousy, sexual problems, the Marquis de Sade, attitudes toward women, seduction, secret love affairs, and sexual morality
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First published April 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 30, 2021
Twelve years ago, I read this, 5-starred it, and saved it to enjoy again someday. Finally, I have read it again. I cannot remember what I was thinking 12 years ago. I seem to recall admiring the vocabulary and sentence structure. Probably I also sought the several eunuchs in these mentions: the fictional servant in Cervantes' El Celoso Extremeño; a cliff famously used for ancient suicides on the island of Leucas [Santa Maura] in the Ionian Sea, from which "Charinus leaped to take his mind off a eunuch at the service of the Syrian king"; and Lao Ai, a 3rd-century BCE false eunuch of dubious historicity, whose story González-Crussi discussed based on Chinese texts that his wife, Wei Hsueh, translated for him.
I still find these sentences beautifully constructed — individually, that is. But now, zooming out and macro-gazing at the book as a whole, I am bothered by the overall arguments.
This is a collection of eight essays. One of the most problematic for me was "The Divine Marquis." The author begins by spending 3 pages rehashing a dispute with his wife on Justine by the Marquis de Sade (she wanted to throw it in the trashcan). He mounts a defense of Sade. Sade brutalized young women, yes, but "the truth is, a powerful and influential nobleman of Sade's rank could and often did get away with murder in those times." Sade put a date rape drug (if not poison) in their chocolates, yes, but these were mere "childish touches." Though Sade himself went "too far," nevertheless for him to be repeatedly imprisoned amounted to "the harsh, merciless repression by a society that senses a threat to its integrity in the freedom of this man." González-Crussi imagines that today we are "more enlightened" and inclined to believe that "sadism is but one among millions of contradictions that we risk by being alive," and who are we to judge, since if we were to make the effort to rationalize Sade's punishment it would only be as a scapegoat for our own sins, as "it would feel so good to punish a single rape after having stood indifferent face to the sacrifice of millions!" ...we live in a militaristic empire, so we can't coherently punish rapists? ...is it just me, or is this a sad hill to die on?
Welp, and then there is "Some Views on Women, Past and Present." The title itself suggests that these will be unsolicited and unnecessary opinions. It begins as a collection of comments that ancient Greek philosophers (men) made about women, and then the author shifts to complaining about modern femininity. "Contradictions are everywhere visible in the New Woman," he says, as a corporate professional typically shows off her legs but not her cleavage, though it's the fault of the world, surely, "that racks her with contrary pressures." The illusion of cosmetics, too, he says, citing Baudrillard, is like "a woman who poses as a male transvestite — a helicoidal deceit"; you know you're not seeing quite what you're seeing, and you're right, but then you're also wrong again. I get the idea of layered deceit, but transvestism-as-deceit is not my favorite metaphor for discussing cosmetics. And then this essay doesn't really conclude, which is a recurring problem in this book. The last three sentences: "Woman still represents the embodiment of a life-force that is at one time intense, redeeming, dangerous, and awful. Something that cannot be avoided, but must be dealt with by vague systems of indulgence and prohibition. No one can tell, however, when to yield and when to oppose; and no one presumes to tell us how to achieve the optimal combination." Hmm. If men can't really explain what feelings or values come to their minds when they think about women, and if no one tells men how to optimize their rule-making systems that they impose upon women, I am OK with both of those outcomes, because no one asked men.
Despite those complaints, the essay "On Male Jealousy" may turn out to be useful for one of my purposes, and I will save and ponder it.
Because this author covers topics that interest me and I suspect he may present some information I can use in some way, I would try another book by him. This was one of his earlier books (1988) and he has been publishing new titles as recently as 2020. I may get around to those. I am not in a big rush to vindicate this 1988 title, though.
I still find these sentences beautifully constructed — individually, that is. But now, zooming out and macro-gazing at the book as a whole, I am bothered by the overall arguments.
This is a collection of eight essays. One of the most problematic for me was "The Divine Marquis." The author begins by spending 3 pages rehashing a dispute with his wife on Justine by the Marquis de Sade (she wanted to throw it in the trashcan). He mounts a defense of Sade. Sade brutalized young women, yes, but "the truth is, a powerful and influential nobleman of Sade's rank could and often did get away with murder in those times." Sade put a date rape drug (if not poison) in their chocolates, yes, but these were mere "childish touches." Though Sade himself went "too far," nevertheless for him to be repeatedly imprisoned amounted to "the harsh, merciless repression by a society that senses a threat to its integrity in the freedom of this man." González-Crussi imagines that today we are "more enlightened" and inclined to believe that "sadism is but one among millions of contradictions that we risk by being alive," and who are we to judge, since if we were to make the effort to rationalize Sade's punishment it would only be as a scapegoat for our own sins, as "it would feel so good to punish a single rape after having stood indifferent face to the sacrifice of millions!" ...we live in a militaristic empire, so we can't coherently punish rapists? ...is it just me, or is this a sad hill to die on?
Welp, and then there is "Some Views on Women, Past and Present." The title itself suggests that these will be unsolicited and unnecessary opinions. It begins as a collection of comments that ancient Greek philosophers (men) made about women, and then the author shifts to complaining about modern femininity. "Contradictions are everywhere visible in the New Woman," he says, as a corporate professional typically shows off her legs but not her cleavage, though it's the fault of the world, surely, "that racks her with contrary pressures." The illusion of cosmetics, too, he says, citing Baudrillard, is like "a woman who poses as a male transvestite — a helicoidal deceit"; you know you're not seeing quite what you're seeing, and you're right, but then you're also wrong again. I get the idea of layered deceit, but transvestism-as-deceit is not my favorite metaphor for discussing cosmetics. And then this essay doesn't really conclude, which is a recurring problem in this book. The last three sentences: "Woman still represents the embodiment of a life-force that is at one time intense, redeeming, dangerous, and awful. Something that cannot be avoided, but must be dealt with by vague systems of indulgence and prohibition. No one can tell, however, when to yield and when to oppose; and no one presumes to tell us how to achieve the optimal combination." Hmm. If men can't really explain what feelings or values come to their minds when they think about women, and if no one tells men how to optimize their rule-making systems that they impose upon women, I am OK with both of those outcomes, because no one asked men.
Despite those complaints, the essay "On Male Jealousy" may turn out to be useful for one of my purposes, and I will save and ponder it.
Because this author covers topics that interest me and I suspect he may present some information I can use in some way, I would try another book by him. This was one of his earlier books (1988) and he has been publishing new titles as recently as 2020. I may get around to those. I am not in a big rush to vindicate this 1988 title, though.
July 28, 2020
Save me from intellectual men defending de Sade. Gonzalez-Crussi, a professor of pathology, works best when bringing his encyclopedic knowledge of classic and ancient texts to the field of medicine - not when he's writing dreck like 'why my wife's bad opinion of de Sade is totally wrong, you guys' and 'empowered modern women, what's up with that?'. Without medicine at the centre of this book he falls flat, his essays becoming ceaseless summations of other texts with little originality or charisma.
May 29, 2023
Eight essays that is hyped as showing different views on things of an erotic nature and an insight into different aspects of sexuality. While there are some interesting snippets of historical writings and stories that illustrate the author's opinion, these essays are skewed towards the male perspective.
While the second essay, entitled "On Male Jealousy" lived up to it's title, it was at this point in the book that the reader starts to wonder why nothing is presented that shows the female of the species in a favourable light.
While the second essay, entitled "On Male Jealousy" lived up to it's title, it was at this point in the book that the reader starts to wonder why nothing is presented that shows the female of the species in a favourable light.
September 25, 2025
Did not peak my interest. Seemed outdated and just ran away from delivering any type of conclusion.
November 10, 2021
A collection of elegantly written essays examining various aspects of what humans have regarded as erotic, and how they have tried to control the erotic impulses that are threatening to the social order. The essays consider reasons for and consequences of male jealousy, the lasting importance of the Marquis de Sade on Europe's views of the forbidden and yet alluring explorations depicted in his books (with commentary on the ups and downs of the Marquis' life), and an historical survey of how women have been regarded and depicted, among other topics.
Read as bedtime reading, for which it was good. A book to go back to for rereading. Stylistically sophisticated and self-confident, with some ripe vocabulary that took me by surprise.
I'll remember the rather sympathetic tone of the essay on the Divine Marquis, and the thoughtful range of issues he encounters
Read as bedtime reading, for which it was good. A book to go back to for rereading. Stylistically sophisticated and self-confident, with some ripe vocabulary that took me by surprise.
I'll remember the rather sympathetic tone of the essay on the Divine Marquis, and the thoughtful range of issues he encounters
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews