Suburban souls: The Erotic Psychology of a Man and a Maid

by Anonymous

When Suburban Souls was first published in 1901 by Charles Carrington, an active publisher of erotica in England and France, its sexual frankness and autobiographical disclosures quickly made it as sought after as My Secret Life. The first edition was strictly limited and did not become widely available until 1968, when Grove Press published the work in the United States.

The author identifies himself only as Jacky S., a 43-year-old broker with the Paris stock exchange. His memoir tells of his five-year love affair with 19-year-old Lilian Arvel. At the beginning of their romance, Lilian seemed to reciprocate Jacky's passion and willingly joined in mutual "exploration games," fondly calling Jacky her "Papa" and submitting to his strangest whims. Jacky's intentions toward Lilian were honorable, and while she lasciviously encouraged him to debase her, he did not object when she refused to give up her virginity. Gradually, however, their affair developed into a strange standoff, then came apart after the signs of infidelity became unmistakable -- Lilian had lost her virginity to someone else and entered into a peculiar relationship with her stepfather.

Jacky occasionally digresses to tell of various light-hearted sexual interludes with others. But for five years Lilian controlled Jacky's destiny, even though she could not return his love. This edition also includes 20 appendices, among them the complete text of another novel, The Yellow Room, referred to in Suburban Souls as having been edited by Jacky S.

Genres: Fiction, Erotica

572 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1901

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Kathleen Dienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, Victorian smut. Well, technically Edwardian smut, but unless publishing was a whole hell of a lot faster than it is now, it was written at the very end of the Victorian period.

Anyway, the point is, this erotic novel was published in 1901. I love that time period, and I love smut. Sadly, for me this book was not a case of peanut butter and chocolate, but more of a crab cake and butterscotch sauce moment. Two things I love, but not necessarily together.

I like love. Romance. I don't require the main characters in the smut I read to get married and live happily ever after, but I do prefer it if they at least like each other. In Suburban Souls, no one really likes anyone very much.

The whole thing was just sort of depressing. I mainly keep the book so I can pull it out and toss at party guests who truly believe that smut and porn are modern inventions.

[Amanda]

My cover is yellow, with a picture of a naked lady lying face-down on a blanket and a pile of pillows.

[Kim]

Did not like the characters. Couldn't face spending the length of the book with them.

[Grace Krilanovich]

got a sweet Grove press edition of this book with two hippies on the cover.