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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. 35 mm slides or 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. muMiAccessing the World's Information since 1938 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA Order Num b e r 8824617 Narrative strategies of erotic fictional autobiography Hendrickson, Ruth Ann, Ph.D. The Ohio State University,1988 Copyright ©1988 by Hendrickson, Ruth Ann. A H rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zecb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 NARRATIVE STRATEGIES OF EROTIC FICTIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Ruth Ann Hendrickson, B.A. , M. A, ***** The Ohio State University 1988 Dissertation Committee p r o v John B. Gabel David O. Frantz Adviser Debra A. Moddelmog Department of English copyright by Ruth Ann Hendrickson 1988 Far my parents, Edmund and Jeanette Hendrickson ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Professors Daniel R. Barnes (OSU), Michael J. Preston <U of Colorado), and Paul Smith (Centre for English Culture and Tradition) believed in this project's potential; I am grateful for their inspiration and instruction. Professor Emeritus John M. Muste believed in this writer's potential; I cherish his guidance and friendship. Professor Juhn B. Gabel willingly took on an unruly student with an unruly project; I appreciate his candor, compassion, and direction throughout my scholarly adventure. Professor David 0. Frantz showed me that the subject merits serious attention; I appreciate his judicious comments and smiling encouragement. Professor Debra A. Moddelmog gave an extraordinary amount of thought, energy, and time to this endeavor; her keen critical ability and unselfish concern sustained me. Ediiiund and Jeanette Hendrickson have my heartfelt gratitude: they believed in me, loved me, and encouraged roe— even after they found out what I was doing. i i i VITA December 6, 1957 , Born— Glendale, Vest Virginia 1980 B.A., Marshall University, Huntington, Vest Virginia 1980— 1981 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of English, Marshall University, Huntington, Vest Virginia 1981-1982 Residence Hall Director, Marshall University, Huntington, Vest Virginia 1982 M, A., Marshall University, Huntington, Vest Virginia 1962-1964 Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohi o 1984-1987 Editorial Assistant, Proverb!um: Yearbook of. International Proverb Scholarship. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1985 Graduate Administrative Associate, Graduate School, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio i v 1986 .... Graduate Research Associate Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohi o 1986-1987 .... Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1987 .... Instructor, Ohio Vesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio 1987-1988 ........... Lecturer, Department of English, The Ohio State Uni versi ty PUBLICATIONS Rev. of Review of_ Pornography: A Feminist Survey, by Margaret Smith and Barbara Vaisberg. Vomen's Studies Review 8.4 (August/September, 1986>: 14. Rev. of Pleasures: Vomen Vrite Erotica, by Lonnie Barbach. Vomen1 s Studies Review 8.2 (March/April , 1986).- 2-4. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field; Twentieth-Century British and American Literature Adviser, Professor John M. Muste Minor Fields: Nineteenth-Century British Literature Adviser, Professor Leslie Tannenbaum American Literature to 1900 Adviser, Professor Daniel R. Barnes Folklore Adviser, Patrick B. Mullen V TAELE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................. ii VITA ................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ....................................... 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. A SURVEY OF RECENT PORNOGRAPHY STUDIES . 23 II. THE NARRATIVE S K E L E T O N .......................... 47 III. THE NARRATOR'S S T A N C E ..........................91 IV. THE NARRATOR'S VOICE .........................122 V. READING EROTICA ................................ 163 WORKS CONSULTED ......................................... 198 vi INTRODUCTION . pornography is the orphan little sister of the arts .... — Angela Carter, The, Sadeian tfnuwn Addressing what makes her work so popular in an age that does not set a high premium on virginity, romance writer Barbara Cartland says, "It's the pornography, dear. My readers are sick of it. I never specifically describe the sex act because it's such a bore laid bare. My readers begin to wonder if they're normal if they don't have sex upside-down, swinging from a chandelier."1 Cartland is apparently saying that her readers prefer the veiled descriptions of romance fiction's sexual interludes to the more graphically detailed encounters of pornography. In so doing she is relying on a standard stereotype of pornography to make her point. That stereotype defines pornography as sexually explicit material which cashes in on the bizarre, the absurd, and the perverse sexual appetites of the strange individuals who read such stuff. 1 2 Pornography has an image problem, a problem that results from misinformation and misinterpretation. Not al1 pornography deals with upside-down chandeliei— swinging sex. In fact, I know of only one work that even comes close to describing such a scene, and it's a non—pornographic contemporary novel by a feminist with a grand sense of humor. - Whatever the reasons for the popularity of Cartland's work, it is not all the fault of pornography.1' Cartland's response to erotic writing really should not surprise anyone, however, for as Benoite Groult clearly indicates in her discussion of Lilianna Cavanni's The Night Porter. "Pornography has always existed and has never undermined anything. It has always given pleasure to the same men and the same women and shocked the same others" C73) . A Those who enjoy pornography read pornography; those who do not, those who are shacked by it, rarely read it. But those who rarely read pornography seem the most inclined to criticize it. Although their criticisms vary about specifics of style and taste, most see little value in forthright, sexually arousing literature. Sexually explicit writing does appeal to the prurient interests of its readers; it is, after all, trying to. For readers of the romance, the sex act is more 3 appealing and more palatable when It Is artfully- concealed behind chenille curtains and heavy oak doors or teasingly promised by means of a ripped bodice or a slow ascent up a staircase. That the sex act laid bare would be a bore to these readers Is probably true; such a rendering would undercut the desired romance. But most readers of pornography want something beyond laid- bare sex acts as well. Pornography may Include more graphic sex scenes than other literature, but such incluslon does not exclude good taste or good writing. Not every page of pornography features a scene of sexual gymnastics. No question, bad writers write bad pornography. Bad poets write bad poetry. But not all of it— pornography or poetry— should be banished because some of it is without merit. To dismiss pornography as degenerative, degrading, demoralizing, and just plain indecent imparts an unfair Judgment about a very large quantity of material. Pornography’s sexual emphasis does-not necessarily preclude quality of style or content. Although my concern here will be literary pornography, the word "pornography" usually brings to mind photographs, centerfolds, postcards, and, most recently, films. "Pornography" sometimes conjures up 4 scenes of mumbling men haunting downtown black-windowed porn shops or young boys passing around well-worn magazines. Free association with the word "pornography" rarely elicits any positive responses; the connotations cluster around secrecy, illicitness, and abnormality. Seldom do the words "normal" and "pornography" appear together. After all, why would anyone with normal psychosexual development need any kind of pornography? As a reader of pornography— a female reader— I have this question tossed at me regularly, and each time it strikes me as odd. People read about the things that interest them, but it does not mean that everyone who reads westerns wants to ride a horse. The decision to read pornography may be a private matter, but unjust criticisms and blatant censorship make it a public issue. Vere my task to solve once and for all the question of pornography's status in a free society, I would be a fool to accept the assignment; such concerns will always be with us. If I were to try to differentiate between pornography and obscenity as legalists have attempted, I would be outside my domain. If I could settle the debates that threaten to divide even the sympathizers, I would do what no one has done before. Since I cannot do all of this, I have chosen to 5 do what I can do: I can give pornography the chance to prove Itself as an entertaining and enlightening form of writing that deserves more serious consideration than it usually receives. I cannot, however, take on all of pornography; that approach, that desire to establish that pornography has a history and therefore exists, has weakened critical arguments that would be stronger with more focus on actual texts.