Sex and Desire Essay -- Literary Analysis

Sex and desire. Few words evoke such complexity of meaning. For some, it is a sexual act. Whereas one might describe it as the sensual pleasure of two bodies fused into one being, another may define it as the fulfillment of animalistic desire, an unleashing of the beast, if you will. But, beyond an act aerated with various meaning, it can also serve as an identityheterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or transsexual. Whether act or identity, societal dictates define the norm and the deviant. Because of this, the artist who departs from the acceptable and embraces the aberrant, arouses the ken of self and society. In doing so, sex and desire become a vehicle, a means of communication between artist and audience, and an object that demands our attention. Whether it is the subtle and sensual row of Anas Nin in The Diary of Anas Nin (1966), the coarse and explicit vocabulary of Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer (1934), or the poetic and surrealistic prose of Djuna Barnes in Nightwood (19 34), sex and desire, as a vehicle in the literature of these authors, exposes the chaos and confusion within their world and suggests the establishment of a new establish for self and society. Written between 1931 and 1934, The Diary of Anas Nin chronicles one artists psychological journey. Deserted by her father as a preteen girl, Anas experiences an initial shock that leaves her like a shattered mirror (103). The shards of glass, each developing a life of their own, come to be the several selves of Anas (103). Through the pages of The Diary, reflecting upon and dissecting these various selves, she concludes, one does not need to remain in bondage to the first wax imprint made on childhood sensibilities. i need not be brande... ...thly father, a man she worshipped from her youth. This is further supported by a reference to the child as a share of the past (341). Finally, age giving birth she remarks, These legs I opened to joy, this honey that flowed out in the joynow these l egs are twisted in pain in the ass and the honey flows with the blood (344, emphasis added). All things considered, it seems reasonable to conclude the child was a result of incestuous union. Nevertheless, from the chaos and confusion, emerges the birth of the real Anas and while she may not become a saint she is very full and very rich (360).Works CitedBarnes, Djuna. Nightwood. New York New Directions Books, 2006. Print.Miller, Henry. Tropic of Cancer. New York grove Press, 1961. Print.Nin, Anas. The Diary of Anas Nin Volume One 1931-1934. San Diego Swallow Press and Harcourt, 1966. Print.