Sex and Desire Essay -- Literary Analysis

Sex and desire. Few words evoke such complexity of meaning. For some, it is a sexual present. Whereas one might describe it as the unspiritual pleasure of two bodies fused into one being, another may pose it as the fulfillment of animalistic desire, an unleashing of the beast, if you will. But, beyond an act charged with versatile 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 knowingness of self and society. In doing so, sex and desire become a fomite, a means of communication between artist and audience, and an object that demands our attention. Whether it is the subtle and coarse language of Anas Nin in The daybook of Anas Nin (1966), the coarse and translucent vocabulary of Henry Miller in Tropic of Cancer (1934), or the poetic and sur substantialistic pr ose of Djuna Barnes in Nightwood (1934), sex and desire, as a vehicle in the literature of these authors, exposes the chaos and confusion within their world and suggests the innovation of a new order 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 young girl, Anas experiences an initial violate 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 respective(a) selves, she give overs, one does not request to remain in bondage to the scratch line wax imprint made on childhood sensibilities. one and only(a) need not be brande... ...thly father, a man she worshipped from her youth. This is further support by a reference to the child as a dispel of the past (341). Finally, while giving birth she remarks, These legs I opened to joy, this lamb that flowed out in the joynow these legs are twisted in pain 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 reverence she is very full and very rich (360).Works CitedBarnes, Djuna. Nightwood. fresh 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.