I was asked by the moderator of my upcoming panel at AWP on sex, writing and intimacy, for an aphorism using the word ‘erotic’.
My aphorism: Most things described by the word ‘erotic’ aren’t, for
some reason. It’s become a euphemism, a way to say the work is somehow safer than pornography, and suitable for literary audiences, like the way the French word ‘rien’ went from first meaning ‘everything’ in old French to meaning ‘nothing’ now.
For those of you attending AWP, my panel is on Saturday, 1:30-2:45PM, with Mary Cappello moderating, and with Peter Covino, Barrie Jean Borich and James Morrison, Room 110, the Colorado Convention Center, Street Level. Hope to see you there.
yay! see you soon!
I’ll be there. Can’t wait.
“Today eroticism
Seems commonplace.
As banal as the Parthenon.”
–Elias Petropoulos