Eroticism in the Mirror of Literature
The majesty of love lies in the fact that desire and longing know no bounds, while the ability to act is limited. Wishes and yearnings are endless, but action is confined by boundaries. These poetic expressions were written by Shakespeare in the voice of Troilus, addressing his beloved Cressida, in his famous play ‘Troilus and Cressida’, to lament the infinite torment of human desires. Desires that are tormenting from both sides: on one hand, humans are endlessly burning in the fire of fulfilling their wishes, and on the other hand, even upon achieving and reaching what they longed for, they still remain dissatisfied. They want something with all their being and completely, but upon reaching it, they are engulfed in the sorrow of quenching this thirst, only for a new thirst to take its place. For there is no limit to human desires; every boundary that is conquered awakens the desire for new boundaries, and every human, by the vastness of their imagination and the intensity of their desires, has unlimited means at their disposal to continuously fuel the fire of the cycle of longing and regret.
Literature as a Realm of Recognizing All Emotions
But this boundlessness of the scope of desires and wishes is what terrifies human societies and religious social institutions, creating a constant battle between self-made traditions and laws and the possible and impossible subjects of human desires. This battle serves as a chain to restrain men and women whose hearts are in perpetual beat to cross the rigid boundaries of norms and conventions. However, this battle is not confined to the public sphere alone, and as much as forces of suppression strive to reinforce this dominance in the tangible world, the human yearning for liberation increasingly turns to freedom in the realm of art and literature. In this context, literature as one of the most important branches of art is the land that recognizes all dimensions of human emotions, and it is in this land that all the forbidden desires of conventional and urban rules find the right to manifest, display, and roam.
Unity in Diversity
And the strange miracle of literature is precisely here. Literature not only reveals these realms of freeing desires from one aspect but also simultaneously, by exploring them, tries to delve into the reasons for the emergence and appearance of these unconventional desires and guide us to a new world. A world in which bodily desires are linked with fear, death, obsession, greed, envy, and anger, showing us how similar we humans are despite the multitude and diversity of our desires. This exploration has perhaps been ongoing since the beginning of sedentism and the emergence of the first human laws, always striving to understand, limit, or recognize human desires.
Describing Love with Aesthetics and Sensuality
From the first aspect, giving meaning to beauty and bodily desires beyond considering socially constructed rules and boundaries has led to the creation of many literary works, traces of which can be followed in myths, classical texts, and contemporary stories. Passionate stories that describe love with sensuality and aesthetics, and contrary to generally superficial readings, reflect the psychological complexities of their created characters. Here, the creator of these works has managed to stand between two worlds: one side the world of human rules and traditions, and the other the unknown and lustful world of desires. In this struggle, to satisfy these desires, or to recognize or declare them, or even just to encounter their possibility more closely, they have created a world embodied in poetry, stories, epics, and songs.
Understanding the Sinful Complexities of the Human Psyche
From the second aspect, this human, this creator of works, in the same confrontation with the dark and repressed aspects of hidden and sometimes deemed evil and condemned desires, like a reflection in a mirror, presents a new image of themselves and sometimes of humanity to their audience. An image that, in many cases, has become the key to understanding many sinful complexities in human character, from lust and envy to greed and violence. Among these, perhaps the most important area, due to its controversial and rejected nature, cautiously examined even in the realm of literature and art, is the area that directly addresses bodily desires and the definite yet complex and multifaceted and constantly denied connection between body and mind. What boundary is there for bodily desires? To what extent are these boundaries born of morality, and to what extent of traditions and laws? Most importantly, how should the roots of these complex and sometimes infamous and forbidden desires be searched for in the hidden depths of the layers of the human psyche?
The Fate of Banned Works and Their Authors
Discussing and listing such literary works from East to West is the subject of this series of reports. Many of these works were known for a long time with the suffix ‘banned’, and their authors were sometimes accused of obscenity and indecency and ostracized, while at other times, conversely, they gained fame and wealth due to breaking taboos. Writers like Marquis de Sade, Joyce, Henry Miller, Nabokov, Kawabata, Llosa, Marquez, and Thomas Mann are among these authors. In the upcoming programs, our aim is to introduce and shed light on works that have either gathered dust in the darkness of shelves or have been overlooked through the lens of denial of some of the important aspects of their worlds. Follow us in future issues as we unveil the mask from the controversial works of these authors and examine their impact and influence on one another.