Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Alan Moore's 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom

25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom is a new hardcover prose book published by Abrams. This book is "only" 90 pages in length, but Alan Moore, being the wordsmith he is, manages to compress the evolution of eroticism / pornography to its present forms in such a way as it doesn't feel rushed in any respect. In 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom, Alan Moore brilliantly writes about how written works and images of eroticism / pornography throughout history and how cultures / societies dealt with the expression of eroticism / pornography, is a big part of how those cultures / societies developed (or didn't).

Moore's thesis in 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom is that eroticism / pornography have always been a part of the landscape of our world and it's not going to go away and if more countries were to handle pornography as countries such as Denmark, Holland, and Spain have (by not hiding them in dark corners), then the problems that some perceive pornography to be the cause of (sex crimes) would not be as prevalent as they are.

I don't know why the title of this book was chosen, other than it does describe what 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom is about, but the beginning of the book starts with the title, Some Thoughts Concerning Pornography, which of course would have also worked as the title of this book. Moore looks at pornography from some of the early artifacts found by palaeo-anthropologists, through the ancient Greeks, the Dark Ages, the Victorian age, on through to the 20th century examining periods such as the 1960's with the counter-culture embracing / creating the sexual revolution and feminism. Along the way Moore discusses the import such figures as William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Robert Crumb, Russ Meyers, and even the "raunchy" Tijuana Bibles (short self published early early mini-comics that had cartoon characters engaging in sexual activities) had on people allowing them to embrace and or think about their sexual inclinations. Alan Moore even discusses how our internet age has more people engaging in pornography, commenting about its access "In cyberspace, no one can hear you climax." Classical paintings of eroticism are liberally shown in their full glorious splendor throughout 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom, as well as photographic nude images. I'd like to see 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom as essential reading for everyone as it handles its subject matter in an intelligent, thoughtful fashion, while also being immensely entertaining.

I'd like to quote a section of prose from 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom to illustrate the power of Moore's prose and what a huge thinker he is:

"If we could redefine erotica, restore it to the venerated place in art that it was once accustomed to, this might defuse a number of our personal and social tensions with regard to sex in much the same way it seems to have done at the dawn of western civilization. Realized properly, pornography could offer us a safe arena in which to discuss or to air ideas that otherwise would go outspoken and could only fester in our individual dark. Our sexual imagination is and always has been central to our lives, as individuals or as a species, and our culture might be much enriched, or at least more relaxed, if it acknowledged this."

Alan Moore's epic length novel (said to be over 1,500 pages long!), Jerusalem, can't come soon enough for me (I believe it's still at least a year away though).

11 comments:

mコミュ said...

mコミュは無料登録で友達を沢山作る事のできる掲示板サイトです。使った事のない人でも簡単に使う事ができるのでお気軽にお立ち寄りください

スタービーチ said...

スタービーチの出合いは他の出合い系サイトのものよりも確実に良い思いができるのは間違いありません。新しい出合いを求めたいと思っているのなら当サイトを利用してください。損はさせませんよ

gree said...

greeで素敵な時間を過ごしたい・・・そんな願望を叶えてくれるサイト誕生!!今までにないドキドキ感と興奮をこのグリーで楽しみましょう

スタービーチ said...

スタービーチで始まる素敵な出 合いをしていきませんか。楽しめる出 合いを経験するにはココから始まる!!最高の出 合いがあなたを待っている

グリー said...

最近はどこのSNSサイトも規制ばっかりで、ちょっと出 合いに関して書き込みするとアク禁食らうけど、夏休み終盤に差し掛かり色々なサイトを調べた結果、グリーだけはどうも規制が緩んでるみたいです。今がチャンスの時期ですよ

mコミュ said...

mコミュでならご近所さんと出会える確率99%!友達や恋人を探してる人はここで見つけてみませんか

モバゲー said...

人気沸騰中のモバゲーなら気軽に友達、恋人が見つかる!オフ会ですぐに会えちゃいます

神待ち said...

訳アリで家出した少女が神様の救いを待つ神待ち掲示板です!家に帰りたくない、帰れない少女達に愛の手を差し伸べてあげませんか

グリー said...

やっぱり新しい出逢いはグリーやモバゲーよりスタービーチ!フィーリングの合う異性を探し、すぐに遊びにいこう

SM度チェッカー said...

SMって最初は抵抗有る方が多いと思いますが、新しい自分を見付ける入門にまず、SM度チェッカーで自分に合うSMプレーを探しませんか?ここから新しい可能性が広がりますよ

M男 said...

M男の理想・願望を叶えます!!M男だから求める娯楽を当掲示板で楽しんでいきませんか?Sな女性から沢山の喜びを与えてもらえる快楽コミュで楽しんで下さい