![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "That a soft pornographic novel dealing with the intense absorption of two individuals in sadomasochistic sexuality could become such a worldwide bestseller a mere 100 years after The Awakening gives us a glimpse at the immense change in values that must have occurred in western culture – as dramatic a change, one might say, as electricity and indoor plumbing".īestsellers, writes Illouz, "are likely to be texts that encode problematic social conditions – that is, social conditions that threaten individuals' capacity to pursue certain central goals, be they satiety, happiness, or material wealth". It's a dramatic shift since Kate Chopin's 1899 story of a married woman who discovers sexual desire with a lover, The Awakening, was greeted with "general moral disgust" on publication", Illouz points out. It contained some of the worst writing I have ever seen and a plot that made my toenails curl," she writes - but wanted to investigate why a trilogy of erotic novels about the sadomasochistic relationship between a domineering billionaire and a shy student has sold more than 40m copies around the world. Illouz, who is also the author of seven other books, was unimpressed with the quality of Fifty Shades - "I was speechless. ![]()
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