133-820: Venus in India, or Love adventures in Hindustan is a pornographic novel by the pseudonymous "Charles Devereaux" (variously spelled in the different editions) published by Auguste Brancart in Brussels in 1889. It purports to be the autobiography of a British Army officer serving on the North West Frontier of India, describing his erotic adventures with Lizzie Wilson and the three daughters of Colonel Selwyn. His wife Louie remains in England. He sometimes refers to Théophile Gautier 's Mademoiselle de Maupin during
266-489: A 12th-century collection of Indian erotic works, is a lesser known one. The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Recreation , a 16th-century Arabic work by Sheikh Nefzaoui , is also well-known and is often reprinted and translated. There is anecdotal evidence that, as late as the mid-20th century, sex therapists and other physicians prescribed erotic literature as treatment for erectile dysfunction. The ancient Chinese versions of
399-455: A common-law offence being committed – for example, on the report of a plain-clothes policeman who had successfully purchased the material – the court could issue a warrant for the premises to be searched and the material seized. The proprietor then would be called upon to attend court and give reason why the material should not be destroyed. Critically, the Act did not define "obscene", leaving this to
532-409: A complex structure with several genres exploited simultaneously; and contains many verbal exchanges and letters, all imbued with lyrical intensity. Khosrow endures long journeys, physical and spiritual, before returning to Shirin, his true love. They are eventually married, but finally Khosrow is killed by his son and Shirin commits suicide over the body of her murdered husband. Pure and selfless love
665-399: A different metre and organized the whole work in a different fashion. Khaqani Sherwani daring imagery, was to have a momentous influence on Nezami Ganjavi and through the latter on Persian poetry in general. Nezami lived in an age of both political instability and intense intellectual activity, which his poems reflect; but little is known about his life, his relations with his patrons, or
798-525: A distance. Layla's husband dies eventually, which removes the legal obstacles to a licit union. However Majnun is so focused on the ideal picture of Layla in his mind, that he fled into the desert again. Layla dies out of grief and is buried in her bridal dress. Hearing this news, Majun rushes to her grave, where he instantly dies. They are buried side by side and their grave becomes a site of pilgrimage. Someone dreams that in Paradise they are united and live as
931-406: A few hours before intercourse will help delay orgasm or enhance non-ejaculatory pleasure. The Universal Tao system was developed by Mantak Chia to teach Taoist meditative and exercise techniques to balance the body and increase and refine one's vital energy, or qi . Front and back channel, the back channel is where the perineum is located between anus and scrotum moving up the tailbone to the crown,
1064-423: A good number of poets in the northwestern areas rose from among the common people with working-class backgrounds, and they frequently used colloquial expressions in their poetry. Accordingly, the book demonstrates the social conditions at the time, reflecting the full spread of Persian language and the culture in the region, which is evidenced by the common use of spoken idioms in poems and the professions of many of
1197-548: A king and queen. Nezami composed his romance at the request of the Shirvanshah Akhsatan. Initially, he doubted that this simple story about the agony and pain of an Arab boy wandering in rough mountains and burning deserts would be a suitable subject for royal court poetry and his cultured audience. It was his son who persuaded him to undertake the project, saying: "wherever tales of love are read, this will add spice to them". Nezami used many Arabic anecdotes in
1330-440: A literary review, La Conque in 1891, where he proceeded to publish Astarte —an early collection of erotic verse already marked by his distinctive elegance and refinement of style. He followed up in 1894 with another erotic collection in 143 prose poems— Songs of Bilitis (Les Chansons de Bilitis) , this time with strong lesbian themes. Although D. H. Lawrence could be regarded as a writer of love poems, he usually dealt in
1463-592: A long poem in heroic couplets , purporting to be a reprint of an 18th-century poem by George Colman the Younger , on the theme of flagellation. Italian Una Chi distinguished herself among other publications for coldly analytical prose and for the crudeness of the stories. Prostitution was the focus of much of the earliest erotic works. The term pornography is derived from the Greek pornographos meaning "writer about prostitutes", originally denoting descriptions of
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#17327933677631596-710: A master of the art of praise. Amir Khusro writes: "The ruler of the kingdom of words, famed hero, Scholar and poet, his goblet [glass] toasts. In it – pure wine, it's drunkingly sweet, Yet in goblet [glass] beside us – only muddy setting." According to the book Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments in the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Ashoka Hall, the most important hall of the Indian Presidential Palace, Persian poems were written and decorated with paintings from Iran or Persia such as
1729-499: A nature calculated to shock the common feelings of decency in any well-regulated mind." The House of Commons successfully amended it so as not to apply to Scotland, on the grounds that Scottish common law was sufficiently stringent. The Act provided for the seizure and destruction of any material deemed to be obscene, and held for sale or distribution, following information being laid before a "court of summary jurisdiction" ( magistrates' court ). The Act required that following evidence of
1862-408: A nobody, and no one opened the door for a Nobody When more or less half of the night had passed A shrewd, perfect man (rind) raised his head from a booth and showed his face I asked him: “to open the door”, he told me: “go away, do not talk nonsense! At this hour, nobody opens door for anybody This is not a mosque where its doors are open any moment Where you can come late and move quickly to
1995-499: A number of times. In general, his method is to omit those episodes that the earlier poet had treated, or to touch on them only very briefly, and to concentrate on new material. The poet starts by giving an account of the birth of Bahram Gur and his upbringing in the court of the Arab King No'man and his fabled palace Khwarnaq. Bahram whose upbringing is entrusted to No'man becomes a formidable huntsman. While wandering through
2128-462: A plea bargain, pleaded guilty and was convicted. Five years later, the conviction was vacated . Importing books and texts across national borders can sometimes be subject to more stringent laws than in the nations concerned. Customs officers are often permitted to seize even merely 'indecent' works that would be perfectly legal to sell and possess once one is inside the nations concerned. Canada has been implicated in such border seizures. Although
2261-708: A relatively limited readership. This was the original method of circulation for the Sonnets of William Shakespeare , who also wrote the erotic poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece . The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delight ( Arabic : الروض العاطر في نزهة الخاطر) is a fifteenth-century Arabic sex manual and work of erotic literature by Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Nefzawi, also known simply as "Nefzawi". The book presents opinions on what qualities men and women should have to be attractive and gives advice on sexual technique, warnings about sexual health , and recipes to remedy sexual maladies. It gives lists of names for
2394-411: A romantic epic, "The Treasury of Mysteries" was translated into English by Gholam H. Darab in 1945. After this early work, Nezami turned towards narrative poetry. A story of pre-Islamic Persian origin which is found in the great epico-historical poems of Shahnameh and is based on a true story that was further romanticized by Persian poets. The story chosen by Nizami, was commissioned and dedicated to
2527-710: A significant Persian poet and hail him as the greatest exponent of romantic epic poetry in Persian literature . Amongst the many notable poets who have taken the Five Treasures of Nezami as their model may be mentioned Amir Khusro , Jalal Farahani, Khwaju Kermani , Mohammad Katebi Tarr-Shirini, Abdul Rahman Jami , Hatefi Jami, Vahshi Bafqi , Maktabi Shirazi, Ali-Shir Nava'i , Abdul Qader-e Bedel Dehlavi , Fuzûlî , Hashemi Kermani, Fayzi, Jamali and Ahmad Khani . Not only poets, but also historians such as Rawandi were influenced by Nezami's poetry and used his poems as
2660-738: A source for rendering history. Besides these, scores of poets have started their composition with the first line of the Makhzan al-Asrar . According to Rudolf Gelpke, "Many later poets have imitated Nizami's work, even if they could not equal and certainly not surpass it; Persians, Turks, Indians, to name only the most important ones. The Persian scholar Hekmat has listed not less than forty Persian and thirteen Turkish versions of Layli and Majnun ." According to Vahid Dastgerdi, "If one would search all existing libraries, one would probably find more than 1000 versions of Layla and Majnun ." Jami in his Nafahatol Ons remarks that: "Although most of Nezami's work on
2793-417: A suspended dog from a tree. The owner of the dog, who was shepherd, tells the story of how his faithful watchdog had betrayed his flock to a she-wolf in return for sexual favors. He starts investigating the corrupt minister and from the multitude of complaints, he selects seven who tell him the injustice they have suffered. The minister is subsequently put to death and Bahram Gur restores justice and orders
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#17327933677632926-446: Is The Merry Muses of Caledonia (the title is not by Burns), a collection of bawdy lyrics that were popular in the music halls of Scotland as late as the 20th century. One of the 19th century's foremost poets— Algernon Charles Swinburne —devoted much of his considerable talent to erotic verse, producing, inter alia, twelve eclogues on flagellation titled The Flogging Block "by Rufus Rodworthy, annotated by Barebum Birchingly"; more
3059-720: Is a waste of time." Ganjavi's poems were very popular in the Indian subcontinent. Persian language and literature have had a great impact on the entire Indian subcontinent. Nizami Ganjavi has been imitated by many poets due to his unique style of speech and language of poetry. Poets who have imitated Ganjavi's woto include: Amir Khusro Delhi, Khwaju Kermani , Jami , Hatefi , Ghasemi , Vahshi Bafqi , 'Orfi Shirazi , Maktabi , Faizi , Ashraf Maraghi, Azar Bigdeli , Badriddin Hilali , Rumi Kermani, Maulana Navidi Shirazi and Salman Savaji . Amir Khusro Dehlavi praises Ganjavi in his poems as
3192-557: Is called Nizami raion . The life of Nizami Ganjavi is shown in the Azerbaijani movie "Nizami" (1982), in which the leading role, role of Nizami Ganjavi, was played by Muslim Magomayev . The Nizami Mausoleum , built in honor of Nizami, stands just outside the city of Ganja in Azerbaijan. It is a tall cylindrical building, surrounded by gardens. To one side, there is a metal statue commemorating Nizami's epic poems. The mausoleum
3325-511: Is credited with what some scholars in the last century have termed as the founder of the "Azerbaijan" or "Trans-Cacausian" school or "Tabriz School" or "Shirvan School" or "Arranian Style" of Persian poetry. This school produced a distinctive style of poetry in Persian, which contrasted with "Khurasani" ("Eastern") style in its rhetorical sophistication, its innovative use of metaphor, its use of technical terminology and Christian imagery,
3458-506: Is devoted to the discourses he has with seven Greek sages. The poet then tells of Alexander's end and adds an account of the circumstances of the death of each of the seven sages. Nezami's image of Alexander is that of an Iranian knight. An English translation of the Sharaf-Nama by Henry Wilberforce-Clarke was published in 1881 under the title Sikandar Nama e Bara and is available online. A pre-Islamic story of Persian origin, it
3591-535: Is no doubt. Poets were expected to be well versed in many subjects; but Nizami seems to have been exceptionally so. His poems show that not only he was fully acquainted with Arabic and Persian literatures and with oral and written popular and local traditions, but was also familiar with such diverse fields as mathematics , astronomy , astrology , alchemy , medicine , botany , Koranic exegesis, Islamic theory and law , Iranian myths and legends, history, ethics , philosophy and esoteric thought , music, and
3724-418: Is no indication that these were Sufi vigils, but they are used as a literary fantasy on the spiritually-inclined poet he wanted to be. In highly rhetorical style, the aim he pursues is to transcend the limitation of secular literature of the courts. With this work, Nezami joins the destination of Persian poetry, which had started with Sanai and was continued by others, in the first place by Attar . Not
3857-564: Is recognized as King and rescues the Persians from a famine. Once the country is stable, the King searches for the seven princesses and wins them as his brides. His architect is ordered to construct seven domes for each of his new brides. The architect tells him that each of the seven climes is ruled by one of the seven planets (classical planetary system of Zoroastrian-Islamic world) and advises him to assure good fortune by adorning each dome with
3990-436: Is represented here embodied in the figure of Farhad, secretly in love with Shirin, who falls victim to the king's ire and jealousy. The influence of Vis o Ramin is visible as the poem imitates a major scene (that of the lovers arguing in the snow) from Vis o Rāmin, as well as being in the same meter ( hazaj ) as Gorgāni's poem. Nezami's concern with astrology also has a precedent in an elaborate astrological description of
4123-947: Is still deemed illegal and is also prosecuted. Nizami Ganjavi Nizami Mausoleum • Nizami Museum of Azerbaijani Literature • Nizami Gəncəvi (Baku Metro) • in Ganja • in Baku • in Beijing • in Chișinău • in Rome • in Saint Petersburg • Nizami Ganjavi ( Persian : نظامی گنجوی , romanized : Niẓāmī Ganjavī , lit. 'Niẓāmī of Ganja '; c. 1141 – 1209), Nizami Ganje'i , Nizami , or Nezāmi , whose formal name
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4256-450: The Afaq in that verse to simply mean "horizon" rather than a proper name. Strangely enough, Nezami's two other wives, too, died prematurely – the death of each coinciding with the completion of an epic, prompting the poet to say, "God, why is it that for every mathnavi I must sacrifice a wife!". Nizami was not a philosopher in the sense of Avicenna or an expositor of theoretical Sufism in
4389-615: The Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater in Baku and later was recorded as a film. A minor planet , called 3770 Nizami , was discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh in 1974 and named after him. Further, the Museum of Azerbaijan literature in Baku is named after Nizami. Nezami was depicted on the obverse of the Azerbaijani 500 manat banknote of 1993–2006. In 2008, coinciding with
4522-830: The Hebrew Bible , the Song of Songs , found in the last section of the Tanakh , celebrates sexual love, giving "the voices of two lovers, praising each other, yearning for each other, proffering invitations to enjoy". Many erotic poems have survived from ancient Greece and Rome . The Greek poets Straton of Sardis and Sappho of Lesbos both wrote erotic lyric poems. The poet Archilochus wrote numerous satirical poems filled with obscene and erotic imagery. Erotic poems continued to be written in Hellenistic and Roman times by writers like Automedon ( The Professional and Demetrius
4655-748: The Inside Linda Lovelace trial in 1976. However, in October 2008, a man was unsuccessfully prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act (the R v Walker trial) for posting fictional written material to the Internet allegedly describing the kidnap, rape and murder of the pop group Girls Aloud . The First Amendment to the United States Constitution gives protection to written fiction, although
4788-525: The Ishinpo text, which is a medical document that also included sections devoted to sexual hygiene and sexual manuals of the Tang and Han dynasties. Qigong manuals include warming a wet towel and covering penis for a few minutes, then rubbing one direction away from base of penis hundreds of times daily, similar to qigong. Squeezing sphincter while semi-erect or fully erect dozens of times daily, particularly
4921-562: The Khamsa ( خمسه , 'Quintet or Quinary') or Panj Ganj ( پنج گنج , 'Five Treasures'): The first of these poems, Makhzan-ol-Asrâr , was influenced by Sanai 's (d. 1131) monumental Garden of Truth . The four other poems are medieval romances. Khosrow and Shirin, Bahram-e Gur, and Alexander the Great , who all have episodes devoted to them in Ferdowsi 's Shahnameh , appear again here at
5054-598: The Khamsa of Nizami (British Library, Or. 12208) , created for the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 1590s. The ethico-philosophical poems of about 2,250 Persian distichs was dedicated to Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah, the ruler of Erzinjan. The story deals with such esoteric subjects as philosophy and theology. The story contains twenty discourses, each of them portraying an exemplary story on religious and ethical topics. Each chapter concludes with apostrophe to
5187-462: The Musha'areh , the poetry recitation contest. Nizami's work serves as a vehicle and a symbol of this tradition, for it unites universality with deep-rooted artistic endeavor, a sense of justice and passion for the arts and sciences with spirituallity and genuine piety. For richness and fineness of metaphor, accuracy, and profundity of psychological observation, and sheer virtuosity of storytelling, Nizami
5320-496: The penis and vulva , and has a section on the interpretation of dreams. Interspersed with these there are a number of stories which are intended to give context and amusement. In the 17th century, John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647–80) was notorious for obscene verses, many of which were published posthumously in compendiums of poetry by him and other " Restoration rakes " such as Sir Charles Sedley , Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset , and George Etherege . Though many of
5453-462: The visual arts . His strong character, social sensibility, and knowledge of oral and written historical records, as well as his rich Persian cultural heritage unite pre-Islamic and Islamic Iran into the creation of a new standard of literary achievement. Being a product of the Iranian culture of the time, he not only created a bridge between pre-Islamic and Islamic Iran, but also between Iran and
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5586-504: The 12th century, the Seljuk Empire's control of the region weakened and their provincial governors, virtually autonomous local princes, further encouraged Persian culture, art and poetry in their courts. Persian culture characteristically flourished in this era, when political power was diffused and Persian remained the primary language, Persian civil servants and merchants were in great demand and rival dynasties continued to vie for
5719-737: The 17th century; Pills to Purge Melancholy (1698–1720); the Roxburghe Ballads ; Bishop Percy's Folio ; The Musical Miscellany ; National Ballad and Song: Merry Songs and Ballads Prior to the Year AD 1800 (1895–97) edited by J. S. Farmer; the three volume Poetica Erotica (1921) and its more obscene supplement the Immortalia (1927) both edited by T. R. Smith. French collections include Les Muses gaillardes (1606) Le Cabinet satyrique (1618) and La Parnasse des poetes satyriques (1622). A famous collection of four erotic poems,
5852-431: The 18th century, directories of prostitutes and their services, such as Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies (1757–1795), provided both entertainment and instruction. In the 19th century, the sensational journalism of W. T. Stead 's The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon (1885) about the procuring of underage girls into the brothels of Victorian London provided a stimulus for the erotic imagination. Stead's account
5985-535: The 800th anniversary of his death, the National Bank of Azerbaijan minted a 100 manat gold commemorative coin dedicated to his memory. The Nizami Museum of Literature is located in Baku , Republic of Azerbaijan . One of the Baku Metro stations is also named after Nizami Ganjavi. There is Institute of Literature named after Nizami and Cinema named after Nizami in Baku. One of the districts of Baku
6118-451: The Dutch madame Xaviera Hollander and The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl (2005) by Belle de Jour . In the 21st century, a new literary genre of student published journals at American universities was started. The following is a partial list of publications: Sex manuals are among the oldest forms of erotic literature. Three brief fragments of a sex manual written in
6251-494: The Fateh Ali Shah, Shah Qajar and poems of Hafez , Khayyam and Nezami Ganjavi are painted on the ceiling and parts of the hall. A large oil painting illustration of Nezami Ganjavi and a large painting of a Persian lady on both sides of the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan . The Khamsa was a popular subject for lavish manuscripts with painted miniatures at the Persian and Mughal courts in later centuries. Examples include
6384-469: The Fortunate ), Philodemus ( Charito ) and Marcus Argentarius . Notable Roman erotic poets included Catullus , Propertius , Tibullus , Ovid , Martial and Juvenal , and the anonymous Priapeia . Some later Latin authors such as Joannes Secundus also wrote erotic verse. Haft Peykar ( Persian : هفت پیکر ) also known as Bahramnameh ( بهرامنامه , The Book of Bahram ) is a romantic epic by
6517-530: The Great, which derive from Qur'anic references to the Dhu'l-Qarnayn as well as from Alexander romance of Pseudo-Callisthenes . It consists of two books, Sharaf-Nama and Iqbal-nameh. The poem narrates the three stages in Alexander's life: first as the conqueror of the world; then as a seeker after knowledge, gaining enough wisdom to acknowledge his own ignorance; and finally as a prophet, traveling once again across
6650-821: The Khamsa of Nizami (British Library, Or. 12208), created for the Mughal (Gurkanid) Emperor Akbar in the 1590s. In the early 1940s and to mark the 800th anniversary of Nizami Ganjavi, Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov planned to write seven songs based on Nizami's poem about the Seven Beauties . However Hajibeyov wrote only two songs: Sensiz (Without You, 1941) and Sevgili Janan (Beloved, 1943). Another Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev , composed Seven Beauties (ballet) in 1947–48 based on Nizami's eponymous poem that won an international acclaim. He also composed Leyli and Majnun (ballet) that premiered on 25 May 1969 at
6783-401: The Obscene Publications Act of 1857, as well as 1959 legislation, outlawed the publication, retail and trafficking of certain types of writings and images regarded as pornographic, and would order the destruction of shop and warehouse stock meant for sale, the private possession of and viewing of pornography was not prosecuted in those times. In some nations, even purely textual erotic literature
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#17327933677636916-649: The Persian epic tradition, such as the portrayal of characters, the relationship between characters, description of time and setting, etc. Further, he adapted the different stories about Majnun to fit a well-crafted Persian romantic epic. The Story of Layla and Majnun by Nizami , was edited and translated into English by Swiss scholar of Islamic culture Rudolf Gelpke and published in 1966. A comprehensive analysis in English containing partial translations of Nezami's romance Layla and Majnun examining key themes such as chastity, constancy and suffering through an analysis of
7049-575: The Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi written in 1197. This poem is a part of the Nizami's Khamsa . The original title Haft Peykar can be translated literally as "seven portraits" with the figurative meaning of "seven beauties." The poem is a masterpiece of erotic literature, but it is also a profoundly moralistic work. During the Renaissance period, many poems were not written for publication; instead, they were merely circulated in manuscript form among
7182-548: The Seljuk Sultan Toghril II, the Atabek Muhammad ibn Eldiguz Jahan Pahlavan and his brother Qizil Arslan . It contains about 6,500 distichs in length, the story depicts the love of Sasanian Khosrow II Parviz towards his Armenian princess Shirin . Khusrow and Shirin recounts the story of King Khosrow's courtship of Princess Shirin, and the vanquishing of his love-rival, Farhad. The story has
7315-522: The Suppression of Vice . The first such law was the Comstock Act, (ch. 258 17 Stat. 598 enacted March 3, 1873) which made it illegal to send any "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail. Twenty-four states passed similar prohibitions on materials distributed within the states. This question of whether a book had literary merit eventually prompted a change in
7448-455: The anthology Nozhat al-Majales (which was compiled around 1250) by Jamal Khalil Shirvani along with 23 other poets from Ganja . A famous ghazal of Nezami talks about altruism as the path for reaching the ultimate spiritual goal: I went to the Tavern last night, but I was not admitted I was bellowing yet nobody was listening to me Either none of the wine-sellers were awake Or I was
7581-478: The authorities. Prosecutions of erotica later in the 18th century were rare and were most often taken because of the admixture of seditious and blasphemous material with the porn. It was the Obscene Publications Act 1857 which made the sale of obscene material a statutory offense, giving the courts power to seize and destroy offending material. The origins of the act itself were in a trial for
7714-572: The bases for most of his plots from Ferdowsi , but the basis for his rhetoric comes from Gorgani. This is especially noticeable in Khosrow and Shirin , which is of the same meter and imitates some scenes from Vis and Ramin . Nezami's concern with astrology also has a precedent in an elaborate astrological description of the night sky in Vis and Ramin . Nezami had a paramount influence on the romantic tradition, and Gorgani can be said to have initiated much of
7847-475: The case of a mock-sex manual produced in the early sixteenth century by Pietro Aretino . It was in response to the clerical censorship of the nude engravings of the Roman artists Marcantonio Raimondi . This was released in cheap wood, with a corresponding sonnet serving as the voice of the characters. Erotic fiction is a genre of fiction that portrays sex or sexual themes, generally in a more literary way than
7980-454: The center of three of four of Nezami's narrative poems. The adventure of the paired lovers, Layla and Majnun, is the subject of the second of his four romances , and derived from Arabic sources. In all these cases, Nezami reworked the material from his sources in a substantial way. The Khamsa was a popular subject for lavish manuscripts illustrated with painted miniatures at the Persian and Mughal courts in later centuries. Examples include
8113-475: The color that is associated with each clime and planet. Bahram is skeptical but follows the advice of the architect. The princesses take up residence in the splendid pavilions. On each visit, the king visits the princesses on successive days of the week; on Saturday the Indian princess, who is governed by Saturn and so on. The princesses names are Furak (Nurak), the daughter of the Rajah of India, as beautiful as
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#17327933677638246-494: The courts and is generally believed to have lived a secluded life. Since he was not a court poet, he does not appear in the annals of the dynasties, which list the names of events of the ruling families. According to literary scholar Chelkowski, "it seems that Nezami's favorite pastime was reading Firdawsi's monumental epic Shahnameh (The book of Kings). Nezami mentioned Ferdowsi as the Sage (Hakim) and Knower/Wise (daanaa) and
8379-412: The desert among the beasts. However the image of Layla was so ingrained in him that he cannot eat or sleep. His only activity becomes composing poetry of longing for Layla. Meanwhile, Layla is married against her will, but she guards her virginity by resisting the advances of her husband. In a secret meeting with Majnun, they meet, but have no physical contact. Rather, they recite poetry to each other from
8512-455: The distinction of being the only works of erotic literature ever read out loud and in their entirety in the House of Lords —before being declared obscene and blasphemous by that body and the supposed author, Wilkes, declared an outlaw . Robert Burns worked to collect and preserve Scottish folk songs, sometimes revising, expanding, and adapting them. One of the better known of these collections
8645-600: The distinctive rhetoric and poetic atmosphere of this tradition, with the absence of the Sufi influences, which are seen in Nezami's epic poetry. The first monumental work of Nezami, the Makhzan al-Asrar is influenced by Sanai 's Hadikat al-Hakika . Nezami acknowledges this, but considers his work to be superior. The main similarities between Sanai's poem and Nezami's are in its ethico-philosophical genre, although Nezami uses
8778-715: The ecclesiastical courts. After the Reformation the jurisdiction of these courts declined in favour of the Crown which licensed every printed book. Prosecutions of books for their erotic content alone were rare and works which attacked the church or state gave much more concern to the authorities than erotica or ' obscene libel ' as it was then known. For instance the Licensing Act 1662 was aimed generally at "heretical, seditious, schismatical or offensive books of pamphlets" rather than just erotica per se. Even this Licensing Act
8911-484: The effect of any one of its items is, if taken as a whole, such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied in it. After this piece of legislation questions of the literary merit of the work in question were allowed to be put before the judge and jury as in the Lady Chatterley trial. The publishers of
9044-488: The end again in one way or another torn apart and separated from each other." With regards to the recitation of his poetry, Peter Chelkowski states: "The memorization and recitation of their literary heritage has alway beens vital to Iranians, whose attitude towards the power of the written and spoken word is reverential. Even today the national passion for poetry is constantly expressed over radio and television, in teahouses, in literary societies, in daily conversation, and in
9177-471: The fabled palace, he discovers a locked room which contains a depiction of seven princesses; hence the name Haft Peykar (seven beauties). Each of these princesses is from the seven different climes (traditional Zoroastrian -Islamic division of the Earth) and he falls in love with them. His father Yazdegerd I passes away and Bahram returns to Persia to claim his throne from pretenders. After some episodes he
9310-485: The father was growing more frail. Some modern writers in the late 20th century have claimed that this wife was called Afaq . Vahid Dastgerdi seems to be the first writer to propose this name for Nezami's first wife, but Said Nafisi (at the same time) and a recent source have challenged this interpretation of the corresponding verse in Nizami's work and the assumption that Afaq was the real name of his wife and have taken
9443-409: The fiction seen in pornographic magazines . It sometimes includes elements of satire or social criticism . These type of fiction have frequently been banned by the government or religious authorities. Erotic or pornographic works have often been prosecuted, censored and destroyed by the authorities on grounds of obscenity. In Medieval England, erotic or pornographic publications were the concern of
9576-444: The first row This is the Tavern of Magians and rinds dwell here There are Beauties, candle, wine, sugar, reed flute and songs Whatever wonders that exists, is present here (in this tavern there are) Muslims, Armenians, Zoroastrian, Nestorians, and Jews If you are seeking company of all that is found here You must become a dust upon the feet of everyone in order to reach your (spiritual perfection) goal” O Nezami! if you knock
9709-450: The fourth century BC that is attributed to Philaenis of Samos have survived. Modern scholars generally regard it as a work of parody probably written by a man, and this was most likely Athenian sophist Polycrates . Other examples of the genre from the classical world include the lost works of Elephantis and Ovid 's Ars Amatoria . The Indian Kama Sutra is one of the world's best-known works of this type. The Ananga Ranga ,
9842-423: The front channel is moving down the front of your body down the midline. Breathing up the back channel and then breathing out from the front channel down to and from the abdomen moves chi. Many practices combined help chi to be transformed into spiritual energy or shen . Not all sex manuals were produced to arouse or inform readers about sexual acts. Some were created as a form of satire or social criticism, as in
9975-476: The good pearl from the string; from him who is of evil nature flee. An evil nature acts consistently: have you not heard that Nature does not err ? The evil-natured man keeps faith with none; the erring nature does not fail to err. The scorpion since it is by nature bad—to let it live's a fault, to kill it, good. Seek knowledge, for through knowledge you effect that doors to you be opened and not closed. He who shames not at learning can draw forth pearls from
10108-582: The great master of discourse, "who has decorated words like new bride." Nezami advises the son of the Shirvanshah to read the Shah-nama and to remember the meaningful sayings of the wise. Nezami used the Shahnameh as a source in his three epics of Haft Peykar , Khosrow and Shirin and Eskandar-Nameh . The story of Vis and Ramin also had an immense influence on Nezami. Although Nezami takes
10241-461: The grounds of obscenity . Because of this, much of the production of this type of material became clandestine . The oldest located love poem is Istanbul 2461 , an erotic monologue written by a female speaker directed to king Shu-Sin . In ancient Sumer, a whole cycle of poems revolved around the erotic lovemaking between the goddess Inanna and her consort Dumuzid the Shepherd . In
10374-445: The ideal way of life drawing attention to his reader of the supreme rank man among God's creatures and approaching of the end life and the necessity of man becoming aware of his spiritual destination. In a few chapters he address the duties of a king, but as a whole he addresses himself to mankind in general rather than to his royal patrons. In the introduction, the poet provides an account of his solitary vigils, called Khalwat. There
10507-453: The land of the Rus. The Sharafnama concludes with Alexander's unsuccessful search for the water of immortal life. The Iqbal-nameh is a description of Alexander's personal growth into the ideal ruler on a model ultimately derived, through Islamic intermediaries, from Plato 's Republic . He has debates with Greek and Indian philosophers (c.f. with Garshaspnama ) and a major portion of the text
10640-403: The latter book were found not guilty by the court on the grounds of the literary merit of the book. In later prosecutions of literary erotica under the provisions of the act, however, even purely pornographic works with no apparent literary merit escaped destruction by the authorities. Purely textual pornographic texts, with no hint of libel , ceased to be brought to trial following the collapse of
10773-532: The law in both America and the UK. In the United Kingdom the Obscene Publications Act 1959 provided for the protection of "literature" but conversely increased the penalties against pure "pornography." The law defined obscenity and separated it from serious works of art. The new definition read: [A]n article shall be deemed to be obscene if its effect or (where the article comprises two or more distinct items)
10906-494: The legal presumption that it does not protect obscene literature has never been overcome. Instead, pornography has successfully been defined legally as non-obscene, or "obscene" been shown to be so vague a term as to be unenforceable. In 1998 Brian Dalton was charged with creation and possession of child pornography under an Ohio obscenity law. The stories were works of fiction concerning sexually abusing children which he wrote and kept, unpublished, in his private journal. He accepted
11039-538: The less romantic aspects of love such as sexual frustration or the sex act itself. Ezra Pound , in his Literary Essays , complained of Lawrence's interest in his own "disagreeable sensations" but praised him for his "low-life narrative". This is a reference to Lawrence's dialect poems akin to the Scots poems of Robert Burns , in which he reproduced the language and concerns of the people of Nottinghamshire from his youth. He called one collection of poems Pansies partly for
11172-613: The lives and manners of prostitutes and their customers in Ancient Greece . According to Athenaeus in The Deipnosophists these constituted a considerable genre, with many lubricious treatises, stories and dramas on the subject. A surviving example of this genre is Lucian of Samosata 's Dialogues of the Courtesans . Accounts of prostitution have continued as a major part of the genre of erotic literature. In
11305-515: The main characters was published by Ali Asghar Seyed-Gohrab . The Iskandarnameh of Nizami contains 10,500 distichs. There are differences of opinion on whether this or the Haft Paykar was Nezami's last epic. The names of its dedicatees are uncertain, but the ruler of Ahar, Nosart al-Din Bishkin b. Mohammad has been mentioned. The story is based on Islamic myths developed about Alexander
11438-444: The mood of her respective color. These seven beautifully constructed, highly sensuous stories occupy about half of the whole poem. While the king is busy with the seven brides, his evil minister seizes power in the realm. Bahram Gur discovers that the affairs of Persia are in disarray, the treasury is empty and the neighboring rulers are posed to invade. He clears his mind first by going hunting. After returning from hunt, he sees
11571-719: The moon; Yaghma Naz, the daughter of the Khaqan of the Turks; Naz Pari, the daughter of the king of Khwarazm ; Nasrin Nush, the daughter of the king of the Slavs; Azarbin (Azareyon), the daughter of the king of Morocco; Humay, the daughter of the Roman Caesar; and Diroste (wholesome), a beautiful Iranian princess from the House of Kay Ka'us. Each princess relates to the king a story matching
11704-431: The most important poetical creations of the whole of oriental Indo-European literature". The Haft Peykar is considered the poet's masterpiece. Overall, Nezami illustrates the harmony of the universe, the affinity of the sacred and the profane, and the concordance of ancient and Islamic Iran. The story was translated to English in 1924 by Charles Edward Wilson. A newer English rendering based on more complete manuscripts
11837-820: The narrative which is set during the third Afghan War. It is divided into two volumes and the content of a third volume is occasionally referred to in the text but this was never published. This article about an erotic novel of the 1880s is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . See guidelines for writing about novels . Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page . Pornographic novel Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica , which focuses more specifically on sexual feelings. Other common elements are satire and social criticism . Much erotic literature features erotic art , illustrating
11970-472: The night sky in Vis o Rāmin. In turn, Nezami's great work had a tremendous influence on later authors and many imitations of this work were made. With complete artistic and structural unity, the epic of Khosrow o Shirin turned to be a turning point not only for Nizami but for all of Persian literature. A story of Arabic origin which was later adapted and embellished by the Persians. The poem of 4,600 distichs
12103-468: The only source being his own work, which does not provide much information on his personal life. Nizami was orphaned early and was raised by his maternal uncle Khwaja Umar who took responsibility for him and afforded him an excellent education. His mother, named Ra'isa , was of Kurdish origin. His father, whose name was Yusuf is mentioned once by Nizami in his poetry. In the same verse, Nizami mentions his grandfather's name as Zakki . In part of
12236-621: The original target of this law. In contrast to England, where actions against obscene literature were the preserve of the magistrates, such actions were the responsibility of the Postal Inspection Service in America. They were embodied in the federal and state Comstock laws and named after the postal officer and anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock , who proved himself officious in the work of suppression both in his official capacity and through his New York Society for
12369-479: The poems attributed to Rochester were actually by other authors, his reputation as a libertine was such that his name was used as a selling point by publishers of collections of erotic verse for centuries after. One poem definitely by him was "A Ramble in St. James's Park ", in which the protagonist's quest for healthy exercise in the park uncovers instead "Bugg'ries, Rapes and Incest" on ground polluted by debauchery from
12502-407: The poet himself containing his pen name. The content of the poems are indicated in the heading to each chapter and are written in a typical Homiletics style. The stories which discuss spiritual and practical concerns enjoin kingly justice, riddance of hypocrisy, warning of vanity of this world and the need to prepare for the after-life. The general message of the discourse is that Nezami preaches
12635-459: The poets. The influence of the northwestern Pahlavi language, for example, which had been the spoken dialect of the region, is clearly observed in the poems contained in this anthology. However, at the same time, the Caucasus region was entertaining a unique mixture of ethnic cultures. Khaqani 's mother was a Nestorian Christian , Mojir Baylqani's mother was an Armenian , and Nezami's mother
12768-472: The precise dates of his works, as the many legends built up around the poet color the accounts of his later biographers. He dedicated his poems to various rulers of the region as was custom of that time for great poets, but avoided court life. Nezami was a master of the Masnavi style (double-rhymed verses). Nizami's main poetical work, for which he is best known, is a set of five long narrative poems known as
12901-526: The presence of Persian archaism while borrowing from Arabic vocabulary, as well as new concepts. Other sources including the Encyclopaedia of Islam and traditional Iranian literary sources have used the term "'Iraqi" style for the Persian poetry of Nezami. The Seljuqs took control of Ganja from the Shaddadids in 1075 and spread Persian literary westwards to their courts. In the middle of
13034-705: The ring on this door day and night You won't find except smoke from this burning fire Nizami, whose works are all written in Persian, has a very high reputation in Iran , Afghanistan and Tajikistan , where Persian is the official language. His poetry is especially well known in Iran, and is also very popular in Azerbaijan , where his birthplace and mausoleum are located. He is known in other countries, especially in India and Pakistan . The influence of Neẓāmi's work on
13167-520: The ruler of Darband , as part of a larger gift. According to Iraj Bashiri she became Nizami's "most beloved" wife. His only son Mohammad was from this wife. She died after " Khosrow and Shirin " was completed. Mohammad was seven at the time. Nezami mentions his son again in Layli and Majnun adding that now this son is 14 years old and "apple of my eyes". In "Haft Peykar" (Seven Beauties), he also mentions and advises his son about taking more responsibility as
13300-529: The sale of pornography presided over by the Lord Chief Justice , Lord Campbell , at the same time as a debate in the House of Lords over a bill aiming to restrict the sale of poisons. Campbell was taken by the analogy between the two situations, famously referring to the London pornography trade as "a sale of poison more deadly than prussic acid, strychnine or arsenic", and proposed a bill to restrict
13433-476: The sale of pornography; giving statutory powers of destruction would allow for a much more effective degree of prosecution. The bill was controversial at the time, receiving strong opposition from both Houses of Parliament . It was passed on the assurance by the Lord Chief Justice that it was "intended to apply exclusively to works written for the single purpose of corrupting the morals of youth and of
13566-408: The same verse, some have taken the word Mu'ayyad as a title for Zakki while others have interpreted it as the name of his great-grandfather. Some sources have stated that his father might be possibly from Qom . Nizami is variously mentioned as a Persian and/or Iranian. Nizami was married three times. His first wife was an enslaved Kipchak who was sent to him by Fakhr al-Din Bahramshah,
13699-469: The sense of Ibn 'Arabi. However, he is regarded as a philosopher and gnostic who mastered various fields of Islamic thoughts which he synthesized in a way that brings to mind the traditions of later Hakims such as Qutb al-Din Shirazi . Often referred to by the honorific Hakim ("the Sage"), Nizami is both a learned poet and master of a lyrical and sensuous style. About Nizami's prodigious learning there
13832-613: The service of Persian poets. This was especially true in Ganjeh, the Caucasian outpost town where Nizami lived. Nezami was patronized by different rulers and dedicated his epics to various rival dynasties, including the Seljuqs , Eldiguzids (who maintained control of Ganja during most of the later 12th century), Shirvanshahs , the ruler of Ahar and Ahmadilis . Although he enjoyed the patronage of various rulers and princes, he avoided
13965-477: The seven pleasure-domes to be converted to fire temples for the pleasure of God. Bahram then goes hunting for the last time but mysteriously disappears. As a pun on words, while trying to hunt the wild ass ( gūr ) he instead finds his tomb ( gūr ). Ritter, in his introduction to the critical edition describes it as: "the best and most beautiful epic in New Persian poetry and at the same time [. . .] one of
14098-504: The sex manual include the texts that contain the Taoist sexual practices . These include books that show illustrations of the ideal sexual behavior because sex in this religion is not considered taboo but a manifestation of the concept of the yin and yang , wherein the male and female engage in an act of "joining of energy" or "joining of essences". The belief is that proper sexual practice is key to achieving good health. The manuals included
14231-617: The simple ephemeral nature of the verse but also a pun on the French word panser , to dress or bandage a wound. "The Noble Englishman" and "Don't Look at Me" were removed from the official edition of Pansies on the grounds of obscenity; Lawrence felt wounded by this. From the age of 17, Gavin Ewart acquired a reputation for wit and accomplishment through such works as "Phallus in Wonderland" and "Poems and Songs", which appeared in 1939 and
14364-760: The stories in Nezami's poems alongside those of Ferdowsi's Shahnama have been the most frequently illustrated literary works. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Nezami is "admired in Persian-speaking lands for his originality and clarity of style, though his love of language for its own sake and of philosophical and scientific learning makes his work difficult for the average reader." Nezami composed his verses in Persian language and Western encyclopedias such as Encyclopedia of Islam , Encyclopædia Iranica , Encyclopædia Britannica and orientalists of many countries consider Nezami as
14497-411: The story, but also adds a strong Persian flavor to the legend. An important aspect of Layla and Majun is the poet's highly humanitarian approach. During the war by Nawfal in favor of Majnun, the latter is unhappy wishing the termination of the war. Majun gives away his horse and amours to save a gazelle and a stag. Nezami gave a Persian character to the poem by adding several techniques borrowed from
14630-532: The subsequent development of Persian literature has been enormous and the Khamseh became a pattern that was emulated in later Persian poetry (and also in other Islamic literatures ). The legacy of Nezami is widely felt in the Islamic world and his poetry has influenced the development of Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Kurdish and Urdu poetry amongst many other languages. In the history of Persian miniature painting,
14763-409: The surface appear to be romance, in reality they are a mask for the essential truths and for the explanation of divine knowledge." Jami in his Baharestan mentions that "Nezami's excellence is more manifest than the sun and has no need of description. Hashemi of Kerman remarks: The empire of poetry obtained its law and order from Nezami's beautiful verses and To present words before Nezami's silent speech
14896-469: The text. Although cultural disapproval of erotic literature has always existed, its circulation was not seen as a major problem before the invention of printing, as the costs of producing individual manuscripts limited distribution to a very small group of wealthy and literate readers. The invention of printing, in the 15th century, brought with it both a greater market and increasing restrictions, including censorship and legal restraints on publication on
15029-461: The time when "Ancient Pict began to Whore". This poem was being censored from collections of Rochester's poetry as late as 1953, though, in line with the subsequent general change in attitudes to sexuality, it was dramatised as a scene in the film The Libertine about his life, based on an existing play. English collections of erotic verse by various hands include the Drollery collections of
15162-530: The water, rubies from the rock. Whilst he to whom no knowledge is assigned—that person (you will find) ashamed to learn. How many, keen of mind, in effort slack, sell pottery from lack of pearls (to sell)! How many a dullard, through his being taught, becomes the chief judge of the Seven Climes! Only a small corpus of his Persian lyric poetry, mainly qaṣīdahs ("odes") and ghazals ("lyrics") have survived. Ten of his quatrains have also been recorded in
15295-433: The whole ancient world. The recent discovery and publication of the anthology titled Nozhat al-Majales contains Persian language quatrains from Nizami and 115 other poets from the northwestern Iran (Arrān, Šarvān, Azerbaijan; including 24 poets from Ganja alone) during the same era. Unlike other parts of Persia, where the poets mostly belonged to higher echelons of society such as scholars, bureaucrats, and secretaries,
15428-432: The will of the courts. While the Act itself did not change, the scope of the work affected by it did. In 1868 Sir Alexander Cockburn , Campbell's successor as Lord Chief Justice, held in an appeal that the test of obscenity was "whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall." This
15561-508: The world, from west to east, and south to north to proclaim his monotheistic creed to the world at large. The Sharaf-nama discusses the birth of Alexander, his succession to the throne of Rum (Greece), his wars against Africans who invaded Egypt, his conquest of Persia and his marriage to the daughter of Darius. The episode also discusses Alexander's pilgrimage to Mecca , his stay in the Caucasus and his visit to Queen Nushaba of Barda' and her court of Amazons. Alexander conquers India, China and
15694-545: Was Jamal ad-Dīn Abū Muḥammad Ilyās ibn-Yūsuf ibn-Zakkī , was a 12th-century Muslim poet. Nizami is considered the greatest romantic epic poet in Persian literature , who brought a colloquial and realistic style to the Persian epic. His heritage is widely appreciated in Afghanistan , Republic of Azerbaijan , Iran , the Kurdistan region and Tajikistan . Born of a Persian family, his personal name
15827-548: Was Ilyas and his chosen pen-name was Nezami (also spelled as Nizami and Neẓāmi). He was born of an urban background in Ganja ( Seljuq empire, now Republic of Azerbaijan ) and is believed to have spent his whole life in South Caucasus . According to De Blois, Ganja was a city which at that time had predominantly an Iranian population. The Armenian historian Kirakos Gandzaketsi (c. 1200 – 1271) mentions that: "This city
15960-513: Was a Kurd . Their works reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the region. By the end of the 10th century, Persian literature became widespread from the eastern Mediterranean to the banks of the Indus. The earliest extant example of Persian poetry from the area is that of Qatran Tabrizi (1009–1072) who served in the courts of the Shaddadid and Rawadid dynasties. Qatran Tabrizi,
16093-665: Was accomplished by Julie Scott Meysami in 1995. The following lines present an excerpt (Original Persian): گوهر نیک را ز عقد مریز وآنکه بد گوهرست ازو بگریز بدگهر با کسی وفا نکند اصل بد در خطا خطا نکند اصل بد با تو چون شود معطی آن نخواندی که اصل لایخطی کژدم از راه آنکه بدگهرست ماندنش عیب و کشتنش هنرست هنرآموز کز هنرمندی در گشائی کنی نه در بندی هرکه ز آموختن ندارد ننگ در برآرد ز آب و لعل از سنگ وانکه دانش نباشدش روزی ننگ دارد ز دانشآموزی ای بسا تیز طبع کاهل کوش که شد از کاهلی سفال فروش وای بسا کور دل که از تعلیم گشت قاضیالقضات هفت اقلیم Take not apart
16226-605: Was allowed to lapse in 1695 and no attempt made to renew it. The first conviction for obscenity in England occurred in 1727, when Edmund Curll was fined for the publication of Venus in the Cloister or The Nun in her Smock under the common law offence of disturbing the King's peace . This set a legal precedent for other convictions. The publication of other books by Curll, however, considered seditious and blasphemous, such as The Memoirs of John Ker , apparently most offended
16359-460: Was clearly a major change from Campbell's opinion only ten years before – the test now being the effect on someone open to corruption who obtained a copy, not whether the material was intended to corrupt or offend. Cockburn's declaration remained in force for several decades, and most of the high profile seizures under the Act relied on this interpretation. Known as the Hicklin test no cognisance
16492-584: Was declared as "Year of Nizami Ganjavi" in the country. German poet and writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: "A gentle, highly gifted spirit, who, when Ferdowsi had completed the collected heroic traditions, chose for the material of his poems the sweetest encounters of the deepest love. Majnun and Layli , Khosrow and Shirin , lovers he presented; meant for one another by premonition, destiny, nature, habit, inclination, passion staunchly devoted to each other; but divided by mad ideas, stubbornness, chance, necessity, and force, then miraculously reunited, yet in
16625-609: Was dedicated to the ruler of Maragha, 'Ala' Al-Din korp Arslan. It is the story of Bahram V , the Sassanid king, who is born to Yazdegerd after twenty years of childlessness and supplication to Ahura Mazda for a child. The Haft Peykar is a romanticized biography of the Sasanian Persian empire ruler Bahram Gur . His adventurous life had already been treated by Ferdowsi in the Shahnama , to which fact Nezami alludes
16758-843: Was dedicated, in 1192, to Abu al-Muzaffar Shirvanshah, who claimed descent from the Sasanian King, whose exploits are reflected in Nezami's "Seven Beauties" (Haft Paykar). The poem is based on the popular Arab legend of ill-starred lovers: the poet Qays falls in love with his cousin Layla, but is prevented from marrying her by Layla's father. Layla's father forbids contact with Qays, so that Qays becomes obsessed and starts singing of his love for Layla in public. The obsession becomes so severe that he sees and evaluates everything in terms of Layla; hence his sobriquet "the possessed" (Majnun). Realizing that he cannot obtain union, even when other people intercede for him, he leaves society and roams naked in
16891-490: Was densely populated with Iranians and a small number of Christians". Because Nizami was not a court poet, he does not appear in the annals of the dynasties. Tazkerehs , which are the compilations of literary memoirs that include maxims of the great poets along with biographical information and commentary of styles refer to him briefly. Much of this material in these Tazkerehs are based on legends, anecdotes, and hearsays. Consequently, few facts are known about Nezami's life,
17024-471: Was his first collection. The intelligence and casually flamboyant virtuosity with which he framed his often humorous commentaries on human behaviour made his work invariably entertaining and interesting. The irreverent eroticism for which his poetry is noted resulted in W H Smith 's banning of his "The Pleasures of the Flesh" (1966) from their shops. Canadian poet John Glassco wrote Squire Hardman (1967),
17157-664: Was originally built in 1947 in place of an old collapsed mausoleum and rebuilt in its present form when the Azerbaijani Republic regained its independence after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Monuments to Nezami are found in many cities of Republic of Azerbaijan and Iran, as well as in Moscow , St. Petersburg and Udmurtiya (Russia), Kyiv (Ukraine), Beijing (China), Tashkent (Uzbekistan), Marneuli (Georgia), Chişinău (Moldova), Rome (Italy). 2021
17290-473: Was published anonymously in The Whippingham Papers ( c. 1888 ). Another notorious anonymous 19th-century poem on the same subject is The Rodiad , ascribed (seemingly falsely and in jest ) to George Colman the Younger . John Camden Hotten even wrote a pornographic comic opera, Lady Bumtickler's Revels , on the theme of flagellation in 1872. Pierre Louÿs helped found
17423-461: Was published in England in 1763, called An Essay on Woman . This included the title piece, an obscene parody of Alexander Pope 's " An Essay on Man "; "Veni Creator: or, The Maid's Prayer", which is original; the "Universal Prayer", an obscene parody of Pope's poem of the same name, and "The Dying Lover to his Prick", which parodies "A Dying Christian to his Soul" by Pope. These poems have been attributed to John Wilkes and/or Thomas Potter and receive
17556-400: Was taken of the literary merit of a book or on the extent of the offending text within the book in question. The widened scope of the original legislation led to the subsequent notorious targeting of now acknowledged classics of world literature by such authors as Zola , James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence plus medical textbooks by such as Havelock Ellis rather than the blatant erotica which was
17689-834: Was widely translated and the revelation of "padded rooms for the purpose of stifling the cries of the tortured victims of lust and brutality" and the symbolic figure of "The Minotaur of London" confirmed European observers worst imaginings about "Le Sadisme anglais" and inspired erotic writers to write of similar scenes set in London or involving sadistic English gentlemen. Such writers include D'Annunzio in Il Piacere , Paul-Jean Toulet in Monsieur de Paur (1898), Octave Mirbeau in Jardin des Supplices (1899) and Jean Lorrain in Monsieur de Phocas (1901). Well-known recent works in this genre are The Happy Hooker: My Own Story (1971) by
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