Arguably the most famous 19th-century queer erotica, but definitely not the best! Reading this has given me a better sense of where something like [b:Sins of the Cities of the Plain|119666|Sins of the Cities of the Plain|Jack Saul|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1347797205s/119666.jpg|115215] stands, which I had not originally been able to give a rating to. This one was attributed to Oscar Wilde and his circle which is why it is well-known, but his affiliation with it is a bit dubious and I'd rather dissociate him from it now that I've read it in full. For pornography it is really not good. The focus is really the story, Des Grieux falling in love with Teleny and then all sorts of melodramatic near- or actual-suicides. And when the porn does happen, it is seldom even... desirable. The following spoiler-warning is actually a trigger-warning for non-consensual sex, sexual injury, and gore: We see Des Grieux twice sexually assault a servant-girl, and shortly after we are told the details of her rape and suicide resulting from that rape, and yet the descriptions are a pornographic kind meant to be titillating. In the standard orgy scene (a necessity in Victorian porn) we are audience with the rest of the guests to a man who pleasures himself with a bottle. This is meant to be an impressive feat and isn't out of place in porn. The glass bottle breaks and although the glass is removed by a member of their party, he refuses to go to a hospital because of the shame that would accompany his actions. He then goes home and kills himself. This is not how you write erotica! There is a lot of reflection on the social stigmatization of homosexuality and the mental and emotional suffering of gay men in this book, which is fair and which was certainly a part of the life of homosexual men in the 19th century, but those issues don't make for good porn. Compare it with The Sins of the Cities of the Plain, which is the most gleeful text imaginable. While it, likewise, has issues of dubious consent (largely Imperialist issues involving young teenage foreigners), I don't remember near as many red flags as there were in Teleny.

Also, there are way more women in this one. In that women are actually present (not just men in fancy dresses). Unfortunately, this leads to a display of some of the worst examples of gay misogyny you could ask for. Women's bodies are described in detail, but as the most disgusting thing you could witness. Teleny sleeps with a woman then treats her with disgust for sleeping with him so easily. Des Grieux is willing to assault the servant girl just for the sake of having an 'ordinary' sexual experience and to 'treat' his homosexuality.

Yeah, don't read this book. There's much better Victorian porn out there. I'm looking forward to reading my colleague's Fanny and Stella, which I drunkenly requested a copy of and which, while not forming a part of my thesis the way that these others do, I think will be a good antidote to Teleny. ( )

La mejor ficción erótica de la historia (si no es la mejor, al menos está entre las cinco mejores) . Perdí la cuenta de cuántas veces le releí.
( )

For a book about the love between two men, they managed to fit in a lot of straight sex and even a lesbian orgy. In fact, I was surprised to see that there was no man-on-man action until halfway through the book. Anyway, I enjoyed this for the myriad of biblical and mythological references. It seemed like I could hardly turn a page without some comparison to Lot, Antinous, Jonathan, Penelope, the River Styx, etc. ( )