Spanking literature

Georges Topfer illustration on a Jean de Virgan book representing a flogging in Ancient Rome.
Image of spanking from Le Rêve d'un flagellant

Spanking literature refers to the genre of fiction, also known as flagellation, and a subset of sadomasochist literature. Spanking literature reached its "golden age" in the early 20th century in France and lasted nearly forty years. It began in the early 1900s, grew significantly in the 1920s, reached its peak in the 1930s and came to an end at the outbreak of World War II.

Several things are notable and peculiar about this period. Firstly, it was a very local, French phenomenon that did not have counterparts in other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the Netherlands or Germany.

After 1950, as the French book market returned to normal, interest in spanking literature did not return to its former levels. The war effectively put an end to the kink-tolerant spirit that had flourished in Paris before the war. No other country filleed the gap. There were individual erotic publications, including some with BDSM themes, but these were exceptions, not a mass phenomenon, and many in fact were banned shortly after they had appeared. 1968 put an end to much of this conservatism, but by then the anti-spanking movement had become so strong that spanking novels were unpublishable for other reasons.

Specifics

The early 20th century saw a flourishing of spanking fiction in France, catering to a fetishist and spankophile (or as it was called then, flagellant) clientele. Publications were typically in novel or novella form, often illustrated with spanking drawings. They were sold over the counter in some adult bookshops and by mail order. The center of this literature was in Paris, where several publishers and many more imprints under which the novels were published. The authors and illustrators typically used pseudonyms to protect their privacy.

In terms of content, the most popular subject matter of that era seems to have been corporal punishment of girls (either preteen or post-puberty, between 13 and 17 years of age) by their (mostly female) authority figures. The typical pairing was F/f (adult Female on teen or pre-teen female). The spankings described were harsh (whippings "until the blood came" were not infrequent) and disciplinary in nature, at least in pretext. At the same time however, they were also often described as a pleasurable and/or erotic experience for both the spanker and, in the case of adolescents, also for the "spankee" (the person being spanked) since they were usually past puberty and discovering their sexuality. However, any pleasure taken from such corporal punishment was typically hidden, secret or unofficial because the official scenario was normally one of non-consensual disciplinary spanking between an authority figure and their charge.

There is also another aspect that is notable about the spanking literature of that era. Modern spanking literature (since the late 20th century) often places the "spankee" into the focus: the reader is interested in what the "spankee" feels and experiences both physically and emotionally. The "spankee" is sometimes the protagonist, and, in the course of a longer story or novel, they will often be spanked by different spankers, each giving a somewhat different experience.

In the erotic spanking literature of the early 20th century, the authors usually focused on the spanker, who was as a rule a dominant and a very attractive woman. The "spankees" were more or less objects to her and therefore proof of the spanker's power. In the course of a longer story or novel, the spanker will often punish different "spankees" in different and creative ways.

Besides the obvious physical nature of corporal punishment, the literature always placed a strong emphasis on the emotional side of it: the feelings of shame, embarrassment and humiliation that came with such punishment. Individual works of the genre also addressed "related" fetishes such as bondage, imprisonment, enemas or petticoat punishment.

Reprints and translations

These books were written in French, and only a limited number were later translated to other languages such as English or German. Some novels saw reprints after World War II, up to the 1970s. Today, some of the works of this period have entered the public domain (depending on the year of death, or where unknown of the last known publication, of their copyright holder), making it legal for everyone to use and republish them.

Publishers

Authors

Illustrators

Selected Works

The genre may be conveniently divided into the periods before and after the First World War.

Pre-war

Post-war

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bessard-Banquy, Olivier (2010). Le livre érotique. Les cahiers du livre. Presses Univ de Bordeaux. p. 74. ISBN 2-86781-614-9.
  2. ↑ G. Donville - Herric [Chéri Herouard]. Les Confidences de Cherubin. Editions Dominique Leroy. p. 8. ISBN 2-86688-237-7.
  3. ↑ Kearney, Patrick J. (1982). A history of erotic literature. Macmillan. p. 161. ISBN 0-333-34126-0.
  4. ↑ Dean, Carolyn Janice (2000). The frail social body: pornography, homosexuality, and other fantasies in interwar France. Studies on the history of society and culture 36. University of California Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-520-21995-3.
  5. ↑ Brulotte, Gaétan (1998). Œuvres de chair: figures du discours érotique. Presses Université Laval. p. 407. ISBN 2-7637-7597-7.
  6. ↑ Sigel, Lisa Z. (2005). International Exposure: Perspectives on Modern European Pornography, 1800-2000. Rutgers University Press. pp. 89, 98. ISBN 0-8135-3519-0.
  7. ↑ Stirratt, Betsy; Johnson, Catherine, eds. (2003). Feminine persuasion: art and essays on sexuality. Indiana University Press. p. 88. ISBN 0-253-21589-7.
  8. ↑ Buturović, Amila; Schick, İrvin Cemil (2007). Women in the Ottoman Balkans: gender, culture and history. Library of Ottoman studies 15. I.B.Tauris. p. 276. ISBN 1-84511-505-8.
  9. ↑ Schick, İrvin Cemil (1999). The erotic margin: sexuality and spatiality in alteritist discourse. Verso. p. 143. ISBN 1-85984-732-3.
  10. 1 2 Lewandowski, Herbert (1927). Das Sexualproblem in der modernen Literatur und Kunst: Versuch einer Analyse und Psychopathologie des künstlerischen Schaffens und der Kulturentwicklung seit 1800. P.Aretz. p. 192.
  11. ↑ Pia, Pascal (1978). Les Livres de l'Enfer: bibliographie critique des ouvrages érotiques dans leurs différentes éditions du XVIe sièlce à nos jours. C. Coulet et A. Faure. p. 546. ISBN 2-902687-01-X.
  12. ↑ Baritaud, Bernard (1992). Pierre Mac Orlan. Histoire des idées et critique littéraire 313. Librairie Droz. p. 341. ISBN 2-600-03693-8.
  13. ↑ Kearney, Patrick J. (1982). A history of erotic literature. Parragon. p. 161. ISBN 1-85813-198-7.
  14. ↑ Harris, P. R. (1991). The Library of the British Museum: retrospective essays on the Department of Printed Books. British Library. p. 222. ISBN 0-7123-0242-5.
  15. ↑ Kearney (1981) p.236
  16. ↑ sous la dir. de Myriam Watthee-Delmotte (1998). Le mal dans l'imaginaire littéraire français : (1850 – 1950). Paris: Éd. L'Harmattan. ISBN 2-7384-6198-0.
  17. ↑ Kearney (1981) p.160

Further reading

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