Probably one of the first things writers learn, or get told, is sex sells. But if one incorporates it in a story simply for that reason, problems often arise.
How can one depict it, or impart it with significance, in a manner that is not derivative? All too often, the answer seems to be: make it even more transgressive than has previously been the case. Contemporary fiction is riddled with that sort of thing -- and one has to grudgingly admire the imagination or enterprise of some authors.
But I ran across another option when reading a review of Julian Barnes latest book, "The Man in Red Coat." Therein, the reviewer, Parul Sehgal, says that in Barnes case, "Desire -- sexual jealously -- lies at the core of much of his work, not just as dramatic engine, but as a spur to moral thinking." He then goes on to quote Barnes as having said: "Sex is the area where moral decisions, moral questions, most clearly express themselves. It's only in sexual relationships that you come up against immediate questions of what's right and wrong."
Well, that may be overstating the case, but you get the point. And in Barnes' case, his own experience may be one place in which he ran up against the issues in question. According to Seghgal, the author's life has been characterized in part by "his attachment to a charismatic and congenitally unfaithful woman."
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