Worship of love

Author: Edward Fuchs
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: It is hard to find a history of sexuality as engaging and fascinating as Fuchs's A History of Western Love, which is neither dry nor obscure, yet completely capable of making one desireless and undisturbed, focusing solely on reading. He talks about things like wax-made artificial breasts, pure gold chastity belts, bell-shaped dresses that could conceal illegitimate pregnancy, alluring courtesans, and lustful techniques of infidelity! It's as if he's telling a series of legendary stories. By the time the stories end, a long scroll of Western love spanning the Renaissance, the absolute monarchy, and the bourgeoisie has deeply imprinted in our minds: some bewildering, some licentious, some absurd, with a faint scent of fragrance floating in the air. The era of absolute monarchy declared to the world that its highest principle was the admiration of elegant and unrestrained carnal desire. However, such bold candor did not prove the prevailing views on gender at the time were more liberal and open-minded than today's. This candor was merely shamelessly an expression of unrestrained power. In the old regime, only a few lived in Eden. The absolute monarchy only created opportunities for a handful of people to live a licentious and parasitic life. The rest of humanity lived in literal hell, and only by living in hell could the world become a paradise for the few.