|
 hough she is probably best known for the Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice has published erotica that has the same vividness and level of intensity as her other works.
As Anne Rampling, Rice has published Exit to Eden and
 Belinda, both erotica, though Belinda has less of a raw erotic tone than does Exit, and is more of a romance involving an older man and a teenage girl.
Under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure, Anne wrote the Beauty series, a trilogy of erotic work:
· The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty (1983)
· Beauty's Punishment (1984)
· Beauty's Release (1985)
Her reasons for choosing the name A.N. Roquelaure are quite interesting. Rouquelaure was in fact a cloak designed by Count Rouqelaure in the 18th century , and
 Anne used it because of it's meaning - 'Anne under a cloak' as well as because it had the right sound for erotica.
Controversey
The Beauty trilogy has sparked some controversy when the Collumbus Metropolitan Library (Ohio) pulled the books from the shelves. The books were banned by the library after one person complained about them. The librarystated that the books were hard core S&M pornography, but when asked to produce the library's written definition of "pornography," the library's director, Larry Black, admitted that he did not have one.
The Columbus Metropolitan Library has admitted that while the books were on the shelves, they were widely circulated and popular, and no previous complaints were received.
In an April 28th, 1996 article in the Columbus Dispatch written by Connie A Higgins, Staff Reporter, Rice was quoted as saying that the removal of the Beauty trilogy from the Columbus Metropolitan Library was "absurd."
.Normally Rice is reluctant to discuss her books but in this case that changed.
"I feel a moral obligation to say something," she said
"The idea of banning pornography is absurd because it's too difficult to define pornography," she said in a telephone interview from her home in New Orleans.
"One reason I never defended the trilogy on a social merit is because I don't believe it has to be defended. . . . But I feel I have to go to bat for this," Rice said.
|
She went on to say that the library's action is censorship and that censorship is dangerous and destructive.
Rice said that she's proud to call the Beauty books pornography; That the books are about fantasies filled with satin, silk and perfume. They are for people to enjoy fantasies that thousands and thousands of others share.
"I wanted to write them as authentically as I
could. The books are framed to make people feel
comfortable," Rice said.
The books are not crude or grim like ''darker'' pornographic materials, she said: "The books are very elegant and playful. But no one is hurt; everyone goes home happy."
Many people have voiced the opinion that the library has no right to control what others read and that the removal of the books is setting a dangerous precedent.
Rice said she was surprised and pleased with the response from those who objected to the library's decision.
"Censorship is foolish. I grew up under censorship where you couldn't get James Joyce's (Ulysses)," she said. ''People will not be hurt with what we read; we can't
make that decision for others."
Rice said she has been pleased by the positive response from people who have read the Beauty books - mothers and daughters, children who ask her to sign their parents' books and couples who read the books in bed.
|
(authors note: a request to receive confirmation from The Columbus Metropolitan Library as to whether the books were still banned was made, but to date no response has been received.)
|
Apparently Rice does not plan to write any further erotic works. We can keep our fingers crossed though, right?
|
