Eroticism and language

This study aims at clarifying the sex drive and its associated language, i. e. saucy expression, obscenities and eroticism accompanying the search for sexual satisfaction, 'Saucy expression' is intended to produce sexual excit ement and allusively lets the addressee know that one would appreciate view ing his/her nudity. Yet saucy expression still keeps distance and remains s uperficial. On the contrary, obscenities include violence, as they allow vi sualization of both sexual organs and function, strip, abolish distance and often have anal connotations. Obscenities bear significant aggressive cont ent and substitutes for the act. Unpublished letters that were addressed by Freud to his friend Fliess illustrate the obscenity register. Obscenities allow perception of the aggressive component of sexual excitement. Based on perverse patients' fantasies, Stoller stressed this component that may be commonly perceived in languages of love. Eroticism arises from the presence and quality of fantasies accompanying sexual intercourse. Due to their ori gin that makes their authors feeling guilty and ashamed, and because they d o not intend to charm the abject, but to increase sexual satisfaction, fant asies are generally 'hushed up'. Why therefore does erotic literature, whic h strips and mimics as much as an obscene remark, lead to pleasure? Erotic literature interweaves charming (the form) and fantasies (the basis), while writing makes it secondary. Moreover, erotic literature introduces distanc e, thus protecting the reader from the overflow of his/her sexual excitemen t, the author suggests. Charming and sexual excitation, however, are up to the reader who may combine self-control with letting go, activity with pass ivity. analysis of an unpublished letter that was addressed by Freud to his friend Fliess, which had homosexual connotation, illustrates this evolutio n of ideas. (C) 1999 Elsevier, Paris.