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make up a self-inclosed world, sealed off even from other forms of
extreme behavior. To some extent, it is a matter of literary quality,
as obviously writers like Selby or Rechy exhibit the faults of the
genre more than do the larger talents. But this brings us right back to
the original problem, for what is lacking in the less talented works is
precisely the ability to transcend or to generalize one's sexual ob–
sessions.
In the long run, however, the literary value of this kind of ex–
tremism is an historical rather than a theoretical question. One who
thinks of himself as a participant in the contemporary scene might
even contend that in raising these questions and posing them in this
way, one is simply outside the intellectual moods that go into the
advanced forms of contemporary writing. Undoubtedly the new
sensibility reflects the current emphasis on personal freedom as a way
of dissociating from the political establishment. And what is com–
monly regarded as perversity might be thought of as a symbol of
this detachment, as it was, almost explicitly, for example, in Nonnan
O. Brown's
Life Against Death.
To be sure, sexual freedom has gone
so far that one wonders what would be out of bounds if the new
life style were to take over.
But if one might speculate about the future, perhaps the ideal
solution would be to dissociate sex completely from morality and
from politics. Who knows whether this will ever happen? But if there
were no restrictions on sex, in life or literature, if sexual freedom
were not thought of as a paradise for radicals and purgatory for
conservatives - if sex were simply taken for granted like other
neutral activities, like, say, eating or swimming, then possibly the air
. might be cleared so that the question of sex in literature could become
a purely literary question, not a battlefield for moral and social
issues.
If
sex were free it would have nothing to do with the idea of
freedom.
