MASSIVE THRUSTING

The Sin, Heinrich Lossow (1843-1897)

Dear Readers,

Until now, I have been shielded from the costs of disability because of our wonderful and vital NHS. This will change when I get home due to the considerable costs of remodelling the house, and my need for round the clock care.

I ask, therefore, that if you enjoy The Kureishi Chronicles, believe in paying for good writing, and want to help with my recovery, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

A young writer once asked me why it was so difficult to write about sex. I answered glibly that all writing was difficult. Writing about marriage, death, landscapes, historical characters, or whatever, none of it was easy. Nor should it be easy. There should be some friction in your method, between you and your subject matter. Think how crazy it would be if you could just sit down and write a masterpiece followed by another masterpiece. You’d have to be Shakespeare to do that. Frustration and difficulty are integral to the process. But I also regretted my reply to the young writer because now, looking back, it is obvious that there was much more to be said.

It is difficult to write about sex, just as it is difficult to write about music, the sensations are so intimate and intense, it is hard to find the vocabulary to suit the occasion. Words like member, thrust, or cried out, etc, always sound banal, if not ridiculous, when compared to the complexity of the sexual situation, where there is so much going on.