Absurd, Anxiety, Contemplative, Dark, Deconstructive, Demure, Distorted, Dystopic, Erotic, Ethereal, Ironic, Layered, Lyrical, Manic, Moody, Playful, Profane, Quirky, Sardonic, Self-reflection, Severe, Subtle, Surreal, Visceral, Whimsical

De Sade's writing is the endless elaboration of a single principle: "Virtue is vice, and vice is virtue" -- an incitement to debauchery, depravity, and decadence, and a testament to the value of the animal passions. But de Sade didn't merely celebrate and praise acts of sexual perversion and violence

Agitated, Erotic, Excessive, Literature of transgression, Perverse, Phallic, Primal, Repetitive, Violent

Junichiro Tanizaki wrote erotically and ironically about the dynamics of Japanese culture and the effect of Western influences on tradition. In a style that is delicate and emotionally powerful, Tanizaki's narratives progress through dialogue and careful description without an omniscience narrator. T

Clean, Erotic, Intense, Ironic, Modernist literature, Perverse

The popular media has adopted the name Lolita to describe any sexually precocious young woman with a penchant for twisting older men around her finger. The original Lolita, however, was a more mythical creature, a "nymphet" (Nabokov coined the word especially for her), who at a mere 12 years of age c

Charming, Dense, Elegant, Erotic, Lush, Post-war literature, Witty