48 BDSM literature

BDSM is a frequent theme in culture and media, including in books, films, television, music, magazines, public performances and online media.

1982, Janine is a novel by the Scottish author Alasdair Gray. His second, it was published in 1984, and remains his most controversial work. Its use of pornography as a narrative device attracted much criticism, although others, including Gray himself, consider it his best work.

Adultery is a novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho. It is the sixteenth major book by Coelho, and touches on the theme of adultery. The Portuguese edition of Adultery was released on April 10, 2014. The (American) English edition is published by Knopf and along with it, the Spanish edition was published on August 19, 2014. The reviewer in The Independent found the book shallow and full of cliché, while "the sex is aggressive and gratuitous".

Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist Analysis is a 1982 radical feminist anthology edited by Robin Ruth Linden, Darlene R. Pagano, Diana E. H. Russell, and Susan Leigh Star. The authors critique sadomasochism and BDSM from a feminist perspective, with most identifying sadomasochism as rooted in "patriarchal sexual ideology".

American Psycho is a novel by Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. The story is told in the first person by Patrick Bateman, a serial killer and Manhattan investment banker. Alison Kelly of The Observer notes that while "some countries [deem it] so potentially disturbing that it can only be sold shrink-wrapped", "critics rave about it" and "academics revel in its transgressive and postmodern qualities".

Animals Eat Each Other is the debut novel by American writer Elle Nash published in the U.S. in 2018 by Dzanc Books and in 2019 by 404 Ink in the U.K.

Coming to Power: Writings and Graphics on Lesbian S/M is a 1981 book edited by members of the lesbian feminist S/M organisation Samois. It is an anthology of lesbian S/M writings. It was a founding work of the lesbian BDSM movement.

Dangerous Drugs of Sex , titled Sei no Gekiyaku: Midara ni Kaihatsu Sareru Karada during serialization, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Mizuta. It was serialized in the digital manga magazine Boys Fan from June to December 2018. A live-action film adaptation was released in theaters on February 14, 2020.

Tractus de usu flagrorum in re Medica et Veneria is a 1639 treatise by Ioannes Henricus Meibomius (1590–1655). The English title is A Treatise on the Use of Flogging in Medicine and Venery. It was published by the English publisher Edmund Curll.

A Defence of Masochism is a 1998 non-fiction book by Anita Phillips covering the topic of BDSM, which offers philosophical and sociological arguments for the virtues of masochism.

L'Étudiante is the second novel by Vanessa Duriès.

Exhibition of Female Flagellants is an 1830 pornographic novel published by George Cannon in London and attributed, probably falsely, to Theresa Berkley. The principal activity described is flagellation, mainly of women by women, described in a theatrical, fetishistic style. It was republished around 1872 by John Camden Hotten in his series The Library Illustrative of Social Progress, attributed to Theresa Berkley.

Exit to Eden is a 1985 novel by Anne Rice, initially published under the pen name Anne Rampling, but subsequently under Rice's name.

Fifty Shades is a series of erotic novels by E. L. James, initially a trilogy consisting of Fifty Shades of Grey (2011), Fifty Shades Darker (2012) and Fifty Shades Freed (2012). The series traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and young business man Christian Grey. Grey introduces Ana to the world of BDSM.

Gor is the fictional setting for a series of sword and planet novels written by philosophy professor John Lange, writing as John Norman. The setting was first described in the 1966 novel Tarnsman of Gor. The series is inspired by science fantasy pulp fiction works by Edgar Rice Burroughs. It also includes erotica and philosophy content. The Gor series repeatedly depicts men abducting and physically and sexually brutalizing women, who grow to enjoy their submissive state. According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Norman's "sexual philosophy" is "widely detested", but the books have inspired a Gorean subculture. In particular, virtual simulations of role-playing Gorean communities in the video game Second Life are considered one of the most visible phenomena related to the Gorean subculture.

Gravity's Rainbow is a 1973 novel by American writer Thomas Pynchon. The narrative is set primarily in Europe at the end of World War II and centers on the design, production and dispatch of V-2 rockets by the German military. In particular, it features the quest undertaken by several characters to uncover the secret of a mysterious device, the Schwarzgerät, which is slated to be installed in a rocket with the serial number "00000."

Happy Baby is a 2004 novel by Stephen Elliott. The book was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award.

The Hellbound Heart is a horror novella by Clive Barker, first published in November 1986 by Dark Harvest in the third volume in its Night Visions anthology series. The story features a hedonist criminal acquiring a mystical puzzle box, the Lemarchand Configuration, which can be used to summon the Cenobites, demonic beings who do not distinguish between pain and pleasure. He escapes the Cenobites and, with help, resorts to murder to restore himself to full life. Later on, the puzzle box is found by another.

Hogg is a novel by SFWA Grandmaster Samuel R. Delany involving graphic descriptions of murder, child molestation, incest, coprophilia, coprophagia, urolagnia, anal-oral contact, necrophilia and rape. It was written in San Francisco in 1969 and completed just days before the Stonewall Riots in New York City. A further draft was completed in 1973 in London. Hogg was finally published – with some further, though relatively minor, rewrites – in 1995 by Black Ice Books. The two successive editions have featured some correction, the last of which, published by Fiction Collective Two in 2004, carries a note at the end stating that it is definitive.

The Image is a classic 1956 sadomasochistic erotic novel, written by Catherine Robbe-Grillet and published under the pseudonym of Jean de Berg by éditions de Minuit in 1956.

Imaginative Sex is a non-fiction book by John Norman which includes a list of male-dominant/female-submissive heterosexual BDSM-type sexual fantasy scenarios, and suggested guidelines as to how a couple can act them out in order to improve their sex life.

Isabella is an Italian comic book series created by Giorgio Cavedon as the writer and Sandro Angiolini as artist.

Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue is a 1791 novel by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade. Justine is set just before the French Revolution in France and tells the story of a young girl who goes under the name of Thérèse. Her story is recounted to Madame de Lorsagne while defending herself for her crimes, en route to punishment and death. She explains the series of misfortunes that led to her present situation.

Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty is a 1967 book by the philosopher Gilles Deleuze, originally published in French as Le Froid et le Cruel, in which the author philosophically examines the work of the late 19th-century Austrian novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. In the Foreword Deleuze states that Masoch has a particular way of "desexualising love while at the same time sexualizing the entire history of humanity". Deleuze attempts to "cut through" the various forms of expression and content that are the artistic creation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. He also attempts to develop a problematic of masochism in contradistinction to sadism, concluding that the two forms of 'pornology' are non-communicating, and cannot be integrated into Sadomasochistic entity. Deleuze argues that Masochism is something far more subtle and complex than the enjoyment of pain and that Masochism has nothing to do with Sadism.

The Memoirs of Dolly Morton: The Story of A Woman's Part in the Struggle to Free the Slaves, An Account of the Whippings, Rapes, and Violences that Preceded the Civil War in America, with Curious Anthropological Observations on the Radical Diversities in the Conformation of the Female Bottom and the Way Different Women Endure Chastisement is a pornographic novel published in London in 1899 under the pseudonym Jean de Villiot, probably Hugues Rebell or Charles Carrington who published the work. Another edition was published in Philadelphia in 1904.

Nana to Kaoru is a Japanese erotic romantic comedy seinen manga series written and illustrated by Ryuta Amazume. It was serialized on Hakusensha's Young Animal Arashi manga magazine and is now serialized on Young Animal. 18 volumes have been published so far. Three other manga series have also been released, as well as an original video animation and two live action films.

Nights of Horror is an American series of fetish comic books, created in 1954 by publisher Malcla, drawn by comic artist Joe Shuster, who is also one of the original creators of Superman. The comic stories were written by an author under the pseudonym Clancy, who also used other pseudonyms for different issues of the books. The stories are based on situations of BDSM, bondage, torture, and sexual slavery, featuring both men and women as the tormentors and victims. The series was important in the conviction of Jack Koslow in 1954, during the trial of the Brooklyn Thrill Killers. The books themselves were seized and banned first by New York City, then by the State of New York for violating obscenity laws, and the case went to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court determined that the ban was not in violation of First Amendment Rights, and upheld New York's request for destroying copies of Nights of Horror. Shuster was never named as the illustrator until Gerard Jones published the information in 2004.

Nine and a Half Weeks: A Memoir of a Love Affair is a 1978 novel by Ingeborg Day, first published under the nom de plume Elizabeth McNeill. It details the brief, sexually violent relationship between an art gallery owner and a Wall Street broker–based on Day's own experiences. The memoir was famously adapted into the 1986 erotic drama 9½ Weeks, starring Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke.

Nothing Natural is the 1986 debut novel by Jenny Diski, initially published in hardback through Simon & Schuster. It follows a young woman who enters into a sadomasochistic relationship with a charming and domineering man. The book, perceived as an S&M-book by the New Yorker, received some backlash upon its release, as critic Anthony Thwaite criticized it as being "the most revolting book I've ever read," and the feminist magazine Sisterwrite chose to ban Diski from publishing with them.

The Passion of Michel Foucault is a biography of the French philosopher Michel Foucault authored by the American philosopher James Miller. It was first published in the United States by Simon & Schuster in 1993.

Philosophy in the Bedroom is a 1795 book by the Marquis de Sade written in the form of a dramatic dialogue. Though initially considered a work of pornography, the book has come to be considered a socio-political drama. Set in a bedroom, the two lead characters make the argument that the only moral system that reinforces the recent political revolution is libertinism, and that if the people of France fail to adopt the libertine philosophy, France will be destined to return to a monarchic state. In the chapter titled "Fifth Dialogue", there is a lengthy section where the character Chevalier reads a philosophical pamphlet titled "Frenchmen, Some More Effort If You Wish To Become Republicans". The pamphlet clearly represents Sade's philosophy on religion and morality, a philosophy he passionately hopes the citizens of France will embrace and codify into the laws of their new republican government. Continually throughout the work, Sade makes the argument that one must embrace atheism, reject society's beliefs about pleasure and pain, and further makes his argument that if any crime is committed while seeking pleasure, it cannot be condemned.

The Piano Teacher is a novel by Austrian Nobel Prize winner Elfriede Jelinek, first published in 1983 by Rowohlt Verlag. Translated by Joachim Neugroschel, it was the first of Jelinek's novels to be translated into English.

Poems and Ballads, First Series is the first collection of poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in 1866. The book was instantly popular, and equally controversial. Swinburne wrote about many taboo topics, such as lesbianism, sado-masochism, and anti-theism. The poems have many common elements, such as the Ocean, Time, and Death. Several historical persons are mentioned in the poems, such as Sappho, Anactoria, Jesus and Catullus.

Quim: for dykes of all sexual persuasions was a sex positive lesbian magazine published between 1989 and 1994 with a further issue published in 2001. The magazine was edited by Sophie Moorcock and Lulu Belliveau, who had previously worked as a photo editor at “On Our Backs“, the first US magazine of women's erotica. Influences included Shocking Pink a young women's zine produced in London between 1979–1992, Chain Reaction a lesbian S/M club that opened in Vauxhall in 1987, and Sheila McLaughlin's 1987 film She Must Be Seeing Things. The magazine had an irregular publication cycle that depended on when funding and content were available.

The River Ophelia is an Australian novel by Justine Ettler first published by Picador in 1995. The story moves between first-person narrative to an unnamed observer. It was highly controversial in Australia upon its publication, with some prominent critics dismissing it as pornographic, though Ettler herself has strongly denied this.

Shira is a 1971 posthumously-published unfinished Hebrew-language novel by Shmuel Yosef Agnon first serialized in Haaretz between 1948 and 1966, his longest novel at 558 pages and the last one he wrote. It was published by Schocken Books and edited by Emuna Agnon Yaron who also wrote the afterword and is widely considered one of the greatest Israeli novels.

Skin: Talking About Sex, Class & Literature

Skin: Talking About Sex, Class And Literature is a collection of essays written by award-winning author Dorothy Allison. Published in 1994, the book contains original essays as well as updated versions of essays that appeared in anthologies and magazines like New York Native, The Village Voice, and Forum. As the title suggests, Allison gives the reader her take on her difficult childhood, race- and class-based schisms within the lesbian community, feminism, pornography, sadomasochism, and the transcending effect that literature can have on children.

The Sleeping Beauty Quartet is a series of four novels written by American author Anne Rice under the pseudonym of A. N. Roquelaure. The quartet comprises The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty's Punishment, Beauty's Release, and Beauty's Kingdom, first published individually in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 2015, respectively, in the United States. They are erotic BDSM novels set in a medieval fantasy world, loosely based on the fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. The novels describe explicit sexual adventures of the female protagonist Beauty and the male characters Alexi, Tristan and Laurent, featuring both maledom and femdom scenarios amid vivid imageries of bisexuality, homosexuality, ephebophilia and pony play.

Snakes and Earrings is a Japanese novel by Hitomi Kanehara. The story follows Lui, a young woman in Tokyo whose fascination with body modification and sadomasochistic sexual activity drives her to make increasingly dangerous personal choices. First published in 2003 in the literary magazine Shōsetsu Subaru as the winner of the 27th Subaru Literary Prize, the novel was republished in 2004 after winning the 130th Akutagawa Prize.

Something Leather is a novel-in-stories by Alasdair Gray which was published in 1990. Its framing narrative is the story of June's initiation into sado-masochistic activities by the female operators of a leather clothing shop in Glasgow.

Story of O is an erotic novel published in 1954 by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage, and published in French by Jean-Jacques Pauvert.

Sunstone is an adult webcomic series written and illustrated by Stjepan Šejić which was first published on DeviantArt in 2011. Šejić is assisted by his wife and fellow artist Linda Lukšić Šejić. The comic, described as an erotic romantic comedy, focuses on the relationship between a group of friends and their mutual interest in BDSM culture. Sunstone has been collected by Image Comics and Top Cow Productions into trade paperback volumes.

Sweet Gwendoline is the main female character in the works of bondage artist John Willie, first published as a serial, usually two pages at a time, in Robert Harrison's mainstream girlie magazine Wink from June 1947 to February 1950 and later in several other magazines over the years.

The Ties That Bind is the only complete novel by the French author Vanessa Duriès.

The Torture Garden is a novel written by the French journalist, novelist and playwright Octave Mirbeau, and was first published in 1899 during the Dreyfus affair. The novel is dedicated: "To the priests, the soldiers, the judges, to those people who educate, instruct and govern men, I dedicate these pages of Murder and Blood."

Twittering Birds Never Fly is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kou Yoneda. A sequel to Yoneda's previous one-shot stories Don't Stay Gold (2008) and Though They Drift, They Do Not Sink, But Nor Do They Sing (2009), it has been serialized in the boys' love (BL) manga magazine ihr HertZ, formerly known as HertZ, since August 2011. The manga was adapted into an anime film trilogy produced by Blue Lynx and animated by Grizzly beginning in 2020. It also inspired an original animation DVD (OAD) adaptation of Don't Stay Gold and an ongoing audio drama produced by Frontier Works.

Venus in Furs is a novella by the Austrian author Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, and the best known of his works. The novel was to be part of an epic series that Sacher-Masoch envisioned called Legacy of Cain. Venus in Furs was part of Love, the first volume of the series. It was published in 1870.

Willard and His Bowling Trophies: A Perverse Mystery is a novel by Richard Brautigan written in 1975.