According to the famous Italian Author Italo Calvino , while dealing with erotic subjects, one should be conscious that what
is unsaid is more important than what is explicitly said. Now a days lot of erotic literaure are available in the market, but the thin line between pornography and erotica is missing many a times. As a result, the expectant reader of erotica misses the aesthetics of erotic
literature. The erotica of Henry Miller, Anais Nin and many modern authors does not find easy parallels. Fortunately for us we have a huge depository of classic and ancient erotica which supplements the deficiency. Alan Bold's Mounts of Venus : The Picador Book of Erotic Prose is a wonderful mixture of the ancient and modern Erotic Literature tries to respond to the above mentioned problem in an exemplary manner. The name of the Book itself gives an idea about the content of the Book and the quality of the materials selected for the anthology.While It has the classic erotica of
Petronius, Boccaccio, Rabelais, de Sade , Sacher-Masoch etc, some of the great authors who laced their works with erotic imagination like D H Lawrence, James Joyce, Henry miller, Anais Nin, Frank Harris,Alberto Moravia, have also been included in the anthology. Modern writers who also wrote Erotica like Wendy Perriam, Erica Jong, John Updike etc have not been ignored. The Book starts with a very elaborate and exhaustive Introduction which throws light on the evolution and growth of erotic literature from historical, political, socio-cultural perspectives. It is one of the most readable anthologies of erotica in modern times.