{{Short description|1977 short story collection by Anaïs Nin}} {{For|the film adaptation|Delta of Venus (film){{!}}''Delta of Venus'' (film)}} {{No plot|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox book| <!-- See [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Novels]] or [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books]] --> | name = '''''Delta of Venus''''' | image = DeltaOfVenus.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = First edition cover art | author = [[Anaïs Nin]] | cover_artist = [[Milton Glaser]]<br>[[Richard Merkin]] <small>(photo)</small> | country = United States | language = English | genre = [[Short stories]], [[erotica]] | publisher = [[Harcourt Brace Jovanovich]] | release_date = 1977 | media_type = Print (hardback & paperback) | pages = 250 pp ''(first edition)'' | isbn = 0-15-124656-4 | dewey= | congress= | oclc= | followed_by = }}

'''''Delta of Venus''''' is a book of fifteen [[short stories]] that [[Anaïs Nin]] largely wrote in the 1940s as [[erotica]] for a private [[book collector|collector]]. It was published [[List of works published posthumously|posthumously]] in 1977.<ref>I. Ousby, ed., ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English'' (1995) p. 683</ref><ref>Anaïs Nin, ''Delta of Venus & Little Birds'' (1996), pp. 13–16</ref>

In 1994, [[Delta of Venus (film)|a film inspired by the book]] was directed by [[Zalman King]].

==Background== The short stories in this anthology were written during the 1940s for a private client known simply as "Collector". This "Collector" commissioned Nin, along with other now well-known writers (including [[Henry Miller]] and the poet [[George Barker (poet)|George Barker]]), to produce erotic fiction for his private consumption.<ref>Anaïs Nin, ''Delta of Venus & Little Birds'' (1996), pp. 13–16</ref> He has since been identified as Roy M. Johnson (1881–1960), a wealthy businessman from [[Ardmore, Oklahoma]], who discovered the Healdton Oil Pool.<ref>Paul Herron, ''Anaïs Nin: A Book of Mirrors'' (Sky Blue Press, 1996), p.427</ref>

Despite being told to leave poetic language aside and concentrate on graphic, sexually-explicit scenarios, Nin gave the stories a literary flourish and a layer of images and ideas beyond the pornographic. In her diary, she jokingly called herself "the [[Madam (prostitution)|madam]] of this snobbish literary house of prostitution, from which vulgarity was excluded".<ref>* Anaïs Nin, ''Delta of Venus & Little Birds'' (1996), p. 16</ref>

While using the {{tlit|sa|[[Kama Sutra]]}} and other writings such as those of [[Krafft-Ebing]] as models, Nin was conscious that the languages of male and female sexuality were distinct.<ref>Anaïs Nin, ''Delta of Venus & Little Birds'' (1996), pp. 15 & 19</ref> Although at times she scorned her erotica, and feared their effect on her literary reputation,<ref>Anne T. Salvatore, ''Anaïs Nin's Narratives'', [[University Press of Florida]] (2001) {{ISBN|0-8130-2113-8}}, p. 17</ref> they have been seen by [[Sex-positive feminism|sex-positive feminists]] as pioneering work.<ref>Susie Bright, ''Totally Heterotica'' (1995), p. 2</ref>

==Short stories== The short stories that ''Delta of Venus'' anthologizes are: # The Hungarian Adventurer # Mathilde # The Boarding School # The Ring # Mallorca # Artists and Models # Lilith # Marianne # The Veiled Woman # Elena # The Basque and Bijou # Pierre # Manuel # Linda # Marcel Its preface contains entries from Nin's ''[[The Diary of Anaïs Nin|Diary]]'', which expressed her hope that its unexpurgated version would one day be published.

In 2021, the pornographic film studio Thousand Faces released a short film, ''Mathilde'', based on Nin's story of the same name.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thousandfacesfilms.com/films/mathilde |title=Mathilde |access-date=2023-06-14 |archive-date=2023-06-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623210517/https://thousandfacesfilms.com/films/mathilde/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also== * [[D. H. Lawrence]] * [[Émile Zola]] * [[George Sand]] * ''[[Mons pubis]]''

==References== {{Reflist|2|}}

==Further reading== * Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace, ''Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory'', [[Taylor & Francis]], 1997, {{ISBN|0-8153-0824-8}}, p.&nbsp;190 * Andrew Gibson, ''Postmodernity, Ethics and the Novel: from Leavis to Levinas'', Routledge, 1999, {{ISBN|0-415-19895-X}}, p.&nbsp;177 * [[Noël Riley Fitch]], ''Anaïs: The Erotic Life of Anaïs Nin'' (Boston: [[Little, Brown and Company]], 1993) {{ISBN|0-316-28428-9}} * Anaïs Nin, ''Delta of Venus'', Penguin Books, 2008 {{ISBN|978-0141-03730-1}}

{{Anaïs Nin}}

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[[Category:1977 short story collections]] [[Category:Books adapted into films]] [[Category:Books published posthumously]] [[Category:Erotic short story collections]] [[Category:Short story collections by Anaïs Nin]] [[Category:American short story collections]] [[Category:English-language books]]