# Delta of Venus

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1977 short story collection by Anaïs Nin

For the film adaptation, see [*Delta of Venus* (film)](/source/Delta_of_Venus_(film)).

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Delta of Venus First edition cover art Author Anaïs Nin Cover artist Milton Glaser Richard Merkin (photo) Language English Genre Short stories, erotica Publisher Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publication date 1977 Publication place United States Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Pages 250 pp (first edition) ISBN 0-15-124656-4

***Delta of Venus*** is a book of fifteen [short stories](/source/Short_stories) that [Anaïs Nin](/source/Ana%C3%AFs_Nin) largely wrote in the 1940s as [erotica](/source/Erotica) for a private [collector](/source/Book_collector). It was published [posthumously](/source/List_of_works_published_posthumously) in 1977.[1][2]

In 1994, [a film inspired by the book](/source/Delta_of_Venus_(film)) was directed by [Zalman King](/source/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](/source/Henry_Miller) and the poet [George Barker](/source/George_Barker_(poet))), to produce erotic fiction for his private consumption.[3] He has since been identified as Roy M. Johnson (1881–1960), a wealthy businessman from [Ardmore, Oklahoma](/source/Ardmore%2C_Oklahoma), who discovered the Healdton Oil Pool.[4]

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](/source/Madam_(prostitution)) of this snobbish literary house of prostitution, from which vulgarity was excluded".[5]

While using the *[Kama Sutra](/source/Kama_Sutra)* and other writings such as those of [Krafft-Ebing](/source/Krafft-Ebing) as models, Nin was conscious that the languages of male and female sexuality were distinct.[6] Although at times she scorned her erotica, and feared their effect on her literary reputation,[7] they have been seen by [sex-positive feminists](/source/Sex-positive_feminism) as pioneering work.[8]

## Short stories

The short stories that *Delta of Venus* anthologizes are:

1. The Hungarian Adventurer

1. Mathilde

1. The Boarding School

1. The Ring

1. Mallorca

1. Artists and Models

1. Lilith

1. Marianne

1. The Veiled Woman

1. Elena

1. The Basque and Bijou

1. Pierre

1. Manuel

1. Linda

1. Marcel

Its preface contains entries from Nin's *[Diary](/source/The_Diary_of_Ana%C3%AFs_Nin)*, 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.[9]

## See also

- [D. H. Lawrence](/source/D._H._Lawrence)

- [Émile Zola](/source/%C3%89mile_Zola)

- [George Sand](/source/George_Sand)

- *[Mons pubis](/source/Mons_pubis)*

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** I. Ousby, ed., *The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English* (1995) p. 683

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Anaïs Nin, *Delta of Venus & Little Birds* (1996), pp. 13–16

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Anaïs Nin, *Delta of Venus & Little Birds* (1996), pp. 13–16

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Paul Herron, *Anaïs Nin: A Book of Mirrors* (Sky Blue Press, 1996), p.427

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** * Anaïs Nin, *Delta of Venus & Little Birds* (1996), p. 16

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Anaïs Nin, *Delta of Venus & Little Birds* (1996), pp. 15 & 19

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Anne T. Salvatore, *Anaïs Nin's Narratives*, [University Press of Florida](/source/University_Press_of_Florida) (2001) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8130-2113-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8130-2113-8), p. 17

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Susie Bright, *Totally Heterotica* (1995), p. 2

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Mathilde"](https://thousandfacesfilms.com/films/mathilde). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20230623210517/https://thousandfacesfilms.com/films/mathilde/) from the original on June 23, 2023. Retrieved June 14, 2023.

## Further reading

- Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace, *Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory*, [Taylor & Francis](/source/Taylor_%26_Francis), 1997, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8153-0824-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8153-0824-8), p. 190

- Andrew Gibson, *Postmodernity, Ethics and the Novel: from Leavis to Levinas*, Routledge, 1999, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-415-19895-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-415-19895-X), p. 177

- [Noël Riley Fitch](/source/No%C3%ABl_Riley_Fitch), *Anaïs: The Erotic Life of Anaïs Nin* (Boston: [Little, Brown and Company](/source/Little%2C_Brown_and_Company), 1993) [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-316-28428-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-316-28428-9)

- Anaïs Nin, *Delta of Venus*, Penguin Books, 2008 [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0141-03730-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0141-03730-1)

v t e Anaïs Nin Novels House of Incest (1936) Winter of Artifice (1939) Cities of the Interior Ladders to Fire Children of the Albatross The Four-Chambered Heart A Spy in the House of Love Seduction of the Minotaur Collages (1964) Journals The Early Diary of Anaïs Nin (1978–1985) The Diary of Anaïs Nin (1966–1977) Henry and June: From a Journal of Love: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin (1986) A Literate Passion: Letters of Anaïs Nin & Henry Miller (1987) Incest: From a Journal of Love (1992) Fire: From a Journal of Love (1995) Nearer the Moon: From A Journal of Love (1996) Mirages: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1939-1947 (2013) Trapeze: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1947–1955 (2017) Short stories Under a Glass Bell (1944) Waste of Timelessness: And Other Early Stories (1977) Delta of Venus (1977) Little Birds (1979) Auletris (2016) Non-fiction D. H. Lawrence: An Unprofessional Study (1932) The Novel of the Future (1968) In Favor of the Sensitive Man (1976) Related Hugh Parker Guiler (husband) Rupert Pole (second husband) Joaquín Nin (father) Joaquín Nin-Culmell (brother) Henry Miller Henry & June (1990 film) Delta of Venus (1994 film)

Authority control databases Open Library 2

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