Amazon slammed for censoring female erotica writer Anais Nin

THERE’S a new book out by early 20th century erotica pioneer Anais Nin — but you won’t find it if you search on Amazon.

Amazon has banned the latest book of erotica by Anais Nin.

THERE’S a new book out by 20th century erotica pioneer Anais Nin — but you won’t find it if you search on Amazon.

The world’s largest bookseller has black-listed erotica collection Auletris, the latest posthumous Nin work, after its publisher refused to edit the text to remove its more salacious details.

But Nin’s literary cult following has slammed the retailer for “hypocrisy”, arguing that its censorship policy is haphazard and nonsensical.

Long before the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon brought erotic fiction to the mainstream, French bohemian Anais Nin penned the writings that would see her hailed by critics as among the best authors of female erotica.

Delta of Venus and Little Birds, erotica collections published in the late 1970s after Nin’s death,can both be searched and bought on Amazon.

The former, published by Penguin, was dubbed “a joyous display of the erotic imagination” by

The New York Times Book Review.

Actor Sue Lyon on poster advertising 1960s film "Lolita". advertisement /Films/Titles/Lolita

Auletris: censored.

But the recently unearthed Auletris, published for the first time this week, can only be reached by direct link.

“So, to the casual observer, Auletris does not exist,” said publisher Paul Herron of Sky Blue Press.

“There has been a concerted effort on the part of Amazon to block customers from this book.”

While the new title explored Nin’s trademark confronting themes of paedophilia and incest, Mr Herron argues it is no worse than her earlier works, or indeed a range of other titles from the literary canon.

“The contents of all three books are written by the same author, in the same fashion, touching upon many of the same taboos,” he said.

“Delta of Venus has incest, rape, necrophilia, among other topics, and yet anyone can find it easily on Amazon. What sets Auletris apart?”

He said Amazon had instructed him to change the book’s cover, which contains an image from an erotic card from Nin’s personal collection, along with its contents, a suggestion he described as “tantamount to telling an artist to alter a masterpiece to make it more palatable to the masses”.

Actor Jeremy Irons with Dominique Swain in scene from film "Lolita". /Films/Titles/Lolita

Nin scholar Jessica Gilbey, who recently completed her PhD on the erotic author, said it was “disappointing that Amazon have such a monopoly over the literary market, yet can make such inconsistent decisions that often affect the sales of important literature, whilst allowing and promoting other problematic titles.”

In 2010, Amazon removed a controversial e-book titled The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover’s Code of Conduct from sale, after initially resisting public pressure to do so.

But literary works depicting paedophilia such as Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita are freely available.

Ms Gilbey said the censorship of Nin’s latest work was a double standard threatened to hinder the scholarship around an important feminist icon.

“One story in the Auletris collection sits as a particularly uncomfortable challenge for many of us. In it, a girl initiates a blow job on an older man,” she wrote in a blog post.

“Whilst I unequivocally advocate safeguarding those who might experience emotional responses to such potentially triggering and certainly challenging subject matter, it is a choice to read this work just as it is to read any work.”

Nin, who drew on her own experience of familial abuse in her writings, “was acutely self-aware, and confronted trauma in an extremely bold and courageous manner,” Ms Gilbey argued.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

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