Episode Details

Sex! One of the greatest works of fiction in Chinese literature, "The Plum in the Golden Vase," is also one of the most risqué. We discuss this Ming Dynasty novel alongside other works of erotic fiction, with comparisons to the Marquis de Sade (and references to China in his novel "Justine"), as well as James Joyce's maxim that true art hangs in suspension between didacticism and pornography.

Support the show