Thursday, August 16, 2007

Desire

I say this blog is about the beauty of the female form, and it is, but the aesthetic appreciation of woman is inextricable from desire. A man cannot look at a woman and believe she is attractive without feeling the beginnings of longing.

There are three pieces of fiction that I think capture man's desire in all its inglorious polymorphity: "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses," by Irwin Shaw. "Mr. Durant," by Dorothy Parker, and Jazz by Toni Morrison. You may not agree, but each of these authors captures the sometimes subtle, sometimes unconscious, but always automatic and always detailed attention men pay to women's bodies. It may seem perverse, and perhaps it is, but it is the way we are made. The Picture of Dorian Grey also has something to say on the depths of depravity created by publicly denying our passions.

The nature of desire struck me again today as I was walking downtown in my new old home at lunch time and after, when the streets were full of women of all manner of beauties. Hard, able bodies with stern faces and pulled-back black hair. A smooth-walking French girl in loose, flowing pants that quivered all up and down her long, long legs. And then her, standing out in a group of ten office girls, all tightly done up for work, but she had a body whose promise of pleasure could not be stifled or silenced as she hurried down the street, her breasts registering the impact of step after step after step.

Perhaps I am a pervert, but what is beauty for if not to be seen and enjoyed?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The only way to make this better is including pictures of these women on the street! But that might lead to jail or stalking charages!

Dr. C said...

I'm not sure pictures would be good here. So much of what makes these women worth watching is the movement of their bodies. But that doesn't mean I haven't thought of it!