Apprenticed to Venus: My Secret Life with Anaïs Nin

education-and-formation

• I was pretty much a virgin in every way then—pressing the buzzer beneath Nin-Guiler sounded my fate, for good or ill.

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• Anaïs confided she remained a virgin for two years of marriage, too shy to tell Hugo how to please her.

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erotic-as-power

• I imagined myself bound to a conveyor belt, moving toward desire free of volition—pleasure without guilt.

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• I felt victorious for disproving his Libertarian theory of sex, then chilled at how impersonal the experience had been.

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self-and-identity

• She gently untangled the knot of confusion, shame, and longing I held so tightly, then announced gaily, 'He should finish the job!'

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• Anaïs told me I'd develop a Sabina—detached, wanting to leave after sex. 'You still have a Djuna to find,' she said.

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