Venus and Tannhauser - Hardcover

Beardsley, Aubrey

3.45

170 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0946495408 ISBN 13: 9780946495405

Publisher: Bracken Books, 1985

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Aubrey Beardsley is principally known as an illustrator associated with the Decadence and Art Nouveau movements of the very late 19th Century. Near the end of his short life, however, he undertook to write a novel based on the legend of the medieval German Minnes�nger Tannh�user and his visit to the Venusburg, the underground haven of the goddess of love. Beardsley died, however, in 1898 leaving the novel a little more than half finished. A fragment was published by the author during his lifetime. The completed "unfinished" work was published in 1907. This is the 1985 reprint by Bracken Books. The story follows the legend of Tannh�user as depicted in Wagner's opera of the same name, but with considerable erotic embellishment. With little preamble, Tannh�user, a knight, stumbles upon an ornate portal leading into an underground fantasy land. It is the Venusburg, where the goddess and her retinue spend eternity wining and dining, entertaining one another with various musical and stage productions, and, of course, having lots of sex. Tannhauser immediately becomes Venus's favorite, and spends weeks in non-stop debauchery. Eventually, though, he becomes bored and takes his leave of paradise. He is scarcely back in the world of reality before he is smitten with shame and remorse for his sins which are so great, he is told, that only the Pope himself could possibly grant Tannh�user absolution. The place of VENUS AND TANNHAUSER in English literature is unique and offers remarkable insight into the fascinating young artist whose unique talent flourished all too briefly, and is in its own right, an extraordinary erotic novel as well.

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