Katie Roiphe compares writers of the last generation (Roth, Updike, Mailer) with writers of the new generation (Eggers, Foer, Foster Wallace) and their approaches to sex.
Even though Roiphe thinks there’s something disingenuous about the new crop of “sexless” writing, I think it’s better than the overwrought sex scenes of the last generation. By now, scenes with threesomes or even just really descriptive sex aren’t captivating or shocking. They don’t reveal a human connection. Mostly, they just seem kind of cheap and ordinary.
It reminds me of how the characters in Northanger Abbey talked about The Mysteries of Udolpho. Notice which one is still on the shelves today.
That isn’t to say novelists should avoid sex scenes. But I think usually they end up sounding really cliche, and like the author has never had a realistic sexual encounter before.
