2arrs, 2ells - 10 writers who masturbated

18th December 2008

Text reblogged from the ragbag with 21 notes

10 writers who masturbated

andré gide: was expelled from school for doing it in class at the age of 11. his doctor subsequently threatened to castrate him if he didn’t give up.

samuel pepys: liked to masturbate while reading pornography, and then record the experience in coded form in his diaries.

edward lear: was addicted to the habit in youth and ascribed both his depression and epilepsy to it.

yukio mishima: practiced it frequently throughout his life, both between and during romances with women. in fact, he once defined seppuku, the ritual suicide by which he would eventually die, as “the ultimate form of masturbation.”

guy de maupassant: was addicted to it in his early teens, but then was inducted into the charms of womenfolk and decided that this was more fun by far.

patrick kavanagh: said he gave up the habit when women entered his life, but the fact that he had the main character in the great hunger, his most famous poem, indulging in it was difficult to live down.

james boswell: was so plagued with guilt over it as a young teenager that he considered castrating himself

truman capote: said that the thing he liked most about it was that you didn’t have to take your hand to dinner afterward.

harold robbins: described it as the second most enjoyable thing you could do on your own. the first was writing.

james joyce: was wracked with guilt about it when he was young, but after he married nora he gleefully discussed the topic with her and even gave her tips about how best to go about it. One day, when a fan of his writing said to him, “let me shake the hand that wrote ulysses,” he replied, “no—it’s done lots of other things, too!”

Is it safe to say that Philip Roth masturbated as well?