The Book of Love: The Story of the Kamasutra

Tracing the celebrated sex manual from its palm-leaf manuscript origins in third-century India to contemporary coffee-table book, travel writer McConnachie adeptly explains that in addition to teaching 64 erotic techniques, the seven-volume Kamasutra details every aspect of a rich man’s lifestyle, including grooming, home decor and entertainment. The treatise on pleasure also offers a rare ancient depiction of women’s social and sexual lives. The author relates the tale of the famed British explorer and Orientalist Richard Burton, who brought the work to the West. An Indian Army officer in the 1840s, Burton devoted himself to the study of Indian languages and sexual culture. Around 1870, as a British consul, Burton became involved in a project to translate obscure erotic classics into English (though contrary to popular belief, he did not translate the Kamasutra himself) and masterminded the work’s promotion in a repressive Victorian climate. McConnachie also relates the key role of Foster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot as Burton’s collaborator. Though less titillating than the topic would imply, this is a solidly researched, absorbing glimpse into the history of erotica publishing. 8 pages of color illus. (May 27)
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Kamasutra (Oxford World’s Classics)

The Kamasutra is the oldest extant textbook of erotic love. But it is more than a book about sex. It is about the art of living–about finding a partner, maintaining power in a marriage, committing adultery, living as or with a courtesan, using drugs–and also, of course, about the many and varied positions available to lovers in sexual intercourse and the pleasures to be derived from each.
The Kamasutra was composed in Sanskrit, the literary language of ancient India, sometime in the third century, probably in North India. It combines an encyclopedic coverage of all imaginable aspects of sex with a closely observed sexual psychology and a dramatic, novelistic narrative of seduction, consummation, and disentanglement. Best known in English through the highly mannered, padded, and inaccurate nineteenth-century translation by Sir Richard Burton, the text is newly translated here into clear, vivid, sexually frank English. This edition also includes a section of vivid Indian color illustrations along with three uniquely important commentaries: translated excerpts from the earliest and most famous Sanskrit commentary (thirteenth century) and from a twentieth-century Hindi commentary, and explanatory notes by the two translators.
The lively and entertaining introduction by translator Wendy Doniger, one of the world’s foremost Sanskrit scholars, discusses the history of The Kamasutra and its reception in India and Europe, analyses its attitudes toward gender and sexual violence, and sets it in the context of ancient Indian social theory, scientific method, and sexual ethics.
“[This] new translation is fascinating, thought-provoking and occasionally even amusing.”–Salon.com

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KISS Guide to Kama Sutra (Keep It Simple Series) (Paperback)

KISS Guide to Kama Sutra (Keep It Simple Series) (Paperback). Author by Anne Hooper. Kiss the competition goodbye! The only guide you’ll ever need to revolutionize your lovemaking. Learn the secrets of sensuality from this 2,000 year-old classic. Spice up your sex life with ancient and modern wisdom. Master the art of seduction, foreplay, and arousal. Discover unusual positions, aphrodisiacs, and erotic games. The KISS Series delivers its promise: simple access to all the information you’ll need on any one subject. Expert authors walk you through each topic, using simple blocks of knowledge to develop your skills. Straightforward and relaxed in its approach to each subject and full-color photography on every page make KISS Series inspiring and informative, with key information highlighted throughout. Buy this KISS Guide to Kama Sutra (Keep It Simple Series) (Paperback) now.