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Britain Celebrates 20 Years of Literary Bad Sex
Amazing. I'd always assumed that it was one of those things said about the English, not that it was real.
[An Nahar] Canadian author Nancy Huston was on Tuesday awarded what has been dubbed Britannia's "most dreaded literary prize" for penning the most cringeworthy erotic description of 2012.

After the so-called "mummy porn" phenomenon gripped the literary world -- with erotic novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" topping international best-seller lists -- eight writers were on the shortlist in the not-so-prestigious Bad Sex in Fiction Award's 20th year.

Gay Paree-based Huston claimed the dubious honour with her book "Infrared", becoming only the third female winner of the prize.

The 59-year-old did not attend the ceremony at London's In And Out Club, but sent an acceptance message.

"I hope this prize will incite thousands of British women to take close-up photos of their lovers' bodies in all states of array and disarray," she said.

Others on the shortlist included Paul Mason, who offended judges by comparing his lustful hero to "a forlorn circus rider" in debut novel "Rare Earth", and Nicola Barker for describing a lover in her novel "The Yips" as a "hungry finch" in an orchard.

Despite widespread calls on social networking sites for it to be added to the shortlist, E.L. James's sado-masochistic romance "Fifty Shades" was not in the running, as the prize does not cover "expressly erotic literature".

"The purpose of the prize is to draw attention to the crude, badly written, often perfunctory use of redundant passages of sexual description in the modern novel, and to discourage it," said the Literary Review magazine, which runs the award.

"Literary Review is proud to continue its gentle chastisement of the worst excesses of the literary novel."

Posted by: Fred 2012-12-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=357454