If it helps clarify anything for anyone, women's lower undergarments (drawers) from this time were still open at the crotch, the better to facilitate using the restroom while wearing layers of skirts and petticoats. Men didn't really use separate undergarments like that. Instead, their shirts were long enough to cover the 'lower regions', front and back, when tucked into trousers. This is at least as far as Ireland, and Europe more generally, was concerned. Also, when James mentioned taking a dump in the 'closet', he was probably referring to a WC or water closet, which is a small room with a toilet in it. This information doesn't make the letters any better, I just thought it might clear up some confusion.
Fun story time. So at 14 i went to my great grandads funeral. They decided to put his diary and sketch book out for people to look at but no one really went through it. I picked it up to riffle through it and it was FULL of naked pictures of my great grandma when when she was his nurse in the hospital. Like hand drawn smut from ww2 hospital grandma xD Props though he was a fantastic artist. I should have read the diary too but i was a little shook haha xD
@suitov he was awesome i really miss him. He lost a leg in the war so he ordered a hollow leg to hide stuff in. Hed put candy and booze in his leg and would pull it out at the weirdest times 🩵
Honestly, that's cute. I love things like that, that remind you that people have always been people. We like to think everyone was all serious and proper back in the day, but that's just not true. People have always been weird, and sometimes kinky.
Warning: I do NOT recommend listening to this while trying to put on makeup, especially eyeliner. I kept weeping with laughing and it was very difficult to not poke myself in the eyes.
Good to know! The great historical figure whose letters make me laugh the most is Mozart. They're mostly not erotic like Joyce's, but Mozart loved bathroom humor and included quite a lot of it in his letters! "There's a lot of farting during the night, And the farts resound with thunderous might." -- W.A. Mozart
The whole farting and scatological obsession was also one of the things that made De Sade's '120 Days of Sodom' an absolute slog to get through. I expected it to be morally challenging. Mostly it was a lot of 'whelp, I guess I'll never understand this kind of hedonism'.
This is actually some of what makes James Joyce great. He is a nasty, funny, clever little man. There is a reason Ulysses was banned for obscenity basically everywhere when it was published,
No clue what blocking is, but frigging is over-the-clothes stuff. (Do NOT confuse with figging.) I love that they were locking Oscar up and chemically castrating Alan for their loving relationships, and meanwhile the straights were writing this and selling it for hundreds of thousands.
At first I thought all the "farting" was actually referring to queefing maybe, since that can happen during doggy style, but then he talked about smelling it so I don't know any more, since queefs have no smell.
11:30 I think his blood wasn't in his top head and was sloppily asking if her ex had been over or under her pantaloons lmao 13:03 I'm wondering if blocked meant give head? Block is old slang for head
11:46 it's gotta be her cervix, 100% ... if they could "feel (it) at the end of" her vagina they might think it's a "little prick" bc she's not a midwife, neither of them are very well educated abt female anatomy
See with the first letter, I was ready to throw hands with the comments. Romantic and somewhat strange and mostly beautiful…until I got to fart scent identification and I started to get what all the fuss was about
I'm happy that he found something to share this highly niche fetish with. Maybe in the early 20th century it wasn't so niche since everything smelled like shit anyway. I just wonder how they keep their house clean so long ago.
What’s that one meme going around on Twitter? Like, who are two people who actually matched each other’s freak? Anyway, that’s these two.* *could refer to James and Nora or Hoots and Caelan
They've always been *way* sweeter and patient with me than most would tolerate - but then again, it could be that I'm pretty swampy so co-residents of the compost heap hold hands while coming up or taking a swan dive.
I briefly dated a guy with a fetish for burps and I thought that was awkward to say the least. Dating James Joyce seems like a total nightmare. Poor Nora.
From the way he replies to her letters she seems to have been full on board. Considering she married the guy after seeing several of these letters and was up for giving a hand job on a first date, she seems to have not been a prude in any way. I'm not sure it's lucky or unlucky we didn't get her correspondence, since I suspect she may have been similarly inclined.
Maybe it's because I'm ace, or because I've had kinky allo friends for years, but these letters were hardly gross to me at all, lol. Just adorably sweet and obscenely hilarious. This was just two people having open conversations about their kinks and horny daydreams and, as my mother would say, "enjoying life."
I was hesitant to play this one, based on the farts reference in the thumbnail. Wish i’d listened to my instinct… I wouldn’t begrudge two consenting adults whatever it is that they enjoy together. But, holy hell, i don’t want to know about it! 😆
Hoots just gets prettier every time I see her. I'm outraged at how beautiful her eyes and lips are here; your makeup artist deserves a raise, especially if you do it yourself!
