Kissing in English Literature.

[MANICHAEAN]

Kissing in English Literature.

I was wondering if there are any rules, or even conventions on the type of kisses one can utilise when writing stories. There are so many to choose from, whether kissing techniques themselves, or even the variety of situations in which they can be employed.

Off the top of my head, and keeping in mind that I have led a very sheltered existence, there are: French kisses, affectionate pecks, a British kiss on the cheek, a Continental kiss on both cheeks, perhaps in some areas best not named, a kiss on all four cheeks, wet sloppy kisses, butterfly kisses, kissing the air (so as not to disturb the makeup), blowing kisses, what Oscar Schlinder called “ not that type of kiss,” the kissing of hands, and even a good old fashioned smackeroo.

Would any heroine in a Jane Austin novel be prepared to accept a tongue down the throat, or Lady Bracknell a hickey on her aristocratic throat? I think not. But then, these are extreme examples and somewhat in bad taste on my part.

I would be interested however for the global perspective from my fellow Lit Nutters.

Regards
M.

[Mohammad Ahmad]

I am interested in what you wrote that you enumerated the type of kisses, I heard only a French kisses, others are unknown for me, Arab has only one type of a kiss and only to be on the cheek as British, but why you entitled it to be in literature? Is it there a special literary kiss?

[Ecurb]

As far as I can remember, no Jane Austen heroine kissed anyone, or was kissed by anyone, although it is possible that Elinor kissed Marianne or Elizabeth kissed Jane and I've forgotten about it. Certainly Elinor's relationship with Marianne is more romantic than any relationship involving Edward Ferrars or Colonel Branden.

[Lokasenna]

The only kind of kiss my early-medieval mob would employ would be a Glasgow kiss - which, if you don't know your British slang, is a headbutt.

[AuntShecky]

Off-hand, I can't recall memorable "literary" kisses , outside of Shakespeare, such as that of Othello's tearfully remorseful kiss off to the dying Desdemona,as well as young King Henry's chaste buss of his French bride.

If my rapidly fading memory is right, a generation or so ago there was a hit pop song called "Butterfly Kisses." I only recall the title, not how it went. But all these years later, I still don't know what the hell "butterfly kisses" are. Maybe I've been livin a sheltered life.

Passion-charged kisses, followed by a quick cut to the window, could be considered the most common Hollywood motif, and I recall two notorious kisses from Filmdom -- the steamy one on the beach in From Here to Eternity with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr (famously spoofed on 50s TV by Sid Caesar and Imogene Coco) and the kiss between brothers that relayed a deadly message in The Godfather.

[Ecurb]

On the more general subject of kissing in literature, my two favorite "kissing" poems that can be recited at appropriate moments are:

To Electra by Robert Herrick:

I dare not ask to kiss,
I dare not beg a smile,
Lest having that, or this,
I might grow proud the while.

No, no, the utmost share
Of my desire shall be
Only to kiss the air
That lately kissèd thee.

Love's Philosophy by P.B. Shelley

The fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever,
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle;--
Why not I with thine?

See! the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven,
If it disdained it's brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,
And the moonbeams kiss the sea;--
What are all these kissings worth,
If thou kiss not me?

The inefficacy of poetry for seduction has been demonstrated by several centuries worth of research. Nonetheless, at least you get to say the poem, even if you don't get kissed.

[Pompey Bum]

If my rapidly fading memory is right, a generation or so ago there was a hit pop song called "Butterfly Kisses." I only recall the title, not how it went. But all these years later, I still don't know what the hell "butterfly kisses" are. Maybe I've been livin a sheltered life.[/I]

Where I grew up, butterfly kisses were rather chaste exchanges is which one partner brushed the other's cheek with fluttering eyelashes. On a passion scale, it was akin to the innocent rhino-dalliance of the Eskimo kiss.

[MANICHAEAN]

Thank you all for the responses. What a diverse group we are.

Mohammad: You have forgotten I think, the Arab custom of kissing on the tip of the nose?

Ecurb: Thank you so much for the poems. The one by Shelly is most enjoyable.

Lokasenna: I was on the recieving end of a Glasgow kiss once, and was obliged to return the physical affection in a more conventional and robust manner.

Aunty: Ah yes, I’d forgotton about the Godfather embrace, “the Judas Kiss,” perhaps the most infamous one of all.

Pompey: Thank you for opening up new horizons for Aunty.

[mona amon]

As far as I can remember, no Jane Austen heroine kissed anyone, or was kissed by anyone, although it is possible that Elinor kissed Marianne or Elizabeth kissed Jane and I've forgotten about it. Certainly Elinor's relationship with Marianne is more romantic than any relationship involving Edward Ferrars or Colonel Branden.

I too can't remember any kissing in Jane Austen, not even among the women. The Bronte books on the other hand - everyone's always kissing everyone else.

"He neither spoke nor loosed his hold for some five minutes, during which period he bestowed more kisses than ever he gave in his life before, I daresay: but then my mistress had kissed him first, ..." - Wuthering Heights, Chapter 15

" In a minute I had my face under their bonnets, in contact first with Mary’s soft cheek, then with Diana’s flowing curls. They laughed—kissed me—then Hannah: patted Carlo, who was half wild with delight; asked eagerly if all was well; and being assured in the affirmative, hastened into the house." - Jane Eyre, chapter 34 (good thing they didn't kiss Carlo)

Jane and St John Rivers kiss - “One evening when, at bedtime, his sisters and I stood round him, bidding him good-night, he kissed each of them, as was his custom; and, as was equally his custom, he gave me his hand. Diana, who chanced to be in a frolicsome humour (she was not painfully controlled by his will; for hers, in another way, was as strong), exclaimed—

“St. John! you used to call Jane your third sister, but you don’t treat her as such: you should kiss her too.”

She pushed me towards him. I thought Diana very provoking, and felt uncomfortably confused; and while I was thus thinking and feeling, St. John bent his head; his Greek face was brought to a level with mine, his eyes questioned my eyes piercingly—he kissed me. There are no such things as marble kisses or ice kisses, or I should say my ecclesiastical cousin’s salute belonged to one of these classes; but there may be experiment kisses, and his was an experiment kiss. When given, he viewed me to learn the result; it was not striking: I am sure I did not blush; perhaps I might have turned a little pale, for I felt as if this kiss were a seal affixed to my fetters. He never omitted the ceremony afterwards, and the gravity and quiescence with which I underwent it, seemed to invest it for him with a certain charm.” Jane Eyre, chapter 34

Jane and Rochester kiss too many times to count- "He was taking off my shawl in the hall, and shaking the water out of my loosened hair, when Mrs. Fairfax emerged from her room. I did not observe her at first, nor did Mr. Rochester. The lamp was lit. The clock was on the stroke of twelve.

“Hasten to take off your wet things,” said he; “and before you go, good-night—good-night, my darling!”

He kissed me repeatedly. When I looked up, on leaving his arms, there stood the widow, pale, grave, and amazed. I only smiled at her, and ran upstairs. “Explanation will do for another time,” thought I." Jane Eyre, Chapter 23 (love the way the scene is framed by Mrs Fairfax as voyeur, emphasizing the delicious impropriety of what they are doing)

"but kiss me before you go—embrace me, Jane.”

“There, sir—and there!”’ ( after which she proceeds to kiss all his boo-boos which he got in the Thornfield fire.)- Jane Eyre, Chapter 37

[Pompey Bum]

Does Dracula count?

[MANICHAEAN]

You must remember this,
A kiss is just a kiss,
A bite is just a bite.
The world will always welcome lovers,
As time goes by.

[DATo]

As far as I can remember, no Jane Austen heroine kissed anyone, or was kissed by anyone, although it is possible that Elinor kissed Marianne or Elizabeth kissed Jane and I've forgotten about it. Certainly Elinor's relationship with Marianne is more romantic than any relationship involving Edward Ferrars or Colonel Branden.

Jane Austen, herself, had no personal experience of the, shall we say, physical aspects of romance. It would be worth a small fortune to any lover of good comedy to read Austen's description of Elisabeth and Darcy's wedding night.

It seems Jane's idea of eroticism is to be found in the estimation of a man's annual income and the size of his estate, which proves that even in the prudish world of Jane Austen, size DOES matter.

[MANICHAEAN]

My dear DATo, I'm sure there are thousands of dissertations that have been written on Jane Austen, but not from the unique perspective you have just advanced.
I look forward to you perhaps developing it into a Lit Net Short Story?

[Pompey Bum]

Jane Austen, herself, had no personal experience of the, shall we say, physical aspects of romance. It would be worth a small fortune to any lover of good comedy to read Austen's description of Elisabeth and Darcy's wedding night.

I finished Little Dorrit a few nights ago and had a similar thought about Arthur and Amy ("Now that's going to be one wild wedding night!" or something). There was some forehead smootching between them, with cheeks occasionally becoming involved (it's hard to avoid that sort of thing), but labial dalliance was strictly the sort of thing that Amy's slutty sister Fanny would have gotten up to; and even she may have been innocent for all Dickens tells us.

It's odd that unmarried Victorian women (in literature) could kiss each other's lips and enjoy God knows what other sorts of cuddlery, but that married men and women were barely allowed to walk life's steep incline arm in arm. I wonder how things really were.

[Ecurb]

Jane Austen, herself, had no personal experience of the, shall we say, physical aspects of romance. It would be worth a small fortune to any lover of good comedy to read Austen's description of Elisabeth and Darcy's wedding night.

It seems Jane's idea of eroticism is to be found in the estimation of a man's annual income and the size of his estate, which proves that even in the prudish world of Jane Austen, size DOES matter.

Nobody knows the extent of Austen's personal experience with sex. She was engaged (briefly) once, to a man with the unlikely name of Harris Bigg-Wither. In addition, many scholars think she had a romance with an unnamed suitor in the Navy. Jane's sister Cassandra destroyed all letters in which any details of this romance were mentioned to protect her deceased sister's reputation.

I agree, however, that any lover of good comedy would pay a small fortune to read Austen's description of Elizabeth and Darcy's wedding night. Any comedy lover would pay to read Austen's description of practically anything.

Austen's letters, by the way, include sexual jokes and puns, making some of her more prudish fans uncomfortable. It is likely that Cassandra burned other letters filled with double entendres and ribald jokes.

As far as whether Austen found wealth erotically exciting, it is true that some of her characters have a mercenary view of marriage. But we can hardly expect that Austen sympathizes with the opinions of Mrs. Bennet, General Tilney, or Lucy Steele. She does, after all, marry Lucy Steele off to Robert Ferrars, so Miss Steele becomes LuciFer(ars). This MIGHT provide a hint as to the extent to which Austen agrees with Lucy's attitude toward marriage.