Writers who were virgins

[BrainGlutton]

Come to think of it, Hitler (he did write a widely-read book) might or might not have ever had “sex” (depending on its definition) in his life. Historians are uncertain on that point.

And its probably just as well to let that uncertainty rest.

[from_a_to_z]

@Dr McChoakumchild

Another possibility is Alexander Pope. He suffered from Potts Disease and was physically deformed and apparently quite misanthropic and bitter.

According to A Letter from Mr Cibber to Mr Pope, as quoted in Frank Muir’s An Irreverent and Thoroughly Incomplete Social History of Almost Everything, Alexander Pope visited at least once a “house of carnal recreation”, where he was intimately acquainted with “a girl of the game”.

[cranston]

@jackelope

James wrote an essay about how, with the aid of imagination and a little knowledge of basic human nature, one can write convincingly about any topic under the sun.

I am afraid I agree with VS Naipaul: ‘How strange then, that James was unable to do so’. Sorry, couldn’t resist.

@jackelope

For more information on Henry James’s virginity, I recommend The Mystery of Henry James’s Testicles. (Actually I haven’t read it, but I recommend it anyway, because it recounts the horrifying and possibly apocryphal story of the James family jewels getting “punctured on a fence.”)

Interestingly - well, I’ll leave that for you to judge - a similar thing happened to Simon le Bon.

[Arnold_Winkelried]

I don’t really know one way or another, but from what little I know of Marcel Proust’s life I imagine that he might be a candidate.

[betenoir]

@Menocchio

Frankly, I have to raise an eyebrow at the suggestion that there’s a correlation between sexual expression and artistic ability. Outside of explicit erotica (you know when you’re feeling a woman’s breasts, and the feel like sand?), what can’t an observant virgin write about?

Most writers never experience a fraction of the things they write about. Dante may have gotten laid, for example, but he certainly never visited Hell.

:dubious:

Going to Hell is an act of the imagination. Which few people, Dante being on of them, have been able to pull off. Sex is a basic human experience and a communion with you’re fellow human. It goes way beyond feeling what a woman’s tits are like. Hopefully. There are things you can’t just observe.

Not to say virgins can’t write about the human experience.

[betenoir]

@BrainGlutton

And I wouldn’t be surprised if St. Paul (he counts as a writer, doesn’t he? in terms of readership, one of the most successful in human history) died a virgin.

I would be surprised if he did. Despite what he said about marriage, and sex, in his old age (after his conversion) he was a good Jewish boy before that and I don’t see how he could have risen in the Hebrew hierachy not being married with a bunch of rugrats.

[Annie-Xmas]

I’m the first to mention Helen Keller?

[Bippy_the_Beardless]

Anais Nin
Doh!

[Rodgers01]

Alright, with all the talk here of Jane Austen being a virgin, I just gotta post this.