Yeah, that whole part of the story was extremely disturbing. But I can think of a few other works from that period and even earlier that were pretty racy. Mandingo, originally published in 1957, was a runaway best-seller despite (or because of?) material that would have sent Victorian censors into frenzies; and it spawned a huge number of sequels and copycat novels. Image of the Beast, published in 1968, and The Sentinel, published in 1974, are two other examples just from works I've read that had very disturbing scenes. The Sentinel was made into a film in 1977 (including some of the racy material), and Mandingo in 1975.
I kind of get a sense that parts of American culture became much more reserved in the 1980s & early 1990s compared to the late 1960s & the 1970s, in terms of what was considered over-the-line for popular fiction. But I didn't live through those times, so don't really know.
I kind of get a sense that parts of American culture became much more reserved in the 1980s & early 1990s compared to the late 1960s & the 1970s, in terms of what was considered over-the-line for popular fiction. But I didn't live through those times, so don't really know.