Dear Student Who Didn't Do the Required Reading,

My wife and I have been discussing the difference between pornography and literature, and can come up with no consensus. I believe that purely sexual scenes can be given the proper credentials to be art, and she argues that without well-defined characters and human interaction, artistic inclusion is lost. Can you recommend any texts that may be able to shine some light on our debate?

Sincerely,
Scholarly in Saskatchewan

Dear Scholarly,

Not necessarily, but one good book I've read lately is Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller. It's a really good novel because it was written in 1934, the same year as the Great Dust Bowl, and helped to change American views on the French during World War II. Henry Miller wanted to write a book that would show France in a more positive light, but it was banned because the government (like president Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt) didn't respect the French until after the war. France is described as a tropical paradise, and the escape of reading is like taking a vacation to Cancun or other beautiful destinations. It's not just a vacation though, the plot arises when the main character is found to have melanoma from the sunny Riviera. His chemotherapy causes him to be very hungry all the time, but luckily there is plenty of food and women who pity him have sex with him. So, because of this book a lot of people fled to France to escape the Great Depression. I can recommend this book not only for you, but if you two decide to have children its a good way to teach them about other fascinating parts of the world.