Children Quote by A.S. Byatt
““Things had changed between them nevertheless. They were children of a time and culture which mistrusted love, 'in love', romantic love, romance in toto , and which nevertheless in revenge proliferated sexual language, linguistic sexuality, analysis, dissection, deconstruction, exposure. They were theoretically knowing: they knew about phallocracy and penisneid, punctuation, puncturing and penetration, about polymorphous and polysemous perversity, orality, good and bad breasts, clitoral tumescence, vesicle persecution, the fluids, the solids, the metaphors for these, the systems of desire and damage, infantile greed and oppression and transgression, the iconography of the cervix and the imagery of the expanding and contracting Body, desired, attacked, consumed, feared.””
About This Quote
The passage describes a couple navigating a culture that distrusts romantic love, yet they are immersed in complex sexual and linguistic analysis, exposing deep desires and contradictions.
In simple terms: They confront cultural mistrust of love through intense sexual‑linguistic exploration.
Key Takeaway
Explore how cultural narratives shape intimacy.
Themes
love
culture
sexuality
Mood
analytical
introspective
Type
literary
philosophical
When to use this quote
- relationship counseling
- academic study of sexuality
- creative writing
Key Concepts
philosophy of language
desire theory
post‑structuralism
Questions to Reflect On
- How does language shape our experience of love?
- Can analysis replace feeling?
A Different Perspective
It may romanticize intellectual analysis over emotional experience.
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