Dear Mr.Jakubowski,
Good afternoon.
Thank you very much for your prompt and courteous response to my phone call this morning. It's a heady experience being able to talk to you and get your permission to send a publishing project to you for your guidance and possible participation.


This project is inspired by, among other sources, your conception of erotica as demonstrated in The Mammoth Book of Erotica and encapsulated in your assertion that "Erotic writing at its best [transcends] pornography". It has plenty of sex, but it also embodies people's "feelings, imagination and a radiant sense of discovery of the joys that flesh can bring".


It is also inspired by the words of the pornographic actor, Lexington Steele, in an interview at http://www.getbig.com/iview/steele040315.htm where he describes how his work as a dedicated pornographic actor leads him to a creative flexibility in his spiritual life.



The project explores the issues thrown up by your evocation of the delights of the senses in relation to sexuality and by Steele's description of himself as a professional fornicator who interprets his life as a prostitute in terms of divine guidance.



The project explores these questions by juxtaposing evocations of the senses and the flesh as obstacles to an enlightened or spiritual life with those that celebrate the senses and sexuality, particularly in relation to philosophical and spiritual issues.



The texts would be drawn from almost, if not every, era and location known to history. They would move from ancient Africa to Asia to the modern West.



These juxtapositions would be made further provocative by being placed alongside images of graphic sexuality, often pornographic, which not only celebrate the body but seek to inflame the senses through the artful depiction of sexuality.



I'm using a blog as a workshop or pilot for this project. I see the project as consisting of a blog and a book complementing each other. The blog would provide regular, perhaps daily updates in a medium that would enable a broader range of accessibility to the materials than a book could. It would provide links to the sources of the texts and images used. It would also allow for reader participation in a manner that books cannot, through comments links where readers can leave their comments. The blog would also enable a level of global accessibility of the book's subject matter that could be channelled into greater demand for the book. An aspect of the project, which I am considering placing in the book too, would be my plan of enabling links to commentaries provided by me, to the texts and images, reflecting on their significance in relation to the theme of the project.



The book, on the other hand, would provide an ergonomic comfort that a computer cannot provide. The lure of the computer or of even a handheld computing device still cannot replace the sheer pleasure of holding a book.



The blog is at www.exploringdecadence.blogspot.com . A Google search finds it easily.



I see this project as providing a bridge between what could be described as the low brow appeal of porn and the highbrow satisfaction provided by classic writings which denigrate or celebrate the sensual and the erotic. It would therefore attract readers by appealing to different sides of human nature.



I can have the first full demonstration of the project ready in one month or less.



Thank you.

Toyin Adepoju.