I figured I had kept her from being too depressed after fucking--it's hard for a girl with any force in her and any brains to accept the whole thing of fucking, of being fucked without trying to turn it on its end, so that she does some fucking, or some fucking up; I mean, the mere power of arousing the man so he wants to fuck isn't enough; she wants him to be willing to die in order to fuck. There's a kind of strain or intensity women are bred for, as beasts, for childbearing when childbearing might kill them, and child rearing when the child might die at any moment: it's in women to live under that danger, with that risk, that close to tragedy, with that constant taut or casual courage. They need death and nobility near. To be fucked when there's no drama inherent in it, when you're not going to rise to a level of nobility and courage forever denied the male, is to be cut off from what is inherently female, bestially speaking. . Harold Brodkey
About This Quote

In this passage from his book, The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James talks about a woman who is a master at a masculine action, a woman who is capable of rising above the "natural" level of a man. She is seen as female, but she is also seen as masculine, as it takes a lot of strength to be able to remain strong and not be swept away by the physical pleasure of sex. The story line is that Mr. James tries to make it look as if his wife does not feel the same way as he does about women, but in reality she loves all women, and she can even make it look as if she does not enjoy sex.

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