Aretines. An ancestor of sorts to The Joy of Sex, Sonnetti Lus- suriosi (1524) was written by Pietro Aretino (1492–1556). The book was a collection of verses and erotic drawings showing positions of sexual intercourse and became an underground fa- vorite in Europe for centuries. Many courtesans were so proud to have slept with Aretino that they called themselves Aretines. But others hated the satirist—one critic wrote this mock epitaph: Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino Who evil spoke of everyone but God, Giving as his excuse, “I never knew him.” |