50 Shades Of Class

Henry (Valentine) Miller, Tropic of Cancer (1934)

Considered a masterpiece of American literature, Tropic of Cancer was initially banned in the United States and led to obscenity trials in the 1960s. Taking place in Paris and mixing fact and fiction, its unvarnished sexual language paved the way for future American writers. The novel centers around an impoverished writer and his life and erotic encounters with other bohemians—including sex with a minor, homosexual desires, and passionate affairs with women, one of which is based on Miller’s real-life affair with Anaïs Nin.