Polly Barton’s new work from the garlanded literary publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions is entitled Porn: An Oral History. This may come as a surprise to those familiar with her prize-winning debut, Fifty Sounds, a memoir of her study of the Japanese language and career as a literary translator. Barton is well aware that she may not seem the most qualified person to write a book about porn, let alone one with a title so boldly all-encompassing. In her introduction, she describes her initial, vague plans for a book of essays on the subject; then her thoughts of travelling to the San Fernando Valley to write a “journey of discovery”; then, finally, her decision to write an oral history focusing on “laypeople, and their experiences with and thoughts about porn”. Indeed, an oral history drawing not on a representative cross-section of porn users – Barton did not feel equipped for a “full-blown research project” – but, instead, a handful of friends.
“Rather than provide something with a claim to objectivity,” she writes, “a representation of the full range of thoughts and opinions or, heaven forbid, which attempted to locate some kind of ‘standard’ or majority position, I wanted with this book to set my sights on what it looked like to talk about these things.”
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