Introduction
"Anything Goes" by the young English "mod" writer Alistair Morley was originally published in London. Its completely frank depiction of the compulsive sex orgies of a neurotic married man-about-town resulted in a prompt ban being placed on the book in England as well as Paris.
However the dramatic skill with which the author handled a host of psychological aberrations and various sexual curiosa in respect to the book's leading character gave it real literary value to collectors of "avante garde" erotica. It is one of the first modern books to have touched on abnormalities previously found in clinical textbooks for psychiatric students only. It is also one of the first to have touched on the previously taboo subject of negro and white physical intercourse.
Although there is an unusual variety of sex action in numerous exotic situations, it should be realized that' the author is bascially showing us a group of frustrated individuals blindly seeking to solve their problems.
"And", in the words of the famed psychoanalyst, O. Wernicke, "the neurotic rarely realizes the true nature of the subconscious complexes which impel him to his perverse sex acts.
"I was told by a well-known business man, 'Doctor, I am ashamed to tell you this, but I have a very nasty habit which I find it impossible to resist. You know how fond I am of animals and especially ponies. Well for years while riding in the country, I became obsessed with the desire to have inntercourse with my pony. Somtimes, with much effort, I can control this, but on a number of occasions I was simply unable to! He then told me that afterwards he would beat the horse until his arm became stiff.
After the beating, he was unable to ride the horse.
"A full analysis of the case is out of the question here. Briefly, the horse was identified with his father and with his mother's dog, which his father used to beat when he was drunk. The attacks of intercourse with the pony always represented a definite episode from the past when he was enraged at his father and wished to stab him. After these attacks the patient always experienced an intense depression during which he thought of suicide. ..."
So too, do the characters of "Anything Goes" run the gamut of one sex orgy after another. It is for the reader himself to determine whether these taboo sex adventures are productive of true ipsight into the existing psychosexual dilemmas of the book's characters.
Continental Classics presents "Anything Goes" in its complete and unexpurgated version. The publishers recommend this book only for the mature adult reader, because of the nature of its subject matter.
Allan Saunders, M.A. New York City February; 1968