Novels with man wrestling with brothel habit

July 27, 2006 7:19 PM

Novels in which a character (preferably main character) goes frequently to the whorehouse and has difficulty controlling this habit?

Any fictional genre.

posted by amusem to Society & Culture (21 answers total)

Not really a problem, but "The World According to Garp" ceratinly applies.
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:22 PM on July 27, 2006

Not a novel, but rather a play, but in The Iceman Cometh, one of the characters spends all his money on a particular prostitute. I think it ruins his marriage and causes some other trouble. Been a while since I read it, so I don't remember the details.
posted by gauchodaspampas at 7:24 PM on July 27, 2006

Catch-22, in a fashion.
posted by Khalad at 7:28 PM on July 27, 2006

Cryptonomicon.
posted by pompomtom at 7:48 PM on July 27, 2006

Memories of my Melancholy Whores. (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
posted by buxtonbluecat at 7:50 PM on July 27, 2006

"The Good Earth" by Pearl Buck

second time I've mentioned this classic book on AxMe in a week
posted by found missing at 8:00 PM on July 27, 2006

Michael Moorcock's melancholy meditation on WWI, "The Brothel in Rosenstrasse," might be of interest. It's not exactly what you are asking for but comes from the same space, i think.
posted by mwhybark at 8:04 PM on July 27, 2006

Not a novel, but the chapter/ss "Revolver" in Spider Callahan's Callahan's Lady revolves around a man who... augments... himself surgically and needs to satisfy 6 times the libido of a normal man.

Huh, I wonder if this works...?
posted by porpoise at 8:09 PM on July 27, 2006

Response by poster: Yes it works porpoise. I got three pages. Definitely on topic.

Essays dealing with the subject I would also find interesting.
posted by amusem at 8:56 PM on July 27, 2006

Lonesome Dove... kinda?
posted by starman at 9:05 PM on July 27, 2006

After reading this post I read The Crimson Petal and the White, which includes this theme. Good book.
posted by tdtd at 9:11 PM on July 27, 2006

Leopold Bloom visits a brothel in Ulysses, although I can't remember if it bothers him much.
posted by argybarg at 9:49 PM on July 27, 2006

Chuck Palanuik's "Choke" kinda fits the bill.
posted by Windigo at 10:14 PM on July 27, 2006

Not the main character, but Adam's brother Charles in East of Eden.
posted by liverbisque at 10:49 PM on July 27, 2006

Radix, by A.A. Attanasio.
posted by sourwookie at 11:25 PM on July 27, 2006

Cryptonomicon.

Yes, that one.

Chuck Palanuik's "Choke" kinda fits the bill.

Kinda, but no whorehouses.
posted by ludwig_van at 12:23 AM on July 28, 2006

William T. Vollmann has written a good deal about prostitutes & their clients, from his essay/strory Ladies and Red Lights in the Rainbow Stories; through Whores for Gloria and The Butterfly Stories to The Royal Family.
posted by misteraitch at 1:28 AM on July 28, 2006

Thomas Wolfe's "Look Homeward, Angel."
posted by enrevanche at 4:22 AM on July 28, 2006

Surprised nobody's mentioned Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The protagonist loses his virginity to a lady of the night, and returns often. He has a crisis of faith (Irish Catholic, natch), and eventually gives up "the sins of the flesh." But as far as difficulty controlling the habit, this is a perfect example.
posted by gettingpaidforthis at 7:11 AM on July 28, 2006

My diary. ZING!
posted by rileyray3000 at 11:04 AM on July 28, 2006

love in the time of cholera (gabriel garcia marquez)
posted by pinto at 11:49 AM on July 28, 2006