The Story of Venus and Tannhauser

Sir Kenneth Clark once said that Aubrey Beardsley's drawings "positively suggested vice as a more interesting alternative." This idea is perfectly embodied in "The Story of Venus and Tannhauser," a short novel that combines Beardsley's fascination with abandoning oneself to sexual pleasure and his love of the artificial and exotic. A retelling of an old legend, the novel, left unfinished at Beardsley's death and completed by poet John Glassco in 1959, offers a witty and ingeniously decadent account of Tannhauser's visit to the glamorous pleasure palace of Venus. The unfinished work was first published in 1904 as "Under the Hill," a title also used for the 1959 completed version.