Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)

Studies - László Dányi: Interpretations of Sexuality in William Styron's Sophie's Choice

is that they express a ritual. This meaning of the words is completely new to Stingo. This background conversation is just a prelude, or a foreplay, or an introduction to something desired. It is like the foreplay before the fulfillment of sexual desire. For Stingo it was a "prelude, a preliminary feeling-out of mutual sensibilities in which the substance of what one said was less important than the putative authority with which one's words were spoken" (SC 151). Stingo realizes it is like a verbal game. In this verbal game almost all the conversational fragments start with "My analyst said...." (SC 151). Eventually it turns out that Leslie's repressed sexual desires are brought to the surface by uttering words that are connected to the sexual intercourse. Her analyst intended to liberate her sexuality by teaching her to pronounce these words. Although Stingo speaks about Leslie's analytic treatment ironically, because he expected more than just kissing, the treatment was successful. She learned to use her tongue for sex in two ways; speaking about sex and doing it. Stingo's disappointment comes from the fact that he expects words to mean what they mean. He thinks she means sexual intercourse when she mentions sexual intercourse. But for Leslie words have another function. Words can be speech acts, and words can substitute for actions. For her uttering the words 'fantastic...fucking'

(SC 205) is such a great achievement and enjoyment as a sexual intercourse in its physical sense could be for Stingo. The sexual intercourse remains a fantasy to Leslie. She can imagine other people doing it, but not her. She finds great fun in imagining historical figures making love. These images are revolts for her. It is like desecrating history or in other words to 'fuck' history, but only in words. These images do something to her, they satisfy her. She says, "I mean, doesn't it just do something to you to think of one of those ravishing girls with that crinoline all in a fabulous tangle, and one of those gorgeous young officers

—I mean, both of them fucking like crazy?" (SC 208). She reads Lady Chatterley's Lover, which gives her inspiration, but nothing more. The fantasies she has are not much different from Stingo's, since they do not go beyond autoeroticism. 45