9 hours ago
3
A few days ago I finished Sublimate by an Australian J.M. Tolcher, an Australian author and since then I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
It’s a short story and the whole gist is that Tolcher attempts to write the entire thing without cumming, effectively channeling his sexual energy into his creative process. It sounded like a gimmick (it worked because I bought and I only picked it up because the cover is essentially porn) before it unfolded into something deeper: a meditation on repression, control/power structures.
It's written in second person, which is weird intimate. You’re placed directly inside a psychological experiment, which is sometimes jarring. Tolcher draws on Freud and Balzac (who apprently said “there goes another novel” after he orgasmed) and others, but these references never feel contrived imo. Instead, the book itself lives the theories at its core—form, tone, and structure to explore them from within.
What I found most compelling was how the book reframes the libido—not just as a private force, but as a political device—a current that shapes social repression, power structures, and even the functioning of government. It should be noted that it approaches everything from an explicitly queer perspective, which feels fresh without falling into gay cliches. Did I mention it’s explicit!
I’m curious if anyone else has read it yet (it only just came out)—or knows of other books that explore the connections between sex, psychology, and creative constraint in similar ways? I'm not super well read, but I'm not aware of anything similar.
If I'm honest, I think I need to re-read it high.
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