The novel is engrossed with sexual tension. Repressed and naive Persse determined to preserve his virginity until marriage ends up falling in love with the sexually Devine Angelica Pabst at his first academic conference. …show more content…
Persse turned on him fiercely. 'Knockers? Knockers? Why in the name of God call them that? Dempsey backed away slightly. 'Steady on. What would you call them, then? I would call them... I would call them... twin domes of her body's temple,' said Persse. Christ, you really are a poet, aren't you?" (10)
Persse’s sexual awkwardness of the opposite sex is a challenge he tries to overcome throughout the novel. He must embark into the world of pornography in order to pursue whom he thinks to be his beloved. An older virgin is depicted as choosing this lifestyle because of the perceived ill effects marriage has had on colleagues' careers. For Persse his work provides him with a release that is the equivalent to sex. In the novel, married characters exhibit a loss of sexual interest with their spouses (although a couple continues having sex for its therapeutic value and several do it almost impersonally for relief, while thinking of other people). Several adulteries are depicted, most in the context of foreign travel to conferences, where traditional mores are stripped away and even intellectual