Norman Mailer on Sex

“Guilt was the existential edge of sex. Without guilt, sex was meaningless. One advanced into sex against one’s sense of guilt, and each time guilt was successfully defied, one had learned a little more about the contractual relation of one’s own existence to the unheard thunders of the deep. Each time guilt herded one back with its authority, some primitive awe – hence some creative clue to the rages of the deep – was left to brood about.”