Preface<br > For years， 1 tried to avoid ~ting this book. If the choice had<br > been mine alone， ! would never have ~tten it. Recend)， however，<br > events beyond my control forced me into ~Titing it and forced me， in<br > the writing of itl to confront a moment that ranks high among the<br > unsettling moments of my life， the moment that， 1 think， marked the<br >end of ms overextended egocentric period and so， perhaps， the end of<br >my youtl~: the moment when l ]earned that my maternal grandparents<br >were involved in--virtually the creators of--the animated erotic<br >jewelr)， industry "<br > The discovery came--actually it was forced upon me bv two<br >informants--on the day of ms" grandmother s funeral， three" vears<br >after my grandfather had died. :Fhat morning， May Castle， ms" grand-<br >parents friend of longest standing， gave me a box~ inscribed to me in<br >my grandmother s hand. Inside the box were twenty-two pieces of<br >erotic jewelry and erotic sculpture. With them was an account， just a<br >few words， written by my grandmother， of my grandparents involve-<br >ment with erotic arts and crafts. I read it quickl)， breathlessl)， but I<br >had man) things to attend to that morning， and I didn t have much<br >time to think about what it meant before I left for the Episcopal<br >church， where the funeral sen ice was to be held.<br > Sitting in a pew at the church， half attending to the sen ice， I<br >began to consider ms" new knowledge. You can imagine ho~ it af-<br >fected me. It shook me. Not only had I never knowx， anything about<br >this interest of my grandparents ， but the whole notion was so far<br >removed from mv idea of them--their personalities， their interests，<br >their talents as I supposed 1 understood them--that ! couldn t even<br >imagine where it might fit. Eroticism， ! realized with some embarrass-<br >ment， had never played an important part in my mind s eve s version<br >of my grandparents; lives. Ho~ 1 had misjudged them! ! had belittled<br >them， diminished their lives in a way that I wouldn t have ~anted<br >[l]<br >tp oq~<br >，oud/~q ~<br >~nbun<br >d~I ~q.L，，<br ><br >