HYDE PARK — The “Kamasutra” gets a bad rap as a 2,000-year-old sex manual, and a University of Chicago professor is ready to explain that it’s much more.
Wendy Doniger, a professor of the history of religions at the university, will explain at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Seminary Cooperative Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave., how the “Kamasutra” is about much more than sex.
Doniger’s new book, “Redeeming the Kamasutra,” explores the oft overlooked portions of the text that deal with etiquette, including how to handle post-coital conversation, arts as varied as poetry and how to mix perfumes and the employment of discretion and patience when managing one’s affairs, particularly adulterous affairs.
She delves into some of the text’s more enlightened views to modern readers about role-playing, female sexuality and homosexual desire. But she also grapples with the the darker sides of love when passion and violence intersect.
The event is free and open to the public.
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