Exactly how steamy is this story?
G
We’ve got our violence and ruthlessness, whipping and human cruelty—even men in the basement, but we’re still left with a pretty un-steamy story.
Probably the raciest moment comes in Rainsford’s recognition that Zaroff is kinda hot, but even that doesn’t last long: “Rainsford's first impression was that the man was singularly handsome; his second was that there was an original, almost bizarre quality about the general's face” (1.57). Somehow the thrill of being hunted by a handsome aristocrat is lost on Rainsford as he sinks into quicksand or scrambles to put together a Malay mancatcher.