What is lust? Lust is "a strong feeling of sexual desire", or "a strong desire for something" ("Lust." 1). The short story "Lust" was created by American Novelist and Short Story writer Susan Minot and published as a part of her book Lust & Other Stories in 1989 (Feed Your Need To Read. 1; Wikipedia. 1). "Lust" is a literary work which is written in a first person narration. It is about the un-named woman's brief sexual encounters with fifteen plus men while she is away at boarding school for her high school years. Even a sexual encounter with a man whose name she did not know. She portrays lust as being selfish, and opposed to love. She also highlights the dysfunction and disconnection she feels after her sexual encounters with the men she is sexually involved with (Minot. 381-389). Sociohistorical critique "focuses largely on issues related to the social movements and beliefs prevalent when a piece of literature was written." In addition, it focuses on "major events" in history that may have influenced a "cultural change" when a piece of literature was written ("Schools of Literary Criticism." A-42 – A-43). The social and historical events that took place during Susan's childhood may have had an influence on her work since she was born during a time of cultural change and the sexual revolution. .
Susan Minot was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 7, 1956. She grew up in Manchester, Massachusetts and was the second of seven children. Her parents sent her to boarding school at the Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts (Feed Your Need To Read. 1; Wikipedia. 1). In possible relation to Susan's own life, in her story "Lust" the female un-named narrator (main character) talks about the "Casey Academy" and says "parents never really know what's going on, especially when you 're away at school most of the time" (Minot.
