Polar Exploration Wins Bad Sex Award December 5, 2001 3:11 pm EST

LONDON (Reuters) - A description of an unwelcome seduction that compares it to a polar exploration has won one of Britain's least coveted literary prizes -- the Bad Sex in Fiction Award.

A steamy excerpt from Christopher Hart's second novel, "Rescue Me," topped all comers to win the ninth annual Literary Review prize for the year's worst fictional description of the sexual act.

Part of the winning passage from Hart's novel reads:

"Her hand is moving away from my knee and heading north. Heading unnervingly and with a steely will toward the pole... Ever northward moves her hand, while she smiles languorously at my right ear. And when she reaches the north pole, I think in wonder and terror -- she will surely want to pitch her tent."

Texan actress and model Jerry Hall, who recently starred as the seductive Mrs. Robinson in the London production of "The Graduate," presented Hart with the award at a ceremony Tuesday evening.

Last year's winner of the tongue-in-cheek prize was Sean Thomas, whose "Kissing England" included the passage: "Aiwa, aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwa aiwaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh."

-- Anonymous, December 08, 2001