What a shame nobody bothered to respond to this thread. That said, though, the sad fact seems to be that really good "erotic novels" are scarce. I can add a scant handful here and I could hope that others have had better success finding works that fill the bill. Lady Chatterley's Lover - by D. H. Lawrence - an unquestioned classic although perhaps tame by today's standards A Rose in the Banyan Tree - by Richard Hislop - a young English wife stumbles into a Tantric cult in India - this is rather well done A Woman of Bangkok - by Jack Reynolds - a borderline case, don't know that it is really erotic, but a fascinating tale of the downfall of a naive young Englishman at the hands of a Thai professional There are thousands of "erotic novels' badly-written that consist largely of boring repetitions of sexual plumbing and pipefitting, without an adequate foundation of setting, character, circumstance and plot. There are also mainstream novels with a strongly erotic element, as for example John Fowles' The Magus. Of course there's Fifty Shades of Grey but I haven't read it as I understand it's mostly S&M stuff, which has little appeal for me. Can anyone else make some additions and recommendations? This is a longstanding bee in my own bonnet.
One more for the list: Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen - Quirky and strange but definitely within the genre.
My books will probably never become classics, but I do try to write erotic fiction with at least some arguable literary merit, and an "adequate foundation of setting, character, circumstance and plot." You can search for them on the Mags Inc. website <www.magsinc.com>, author Dulci Daily, if you're interested.