Vox was published by Random House in 1992. The novel consists entirely of a telephone conversation between two strangers — Jim and Abby — who have connected through a phone-sex service. Over the course of the conversation, they describe their fantasies, recount sexual experiences, and gradually achieve orgasm together.
Baker applies the same microscopic attention he gave to shoelaces and escalators to sexual arousal: the precise physical sensations, the role of language in creating excitement, the interplay between fantasy and reality, the strange intimacy of voice without bodies. The novel is genuinely erotic — not euphemistic, not pornographic, but attentive to the mechanics of desire in a way that literary fiction rarely attempts.
Vox became notorious in 1998 when it was reported that Monica Lewinsky had given a copy to President Clinton. The association was unfortunate for Baker — it reduced a formally inventive novel to a punchline. Separated from the scandal, Vox is an experiment in constraint (one conversation, two voices, no physical contact) that demonstrates how language creates reality: Jim and Abby’s words produce real pleasure, real intimacy, and something approaching real connection — all without bodies ever meeting.
Collecting Vox
First edition (Random House, New York, 1992): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $30–$80
- Very good/very good: $15–$30
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation. The infamous phone-sex novel.
Two Strangers Talking
Vox (1992) is a novel consisting entirely of a phone-sex conversation between a man and a woman who have never met. Baker renders the conversation with the same obsessive precision he brings to escalators and shoelaces, and the result is simultaneously funny, arousing, and deeply human. The novel became notorious when it was reported that Monica Lewinsky had given a copy to President Clinton. The publicity made it Baker’s best-selling book, though it had already been well-reviewed as a virtuosic performance within severe formal constraints.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this pornography? Baker would say no — it is a novel about desire, imagination, and the human voice, rendered with literary craft. The distinction matters: Vox is interested in the psychology and comedy of sexual fantasy, not merely in arousal. It is explicitly sexual but never merely explicit.