Story of O

Rating:
Summary: Vol.3 goes beyond the original work.
Review: This,the third volume of Guido Crepax's illustrated series of books based on the classic "Story of O", goes beyond the original work. It relates the Story of O, obviously after her return to the chateau. At this point in her life, she seems to be using her sensuality and what she has learned with Sir Stephen to target and destroy certain individuals, apparently for hire. This is not as good a book as either the original text version, or his two other illustrated volumes, although it is good enough that those who enjoyed the others will probably like this one. More Crepax than Reage, and it shows. Finally, this volume appears to anticipate the "New Story of O", which has recently been published.

Rating:
Summary: some history
Review: when i first read it i was a young teen-ager and it had a profound influence on me. yes i am male, and yes the debasement and torture of O aroused me greatly, but it also had a deep spiritual effect which is difficult to explain. i won't apologize for, try to justify, or write a disclaimer for this book. neither will i speculate as to whether it is pornography or literature, as surely these are not mutually exclusive. nor will i offer the fact that the book was written by a woman (it was) as its justification, as it is better served without any, and because theorizing about the significance of this fact is usually just political point scoring of one sort or other. but what i will do is offer up a little bit of history to dispel some of the misinformation i have seen in other reviews, and then of course my own opinion which is the point of writing a reviews is it not?

in 1994 Dominique Aury (which wasn't even her real name, but yet another pseudonym), a prominent french literary figure and editor finally admitted to having written the book. she wrote it over several months every night in pencil instead of ink, so as not to stain the sheets of her bed where she lay writing. she didn't write any first drafts, did no editing, and every few days sent what she had written to her lover, the French writer and editor Jean Paulhan. he slept around and she wanted to arouse him and keep him interested; it worked.

the novel was published in 1954 under the pseudonym Pauline Reage as a homage to Pauline Borghese and the 19th-century feminist/socialist Pauline Rolan. there was much ado about the book when it was published of course, with bannings and burnings in the U.S. and Britain especially. it was exclaimed that it had to be the work of a man, which just made Dominique laugh. like O, she was deeply in love with Paulhan. she was fascinated by his ability to marvel at both the most terrible and awful, as well as the most cheerful and beautiful things. is the book about spiritual transcendence, or the 'basest' of debauchery? yes of course, it is both of these things. but most of all, in my opinion, it is about affirmation, in the Nietzscheian sense of an 'amor fati', total abandonment and laughter in the face of death and pain, as well as love and joy; a love and respect for the eternal contradictions of life. Dominique once repeated the well known saying that a leopard never changes it's spots, and added something to the effect of: "that we should just let her go with her contradictions". and so we should.