6. Story Of O - Pauline Reage
Highly influential BDSM flavoured erotic fare, Story of O was written by Anne Desclos under the pseudonym Pauline Reage, she did not reveal her true identity for several decades and she disclosed that the book was written to her lover Jean Paulhan, who admired the Marquis de Sade. Although it must be said, Story of O comes across as a Mills and Boon book compared to anything de Sade ever produced. The book details the trials of O, a beautiful French fashion photographer who is trained to be ready for oral, anal and vaginal sex whenever she is required for it. She endures being tied up and whipped among various other perversions. This is thanks to her lover René who takes her to a chateau where she is trained to serve the members of an elite club. René gives her to Sir Stephen, a stronger master. René wants her to serve a man she doesn't love and who doesn't love her. Of course, O falls in love with Sir Stephen. He sends her to an advanced submission training facility where she gets her labia pierced as a mark of Sir Stephen's ownership of her. René encourages O to seduce Jacqueline - a stuck up fashion model - into the ways of submission. Jacqueline is horrified by O's scarred body, but O looks upon herself with pride. At the end of the book, O is wearing nothing but an owl mask and a chain to her vaginal piercing. She is being offered up to a group of people as an object. Story of O has been captivating and scandalising readers ever since it was first published. It won a prestigious award in France in 1955 but the authorities prosecuted the publisher for obscenity. Desclos' lover Paulhan had told her that a woman couldn't write like the Marquis de Sade and he is right. Story of O is an impressive erotic achievement but it isn't particularly Sadean - there is too much emphasis on love and romantic feelings. De Sade didn't do love, his victims normally do not like being degraded and are forced into it against their will. And there is a total lack of romance in his work. However, Desclos' book is more erotically exciting than de Sade's work because what goes on is consensual and it lacks the worst excesses of depravity that de Sade chronicled. The book was made into a glossy softcore porn movie by Just Jaecklin that was tastefully kinky and looked beautiful. A BDSM classic that will appeal to both sexes.