Story of O Paperback – May 8, 1998

Histoire d'O (Story of O) is among the most misunderstood books ever written. Most people, and most tragically, women, regard the book as a specimen of 1950's period porn, and read it accordingly. They are members of the same group of compact slappers who spent most of their humanities classes dreaming about the romantic encounter they never would have, but to comfort themselves, in the end convince themselves that they did. They know little of western culture, less of their own cultural memory, have never read a lick of Sade or Nietzsche, the two great shapers of the late modern mindset from which the book emerged.Let's simplify. To this day, no one knows who Pauline Re'age is. Despite the enormous success of the book, she has never appeared in public. Even the publisher has claimed to have never met the author! Now, if we remove the Parisian "e' " from the the name - what do we have? RAGE.And that is exactly what Story of O is - a testament to 12,000 years of the most vile abuse ever perpetrated on one being by another, the history of man's brutal treatment of women, how men manipulate women to turn their own natural sexual inclination in upon themselves, to devalue, debase, and eventually destroy themselves. All O's lover (hater), Rene, has to do is mention those three "magic" words "I love you", and conditioned over millennia of patriarchal madness, she will submit to anything, even death itself.Story of O is the original post-modern feminist tract, the most powerful and passionate ever penned, with juxtaposed congeries of images benign and maleficent in such rapid fire presentation that acquiesence to the magisterial and deeply tragic nature of the work cannot be denied.

I must admit, after hearing about all the awards and literary accolades "The Story of O" has gotten, I was expecting it to be more compelling.The (several!) forewords in the book helped it to feel underwhelming. While the book's publisher and a later literary critic describe it as a "mystical" work (and I can see how it easily could have been!), O's internal monologue is so completely absent as to make it impossible for the book to earn that description.The closest thing I saw to a "spiritual transformation" was a gradual increase in comfort with the sex acts she's subjected to. I didn't see enough of her inner life - as distinct from her fairly simple outward behaviors and her very few words - for this book to do anything resembling "changing the way I think," as some readers have described it.Granted, this book may very well have been transformative in the era it was written. Seminal works in any genre often end up suffering from their own success by spawning dozens of other books which execute their premises and aesthetics with progressively more skill as the decades pass. It's possible that as of the date of publication, the mere public discussion of acts and characters like these was so revolutionary as to change the way many people think.But to my modern eyes, it was lacking in both its coverage of O's inner journey and quite frankly in the sex appeal. I can see, at least, what the publisher means when he says that the author's writing style is "decent" - many opportunities for explicit detail that might add to modern readers 'enjoyment were left offscreen.It's worth a read if you are interested in the history of dark erotica, as this book in many ways provides the blueprint followed by huge numbers of wildly popular modern creators. But the first iteration of a thing is rarely the best, and I doubt the reader will find this book either more enlightening or sexier than modern examples of the genre.

I’m trying to keep this brief, without revealing too much… The Story of O is a remarkable piece of literature, layered with meaning at every turn.Behind the erotic veil lies a powerful psychological substrate, one that explores trauma theory, dissociation, and survival-based identity. On the surface, it may appear to be an erotic novel, but in truth, it is far more than that.This is a story about identity engineered through servitude. About survival constructed not through self-recognition, but through the gaze of the “other”, the kind of recognition that quietly insists, “If you’re pleased, I exist.”The Story of O is a cautionary tale of what happens when desire collides with the demand for erasure. It is about how far a person will go to preserve meaning when that meaning has become fused with pain, submission, and the need to be chosen.Warning: It may evoke strong, possibly disturbing feelings.

Titillating at times, confusing and bereft of details at other times but by and large an enjoyable read. The ending is not even what I would call a cliffhanger, just unresolved; although, I have heard of some type of sequel so I may look for it to see if it offers any sense of closure. There is an excellent article I read about the author that includes an interview with her that gives better insight into the book, I will try to locate it and paste it here asap.