I first read the classic erotic novel The Story of O in the summer of 1999 during hours worked in the basement computer lab of my college library. Obsessed with knowing the thoughts of like-minded readers at the time, I printed out the entirety of Amazon's customer comments on the classic title. I just found the print-outs yesterday while looking for another part of my collection, an article from The New Yorker magazine, that appears below. As for the comments, they are dated March 3 1997 - August 9 1999. I haven't reread them yet, but I can see a follow-up post coming soon if there is anything of interest. Imagine! The thoughts of fellow readers, some surely with a spanking obsession much like ourselves, and the voices they used in 1999! This discovery feels historical. I can't wait to dig through these pieces of internet, literary, and bdsm history.
The article that appears here in 9 photographs (please use the enlarge feature on your device) is also from the basement of my college library. As a bibliophile, I know better than to destroy or steal library property. As a young woman blossoming into her sexual identity, I carefully removed the article from both the magazine and its rightful library home. So spank me. Smiley face!
"The Unmasking of O" by John De St. Jorre delves into the heart and secret life of Dominique Aury, the woman behind the nom de plume Pauline Reage. It also features the art of Guido Crepax from the 1975 graphic novel adaptation of Story of O, which I am regretful is not part of my collection, as it is no longer in print and is now a collector's item in its various printed productions. The article, originally printed in 1994, is worth the read.
A third piece from my collection that I will share today is a new find. We went out smut hunting yesterday - thrift and used bookstore shopping for treasures, and this was amongst our spoils. The 1959 edition that appears at the top of this post is from another such day of erotic questing. The new one is fantastic! It's a printing from 1967 by Collectors Publications in California, who interestingly claim the motion picture rights on the copyright page (see below). This porn is ours! This one includes a Preface that reads like a carnival barker announcing the prizes that lie within these pages: "THE STORY OF O is a tragic, sick love tale. It is a story of man's inhumanity to man. O does not necessarily typify womankind. What she does epitomize is shown by her name - O, meaning, cipher, zero, NOTHING." It screams trailer for an exploitation film or circus ringleader announcing the next act. Later editions insist upon a sort of sanctity, a respect to both the woman who wrote it and its place in the annals of erotica. This one delights in its tragic salaciousness.
Also of note is the back panel of the book - an advertisement for the complete collected and unabridged eleven volumes My Secret Life, which many of us know now as a single volume, My Secret Life - An Erotic Diary of Victorian London. I would love to get my hands on these individual volumes! The more erotica on our shelves the better.
