In search of Dominique Aury

I wrote the story of O (Geraldine Bedell, The Observer, 25/7/04). I read this article on The Age last Saturday.

I first read The Story of O and The Story of O II (more on this later) when I was young, probably during the early 1980s. The Story of O is indeed a classic in erotica. The Story of O II, which I bought and read shortly afterwards, was a major disappointment, although the author had already warned in the preface that "The pages that follow are a sequel to Story of O. They deliberately suggest the degradation of that work, and cannot under any circumstances be integrated into it"

I later learnt (probably after reading The Good Ship Venus, a book on the Olympia Press) that Pauline Reage was a pseudonym and that it was written by a women, not a man as many speculated. But I really had no interest in knowing who actually wrote it. I always believe that a reader should read the book and not bother with the author.

But reading this article on The Observer was of interest to me in the sense that now I know that the "sequel" was not published shortly afterward, was not published as The Story of O II, and was essentially a discarded chapter of the original.


(Added 2013-4-8: The Story of the Story of O (Carmela Ciuraru, Guernica, 2011-6-15) | Anne Desclos (Wikipedia))