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After
I bought the Mayfair books, I was interested in reading more of Anne
Rice's
books. Vampires really didn't grab
me at the time but erotica did. It turned out Anne Rice had written
some high quality
porn in the mid 1980's and I was
interested.
I went to the bookstore at the University and bought Exit to Eden and Belinda. I had seen Exit to Eden
when it was made into a movie but I
wasn't really surprised to discover that the book wasn't a comedy. I
read through it
and later on, bought the three
Beauty books. They were the most dazzling erotica I had ever read, well
written, polished,
and the combination served to
enhance the pleasure.
See below for descriptions of the erotic tales of Anne Rice
As Anne Rampling:
Exit to Eden: (Dell Mass Market
Second Edition, October 1989): "We all dream
of the forbidden but some of us make those dreams come true."
In
her best-selling "Vampire" books, Anne
Rice daringly exposes the erotic
link between fear and desire while Lestat and Rice's other charismatic
"blood drinkers" draw
us, irresistibly, to the dark side
of ourselves.
With the same mystery, menace, and intensity,
Exit to Eden continues to explore the forbidden by taking us to The Club, a vacation paradise where no aspect of sexual
pleasure is taboo. And just as The Story of O shocked the sixties by speaking aloud what had only been whispered,
Exit to Eden gives voice to the sexual secrets of this decade...looking boldly at those who enslave themselves for
love and those who love only to be enslaved
Belinda:
(Jove
Edition, May 1988): Belinda is the ultimate
fantasy. A golden-haired object of
desire, fresh and uninhibited. But to Jeremy Walker, a handsome and
famous
44-year-old illustrator of
children's books, Belinda is a forbidden passion. She's sweet sixteen -
and the most seductive
woman he's ever known. Bewitching,
beguiling...
As A. N. Roquelaure:
The
Erotic Adventures of Sleeping Beauty
Vol. I, II and III (Plume, 1983, 1984, 1985; November 1990 eds)
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty:
In the traditional folk tale
of "Sleeping Beauty," the spell cast upon the lovely young princess and
everyone in her
castle can only be broken by the
kiss of a Prince. It is an ancient story, one that originally emerged
from and still
deeply disturbs the mind's
unconsciousness. Now Anne Rice's retelling of the Beauty story probes
the unspoken implications
of this lush, suggestive tale by
exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince
awakens Beauty,
not with a kiss, but with sexual
initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is
Beauty's complete
and total enslavement to him...
Beauty's
Punishment: This
sequel to The Claiming of Sleeping
Beauty, the first of Anne Rice's
elegantly written volumes of erotica, continues her explicit, teasing
exploration of the
psychology of human desire. Now
Beauty, having indulged in a secret and forbidden infatuation with the
rebellious slave
Prince Tristan, is sent away from
the Satyricon-like world of the Castle. Sold at auction, she will soon
experience
the tantalizing punishments of "the
village," as her education in love, cruelty, dominance, submission, and
tenderness is
turned over to the brazenly handsome
Captain of the Guard. And once again Rice's fabulous tale of pleasure
and pain
dares to explore the most primal and
well-hidden desires of the human heart.
Coming Soon!
What is The Story of O?
A Story in Pencil
Referenced early on in Exit to
Eden, The Story of O is a French novel written under the pen name Pauline Reage. It was first published in
France in 1953 (Histoire de O)
to sensational reactions. The story content was so strongly sexual
that it was
banned in Great Britain and only
reached the United States in the 1960's when the book was translated
into several languages,
most notably English.
What is most remarkable about
this book is that it was written in pencil in a notebook by a French
woman for
her married lover. Her name was
Dominique Aury. Aury was afraid he was going to leave her, and so she
wrote this
tale of total devotion and
enslavement to his love. When she showed the finished story to her
lover, he was so impressed
that he arranged to have it
published in France.
When
the book began to be translated into
other languages, another interesting part of the book's publishing
history unfolded.
Though Aury herself was a
translator, she did not translate her book herself.
In
1975, a film adaptation of the book was
made starring Corinne Clery as O
(James Bond enthusiasts will recognize her as the Bond girl in Moonraker).
Though
the film was not a great cinematic
achievement, its subject matter caused a sensation throughout the
countries it was released
in, resulting in another ban in
Great Britain. In many cities where the film was screened in adult
theaters, picketers
protested outside, denouncing the
film as yet another example of society tolerating violence against
women.
Did Aury manage to keep her lover? Yes, she did. So much so that when he died in the late
1960's, they penned a sequel to The Story of O together, titled Return to the Château. This book
was published in 1969, a year after Aury's lover's death.
So what IS The Story of O?
Frankly speaking, The Story of O is
about a young French woman who works as a photographer in
Paris. In spite of her shameless
sexual promiscuity in the past, O has fallen in love with Rene, and will
do anything
to keep his love. Knowing this, and
perhaps enslaved to the admiration of his childhood friend Sir Stephen,
Rene takes
O to a country chateau where she
stays for several weeks, being trained as a sexual slave.
The
book gives explicit but sensual and erotic descriptions of O being
bound
and whipped on several occasions,
and made to follow rules that are designed to render her completely
submissive to the masters
of the chateau. When O leaves to go
home, she learns that her sexual enslavement will not end at the door.
Her
entire life is changed to
accommodate her new identity as a slave.
In due time, Rene
presents O to Sir Stephen, who quickly initiates O to a darker side of
enslavement.
Sir Stephen is a fascinating blend
of tender lover/cruel master as he pushes O to test the limits of her
willingness
to submit and her ability to
withstand cruel punishment.
The Story of O
is a well-written novel and to compare it to the massive catalog of
today's erotica,
it still stands apart as one of the
most intense and dynamic portrayals of the psychology of desire and
submission. Those
who prefer tastefully written erotic
stories and have not read this book will find it well worth their
private reading time.
For many, it is one of the golden
standards of quality, timeless erotica that only a few authors,
including Anne Rice,
have ever been able to achieve.
