Story of O

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(Redirected from Histoire d'O)

Image:Histoire d o.jpg Image:Roissy triskelion iron ring signet.png Histoire d'O (English title: Story of O ) is a sadomasochistic novel by French author Pauline Réage, revealed a few years before her death as the pen name of Anne Desclos (1907-1998), who also wrote under the name of Dominique Aury.

Published 1954 in French, it is a fantasy of female submission about a Parisian fashion photographer who is blindfolded, chained, whipped, branded, made to wear a mask, and taught to be "constantly available" for oral, vaginal, and/or anal intercourse. In February 1955, it won the French literature prize Prix des Deux Magots, although this did not prevent the French authorities bringing obscenity charges against the publisher. The charges were rejected by the courts, but a publicity ban was imposed for a number of years.

The first English edition was published in 1965. Eliot Fremont-Smith (of the New York Times) called its publishing "a significant event." A sequel, Retour à Roissy (Return to Roissy, but often translated as Return to the Chateau), was published in 1967.

One view of the novel is that it is about the ultimate objectification of a woman. The heroine of the novel has the shortest possible name, consisting solely of the letter O. Although this is in fact a shortening of the name Odile, it could also stand for "object" or "orifice," an O being a symbolic representation of any "hole."

It is assumed that a real-life O and inspiration in the entourage of Pauline Réage was French novelist Janine Aeply, the wife of French painter Jean Fautrier, and one of the friends of Dominique Aury.

The book has been the source of various terms that are used in the BDSM subculture such as SAMOIS, the name of the estate belonging to the character Anne-Marie, who brands O.

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Adaptations

For a very long time, French director Henri-Georges Clouzot dreamt to adapt the novel. Finally, a film, The Story of O, was made in 1975 by director Just Jaeckin, starring Corinne Clery and Udo Kier. The film met with far less acclaim than the book. It was banned in the United Kingdom by the British Board of Film Censors until February 2000.

In 1975 it was adapted for comics by the Italian artist Guido Crepax.

In 1979, Danish director Lars von Trier made a short movie which is a homage to Story of O and Dominique Aury, entitled Menthe - la bienheureuse.

A Brazilian miniseries in ten episodes with Claudia Cepeda was made in 1992 by director Eric Rochat, who was the producer of the original 1975 movie.

Finally, in 2002, Phil Leirness directed a modern-day, English-language remake of the Story of O, which he co-wrote.

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