Story of O

This classic erotic novel relates the love of a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer for Rene. As part of that intense love, she demands debasement and severe sexual and psychological tests.

Considered a classic, this work is worthy to stand beside the best writings of the Marquis de Sade. This is an ironic and mystical tale of unfreedom that transcends the pornographic and even the erotic. From Amazon.com

This novel could as easily be considered a story of spiritual exploration as that of sexual exploits. Every major world religion considers total submission of the self to a higher power to be a prerequisite to true spiritual fulfillment. Although the pretext for the relationship O experiences with Rene is a love affair, as the novel continues, it becomes clear that Rene is indoctrinating O into another type of existence, one in which how these two particular people relate to and feel about each other becomes increasingly secondary. What becomes primary to the student (who eventually surpasses her first teacher) is the belonging, not the identity of the master. Religions have long equated the relationship between mankind and the divine with the relationship between a woman and a man. The early Christian church was frequently referred to as "the Bride of Christ." And, just as a woman was expected to submit her will to her husband and their marriage, so was a Christian required to freely submit his or her will to that of God. O chooses the same kind of submission, just to a different degree, in a different context, but to the same end. She accepts the first, most basic premise of any religion. One must sacrifice the self, relinquish the entire identity, to something greater than the individual before spiritual fulfillment can be attained. As O drifts further away from what people would recognize as a normal existence, she becomes more ecstatic. She has left behind her old life, with its shallow pursuits of romantic attachments, and has devoted herself wholly to the new life she has chosen. She has been converted. Often, people are drawn to a religious organization by a charismatic individual (a preacher or teacher), as O was drawn to her life of submission by Rene. But as those serious about discovering truth eventually transcend the attachment to any one teacher or personality, so did O finally discover that it was a state of submission and ownership that gave her emotional satisfaction and a type of power, without respect to the identity of the owner. Reader review from Amazon.com

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Glory of the 80's