L'Image/The Image (1956 novel)
Related: 1956 - Jean de Berg - erotic fiction - The Image (1975 film, USA) - French literature
The Image (1956) - Catherine Robbe-Grillet [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Description
Book Description
The Image is one of the most acclaimed and famous erotic novels of all time. One of only five erotic novels credited with true literary status by Susan Sontag (in her essay The Pornographic Imagination), it is a novel of bondage, dominance, and submission in the tradition of The Story of O. The narrator, Jean, is assisted by Claire in the domination of the subservient Anne in a series of sexually explicit scenarios. --via Amazon.com
The Image by Jean de Berg
Grove Press 1966
Original French publication by Les Editions de Minuit 1956
According to John de St Jorre in his book Venus Bound: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press and Its Writers (Random House 1994) Catherine Robbe-Grillet, wife of the French writer Alain Robbe-Grillet, was the author of this short novel about a D/s relationship between two women and the man who enters as a third member and also narrates the story. --http://www.storyofo.co.uk/L'Image.html [Aug 2005]
THE IMAGE is a translation of a French novel, very much in the tradition of the better-known, STORY OF O. Jean, a ruggedly handsome writer, goes to a party in a Parisian suburb where he runs into an old acquaintence, Claire. He find she has in tow a stunning young blonde in a plain white dress. This is Anne, who Claire introduces as "just a model", adding simply: "She belongs to me". Jean accepts Claire's invitation to leave the boring party, and join them for drinks in a neary bistro. That night, Jean learns more about the strange relationship between these two fascinating women. As the weeks go by, he is drawn even more deeply into that tangled web, till his very male presence causes subtle changes to take place between the lovers. At one point, Claire "loans" Anne to Jean, to with as he will. The powerful lusts unleashed, drives the story to an ending that brings an unusual twist. THE IMAGE presents a tale of raw sexual power and subjugation, elegantly told. Like the famous STORY OF O, the variations have been told before. But this time the telling is so masterful, so complete, and so economically done, that it has become a classic in its own right. --Hollis Compton for amazon.com
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