Emmanuelle - Softcover

Arsan, Emmanuelle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0583125735 ISBN 13: 9780583125734

Publisher: Grafton, 1975

Synopsis

This now classic book of erotica is, alongside Story of O, the most famous French underground novel of the late twentieth century and a work of seductive literary merit. Written by the wife of a diplomat in the French Foreign Service, it takes the form of an autobiographical novel, which it may or may not be. As the story opens, Emmanuelle is boarding a plane in London to rejoin her husband in Bangkok. She finds herself powerfully compelled by the overnight passenger seated beside her, and before she has landed, her irrepressible sensual nature has begun to open wide vistas of sexual possibility. As the novel continues, she moves easily from the waiting arms of her husband to intimacies with the wives of his business associates to further explorations and experiences in which the subtle aesthetics of eroticism are expounded-and enacted-to their fullest. Emmanuelle, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since its initial clandestine publication in France, relates the movement of a woman from an unconscious to a profoundly conscious sexuality.

About this title

Review:

Praise for Emmanuelle:

"Lyrical and graphic . . . But it's not all salacious play-by-play. The sex scenes are interspersed with abstract musings about the nature of sex. One of the central ideas, which I will now clinically paraphrase to conform to standards of decency, is this: The definition of the erotic is arousal, not climax . . . the book's argument reverberates beyond the erotic. The writing I most enjoy now delights in the moment's contours and textures, not surprising plot twists. The best work seduces the reader through nuanced details and observations, and does away with italics and exclamation points. It takes pleasure in the ambiguous interstices of life while dismissing its flagrant resolutions. In short, it arouses." --Teddy Wayne, NPR

"This new edition reminds us how this revolutionary epic had an impact on the sexual liberation of women." --"Le Parisien Magazine"

"Hedonistic, joyful and much more fresh than Fifty Shades of Grey." --"Marianne"

"Emmanuelle is not just sex; it is an eroticism that is vintage, oneiric, utopian, and tender, an optimistic and radiant eroticism." --"lepoint.fr"

"An unrestrained erotic novel, replete with details of the author's sexual experiences and erotic philosophy. Emmanuelle Arsan has launched an all-out one-woman crusade to liberate mankind from the sexual taboos that have woven themselves into our moral nature and end up by ruling us through unjust laws." --"Panorama" (Italy)

"Emmanuelle writes nearly as well as the Divine Marquis [de Sade], and shows the same penchant for philosophy." --"Le Nouvel Observateur"

"Emmanuelle's eroticism is not pathological, unlike the eroticism of revolt. It is a crucial part of the satisfaction of the individual, which feels threatened by nothing, which unfolds in harmony with the world: an eroticism of perfect accord." --"Le Magazine Litteraire"

About the Author:

Emmanuelle Arsan is the pseudonym of Marayat and Louis Jacques Rollet-Andriane, and was initially revealed to be written by Marayat - in order to conceal the identity of her husband, a French diplomat.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grafton
• Publication date: 1975
• ISBN 10: 0583125735
• ISBN 13: 9780583125734
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 190