Reflections on the
Story of O

Much
Intellectual
fracas (folly?)
Surrounded the
Publication of
The Story of O
In the 50s
And it
Is celebrated
By many
Still.
The secret identity
Of its writer
seemed to add to
The intrigues
propelling its
aura even higher.
But when I
saw
the French film
adaptation
and a documentary
on Pauline Reague
and then actually
read the novel
it amused me
but left me
feeling mostly
unimpressed.
I admired the
risk of it all,
but it seemed
pale
next to the
Marquis de Sade
who was
Devil like
in his
outrageous
determination to
desecrate
everything
Sacred.
De Sade is
an imp
and prankster
and a comedian.
But
O
seeking to
prove her love
by
being
whipped
and
beaten
and
chained
and branded on
her ass by irons
her lovers name,
being defiled
willingly in the
most
humiliating ways
to
purge
and
cleanse
and
purify
herself through
debasement
was radical
in its idea
of
total submission
as an act of love.
to choose
freely
to give
up your freedom
as the ultimate
form of freedom
is
sick
and
twisted
and
morbidly
fascinating
and
may
I
recklessly
confess
in
the
weirdest
way
perversely
Romantic?
Such is the
delights
of the imagination.