"Story of O" The Plot - Part 2

The 'Story of O' began as a love letter, written by Dominique Aury, a woman in her forties, to Jean Paulhan, a man in his sixties, as a means to maintain his interest in case his affections drifted to younger women. She began drawing upon her own sexual fantasies of castles, masks and debauchery, as far back as her lonely adolescence, fantasies which persisted into her later life. This all from a woman who dressed with quiet elegance, though as a young woman in fantasy mode, she liked to walk through Les Halles (a once bustling area of merchant stalls in Paris, France) dressed like a prostitute. Dominique Aury also had an intense nine months lesbian love affair and lifelong friendship with Edith Thomas ( 1909- 1970 ) a remarkable French woman of letters. Their passionate relationship ended when Aury became the lover of Jean Paulhan in 1947. The 'Story of O' is about a Parisian fashion photographer, simply called O, who will go to any lengths to demonstrate her love for her boyfriend Rene, but after being schooled in giving pleasure to men as a slave, she is rewarded by being given as a gift to his step-brother, Sir Stephen. The story is full of contradictory characters, as O is wanton yet pure, Rene is brutal yet gentle and Sir Stephen is cruel yet kind. 'O' began as Odile, based on a friend of the author. Rene was a vestige of an adolescent love. Sir Stephen was a father figure, who may also represent her lover Jean Paulhan. Jean Paulhan was a sex partner more senior in years than Dominique Aury, who admired the work of the Marquis de Sade. By telling him that she fantasised on the same level as he... having in common an urge to participate in a forbidden lifestyle... it had the potential to make her more desirable to him, than a more attractive, younger vanilla woman. For example, Jacqueline, the younger woman in the story was shocked to see what lengths O would go to submit to Sir Stephen, when O displayed the rings piercing the flesh of her labia. This is the erotic story of a girl whose devotion to her lover, leads her on a willing journey into the world of bondage and complete and total passive submission. She enters into a regime of discipline, sexual, physical and emotional slavery, initially because her lover wishes it and because she wants more than anything else to please him. O is introduced into a secret society with complicated rules... She is not to look any man in the eye nor speak to any of the other women. She must wear a corseted dress that exposes her breasts, a leather collar and cuffs, an outfit which makes her sexually available to a variety of anonymous partners, where any man may dispose of her as he wishes. This happens when O is taken to "Roissy" a house of training by means of chains, whips and servitude. She is imprisoned by a jailer, Pierre, whose job is to beat her when she is disobedient. O welcomes all this, understanding that the harsher the treatments she endures, the more she proves her love. Rene leaves O at the house for 5 days... then on returning to Paris, she resumes her work as a photographer, but is still subject to the whims of her lover Rene and their relationship seems strengthened by the experience. Meanwhile, O is attracted to Jacqueline a female model she works with. Rene then jeopardises everything by attempting to "give" O to his sophisticated, wealthy and powerful stepbrother, Sir Stephen, who treats O with a mixture of chivalry and contempt. O soon realises that Rene has given her to Sir Stephen...for good. She then finds that she is being trained to lure Jacqueline into dealings with Sir Stephen and Rene, as a new recruit for Roissy. O eventually finds herself falling in love with the older man, who also begins to fall in love with his new prize. She then realises that her love for Rene was only a test - he was not a strong enough Master for her. Her final trial takes place at the estate of a lesbian dominatrix, Anne-Marie, who permanently scars O's buttocks with a red-hot branding iron with Sir Stephen's initials and pierces her labia, which is then fitted with rings. From one hangs a disk bearing a triskele inlaid in gold, consisting of three curved lines or branches radiating from a common centre, like a wheel with three spokes, each of which formed a spiral, resembling the solar wheel of the Celts. O is ordered to become the lover of Jacqueline, which she does, and Rene also becomes intimate with the same girl. Meanwhile Jacqueline's little half-sister Natalie becomes infatuated with O, and learning of her servitude, becomes enthralled. O succeeds in her task when both Jacqueline and Natalie decide to join Sir Stephen. The book version of 'Story of O' ends with O being paraded at a select garden party dressed only in a chosen mask of an owl and led by Natalie using chains attached to her genitals as a leash, which was then attached to the leather bracelet Natalie was wearing on her right wrist. All pubic hair had been removed through waxing, because only in that way was she completely naked. "It was only after daybreak, after all the dancers had left, that Sir Stephen and the Commander, awakening Natalie who was asleep at O's feet, helped O to her feet, led her to the middle of the courtyard, unfastened her chain and removed her mask and, laying her back upon a table, possessed her one after the other." In a final chapter, which has been suppressed, O returns to Roissy, where she is abandoned by Sir Stephen. "There exists a second ending to the story of O, according to which O, seeing that Sir Stephen was about to leave her, said she would prefer to die. Sir Stephen gave her his consent." Author, journalist and screenwriter John de St Jorre interviewed Dominique Aury many times whilst researching a book on Olympia Press and its writers. On questioning Dominique Aury on the ambiguous ending of 'Story of O', she told him: 'One day I found that I couldn't go on and that was all. Paulhan said it was all right. "You can stop now," he said.' Dominique Aury's final chapter was left out of the published novel. In its place were the two above alternative endings. In one, there is no resolution, whilst in the other she dies. A muddled and largely unsuccessful sequel, Retour à Roissy (Return to Roissy, often translated as Return to the Chateau), was published in 1967. In this second part, O returns to the place of her initiation, where she submits completely to the sexual whims of her lover. This time being initiated into the Chateau's community, and effectively deserted by her Master, where she is forced into a life little better than that of a common prostitute. Dominique Aury's lover Jean Paulhan died in 1968. She wrote 'A Girl in Love', the third-person account of the writing of Story of O, as he lay dying. It was published soon after, with the sequel. Dominique Aury herself died in 1998.