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Available
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Publication
Martins Fontes, 1989, 2nd Ed.
Description
This classic book of erotica is, alongsideStory of O, the most famous French underground novel of the late twentieth century and a work of seductive literary merit. It begins with nineteen-year-old Emmanuelle's flight from London to join her husband in Bangkok. On the airplane, she is seduced by the passenger seated next to her. By the time they land, she has indulged her irrepressible and insatiable sexual appetite, embarking on an odyssey of hedonistic sensual discovery that takes her from the arms of her husband to intimate encounters with the wives of his business associates, to further explorations wherein the philosophical and aesthetic facets of eroticism are expounded--and enacted--to the fullest degree. Intoxicating and intelligent,Emmanuelle, which has sold hundreds of thousands of copies since its initial clandestine publication in France, follows one woman's liberation from unconscious to intensely conscious sexuality. It is as pertinent today as it was four decades ago.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member lennynero
Classic Smut review! Half erotic memoir and half philosphical treatise on eroticism, this book is a quasi-autobiographical account of Emmanuelle Arsan's(pen name of Marayat Rollet-Andriane) sexual adventures in Thailand as a diplomat's wife. Needless to say, their marriage defines the term 'open'.
The sex scenes and most of the first half of this book are just great, with that subtle prose that one gets from a well translated smutty, French book. It's in the second half with the introduction of the character of Mario and his philosophical lectures on man over nature, love, eroticism and fulfillment where it really stops the reader cold. Mario comes off as a pretentious windbag who takes up a lot of pages. At the same time, it's fascinating to read as it's a great snapshot of the pop philosophy of the time and is so French and of the period. It was first published in the underground in the late 1950's, and was officially published in 1967. A must for any fan of classic smut.
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She has many lovers and she and them both expound incessantly on the nature of eroticism.The sex scenes and most of the first half of this book are just great, with that subtle prose that one gets from a well translated smutty, French book. It's in the second half with the introduction of the character of Mario and his philosophical lectures on man over nature, love, eroticism and fulfillment where it really stops the reader cold. Mario comes off as a pretentious windbag who takes up a lot of pages. At the same time, it's fascinating to read as it's a great snapshot of the pop philosophy of the time and is so French and of the period. It was first published in the underground in the late 1950's, and was officially published in 1967. A must for any fan of classic smut.
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LibraryThing member TheAmpersand
I once saw someone online describe pornography as a fantasy of infinite access. It's vulgar precisely because characters are never denied anything that matters: the word "no" doesn't really exist in porn. This describes the literary universe that "Emmanuelle" takes place in pretty well. So far,
Enter Mario, a wealthy, wealthy, refined Italian gentleman who has his own ideas about the erotic life. You would think that he would fit right in with the other characters, but, unfortunately, he proceeds to take over the novel by expounding upon his erotic philosophies at length like a randy, Francophone John Galt. Despite the fact that Mario peppers his conversation with Italian words, his arguments come off as hopelessly French, at once hyper-rational and shamelessly enamored of the good things in life. He is, in other words, a dull, long-winded libertine. Mario's objective is apparently to convince Emmanuelle that yielding to others and accommodating their desires represents a path to both an aesthetic and joyful existence, but one wonders why he bothered: she certainly wasn't very committed to keeping her clothes on before she met him. But there's a lot more talking and a lot less carousing in the last half of the book, and that's a shame. There's also a regrettable scene with a random Thai guy who's not quite of age and some confused philosophizing about Mario's sexual identity, both of which probably don't scan any better now than when the book was first published.
Despite the fact that it features some hot sex and a fun setting, the real problem here is the title character herself. She both innocent and completely debauched, astonishingly beautiful and yet completely willing to try out just about any sex act anyone suggests to her. She's not as bubble-headed as Terry Southern's Candy Christian -- we read that she has a degree in math -- but, like that character, she's something of an empty shell, a woman without either a past or a will of her own. I was hardly expecting a philosophical novel here, but "Emanuelle" does seem like erotic literature that wants to be taken seriously, so it's too bad that there's a void where it's title character should be. It's worth noting that while Mario counsels that aesthetic nirvana can be reached through the giving over of oneself, in Emmanuelle's case, there isn't really a lot to let go of. When I finished the novel, I wished that I'd heard more from her and considerably less than her dreadfully verbose would-be mentor. Recommended for the good parts, which are really quite good. You can safely skip the rest.
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pornographically speaking, so good, and, the first part of the book really is worth reading. Emamanuelle's encounters with both men and women are well-written, free-spirited romps, as arousing as they are explicit. The author's depiction of Bangkok as a city of infinite pleasures is also shameless fun. Most of the members of the expatriate community in which the main characters spend their time are beautiful, adventurous, wealthy, uninhibited and constantly horny. It's all colonialist fantasy, yes, but the husband-and-wife team that were apparently responsible for the writing of this novel wouldn't be the first people excited by both foreign lands and foreign bodies. Most importantly, Emmanuelle's author -- Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane, his wife Marayat, or perhaps both of them -- writes the experience of female pleasure with far more skill than most authors, erotic or otherwise. Even if Louis-Jaques did, in fact, do most of the actual writing, it's clear that he asked his wife what a female orgasm felt like and listened carefully to her reply, and in this sort of book, that's not nothing. There's a well-done hint of domination and submission here, too, in the form of Marie-Anne, a precocious, beautiful young French woman to whose whims Emmanuelle submits to. And then she has a fling with a French society lady and a beautiful American redhead known as Bee and then, about halfway through the book, the fun suddenly stops. Enter Mario, a wealthy, wealthy, refined Italian gentleman who has his own ideas about the erotic life. You would think that he would fit right in with the other characters, but, unfortunately, he proceeds to take over the novel by expounding upon his erotic philosophies at length like a randy, Francophone John Galt. Despite the fact that Mario peppers his conversation with Italian words, his arguments come off as hopelessly French, at once hyper-rational and shamelessly enamored of the good things in life. He is, in other words, a dull, long-winded libertine. Mario's objective is apparently to convince Emmanuelle that yielding to others and accommodating their desires represents a path to both an aesthetic and joyful existence, but one wonders why he bothered: she certainly wasn't very committed to keeping her clothes on before she met him. But there's a lot more talking and a lot less carousing in the last half of the book, and that's a shame. There's also a regrettable scene with a random Thai guy who's not quite of age and some confused philosophizing about Mario's sexual identity, both of which probably don't scan any better now than when the book was first published.
Despite the fact that it features some hot sex and a fun setting, the real problem here is the title character herself. She both innocent and completely debauched, astonishingly beautiful and yet completely willing to try out just about any sex act anyone suggests to her. She's not as bubble-headed as Terry Southern's Candy Christian -- we read that she has a degree in math -- but, like that character, she's something of an empty shell, a woman without either a past or a will of her own. I was hardly expecting a philosophical novel here, but "Emanuelle" does seem like erotic literature that wants to be taken seriously, so it's too bad that there's a void where it's title character should be. It's worth noting that while Mario counsels that aesthetic nirvana can be reached through the giving over of oneself, in Emmanuelle's case, there isn't really a lot to let go of. When I finished the novel, I wished that I'd heard more from her and considerably less than her dreadfully verbose would-be mentor. Recommended for the good parts, which are really quite good. You can safely skip the rest.
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LibraryThing member adaorhell
What if women had the ability to think dangerously about sex and eroticism? Well, it wouldn't be this. In some parts there are some interesting bits -- *God is the opposite of the erotic* -- but imagine my surprise when this was written by a woman! Honestly, is it that hard to write about the body?
Subjects
Language
Original language
Italian
Original publication date
1967