The Story of Oby Suzette ChanReviews may contain information that could be considered 'spoilers'. Readers should proceed at their own risk. Publisher
Credits Grade: 8 In the early 1950s, French writer and editor Jean Paulhan declared that it was not possible for a woman to write an erotic novel. His lover, Dominique Aury, roused to the challenged, and penned a series of Sadean letters that were eventually published as the novel The Story of O, under the pseudonym of Pauline Reage. It was a sensation in France, and became a bestselling erotic classic in its English translation.While the popularity of the work has never waned — it is now in its 49th English-language printing — the story experienced a transmedia spike during the "sexual liberation" of the 1970s. In 1975, there were two adaptations: a film (starring Udo Kier!) and a comic by Guido Crepax. Crepax's version of The Story of O was already a classic when NBM publishing chose to publish it as two trade paperbacks to launch its Eurotica line of erotic comics in 1990. Now, almost 20 years later, NBM has reissued Crepax's The Story of O in a deluxe, single-volume hardcover edition. The story stands the test of time, partly because it is a catalogue of classic pornographic and Sadean tropes (Susan Sontag called The Story of O "meta-pornography"), but also because it has a purposely retro feel. Crepax gives the comic a flapper-era aesthetic that calls upon a timeless, iconic era of libertine feminism. (A third part to the story, set hors-texte in the 1980s with women wearing big hair and alar shoulder pads, did not age as well. It was published by NBM in the early 1990s, but is not included in the new edition.) Crepax, who was a successful advertising illustrator, also knew the power of suggestion. While he does not shy away from explicit depictions of sex and BDSM activities, he also knows when to pull back and let comics do what they do best: allow the reader to imagine what happens between scenes, just outside the panel, in the next frame, or elsewhere on O's body.
The scene of the society party where O appears naked except for an owl mask is O's triumph as the ultimate object of desire. I never understood why Reage did not end the book with it, and thus I've always wondered why Crepax retained the following scene. The party is over; everyone has gone home except Sir Stephen and a neanderthal-like manservant. The two men each have sex with O, one after the other, so O goes from being glorified in the owl mask to giving herself over to vanilla sex on a table. Maybe that's the moral of this amoral story, that one could submit oneself to epic tortures to transcend the self, only to end up as the property of mundane aristocracy. The true selling point of this edition of The Story of O is the production. Printed on a bright white, opaque stock, Crepax's linework comes to life, with the flow of ink, the physical weight of the hand and turns of the wrist evident in every line. However, I have wondered about the condition of the plates or scans that publishers are working with. Detail is lost in some panels, a problem that also affected a 2000 edition of The Story of O published by the Taschen imprint, Evergreen. The Evergreen edition was printed on a thinner, glossier paper that unfortunately allows the work on the other side to bleed through, so I appreciated NBM's choice of heavier paper that lets each page present what's printed on it, not what's ghosting from the other side. The NBM edition of The Story of O is a solid, very reasonable priced standalone volume, one made for reading and referencing. Despite the lack of "frills" (the volume includes neither contextual essays nor the third part, which is not a loss: it is loosely connected to the main story, lacks narrative drive, and is, in some instances, rather sloppily drawn), the iconic parts of Crepax's adaptation are intact and handsomely reproduced. Written: November 29, 2009
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