- Paperback: 221 pages
- Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Evergreen black cat ed edition (1973)
- Language French
- ISBN-10: 039417657X
- ISBN-13: 978-0394176574
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 10.6 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,314,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When i got the chance to pick up emmanuelle i wondered if it would be a good book or just an excuse for pornography. i was pleasantly surprised to find a good believeable story and a very likeable main character. emmanuelle is the wife of a french architect and is moved to bangok to live with him. one of her main goals in life is to seduce or be seduced. the women of bangok are much the same, and emmanuelle finds friends in the young Marie-Anne and Ariane the countess de saynes. throughout the course of the book emmanuelle explores her sexuality and meets the learned Mario who teaches her the true meanings of eroticism and beauty. overall a great read, more suitable for adults as it is a very graphic novel, but nonetheless is done in good taste and creates an almost dreamy world for the reader. I urge you to buy a copy, a great read based upon the true story of Emmanuelle Arsan.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This famous story is far froma classic piece of writing and far from pornography and further even from eroticism. I read it admittedly because it is so famous and not because I wanted to be amazed, titillated or excited, so perhaps my motivation was not what was intended by the purported authors. The storyline and descriptions are pleasingly written (or perhaps better said, translated), however, the meat of the novel lies in chapter five, "The Law", and it is with this part that for me the real interest of the book lies. Although you could possibly say this chapter is post fact justification for reckless sexual behaviour, it is far more revealing than that. The character Mario, who teaches the eponymous heroine her art of pleasure and eroticism, discourses on the laws of the erotic; boiled down into three - 1. Natural sex is not erotic, man versus nature is the distinguishing feature or eroticism and the most "human" of acts. 2. Asymmetry, by which is meant that sexual acts with even numbers of participants(for instance between a couple!)is not erotic and is a surrender to nature. Sexual acts must always be between uneven numbers, three, five, etc. 3. Multiplicty, by which is meant no repetition, but as many different partners as possible. There is plenty of references to the necessity of being young, beautiful and wealthy in all this, as are of course the shadowlands of paedophilia and the rest of that ilk. Although I cannot prove it, I suspect the text was heavily written or editted by a male given the amount of male "instruction" for a beautiful young female, how a beautiful young female should behave rather than how a middle aged male should! Semen in vast quantities sprayed liberally also seems to my mind a more male position than a female one. So from that point of view, I would say sexist as well as perverse. Why then do I rate it a four star? Simply because it states so clearly the intended perversion of the pre-aids era. It is a manifesto of hedonism, with specious "arguments" that need almost no refutation as they contain so many logical errors as to be superfluous. For instance, if nature is to be in conflict with the erotic man, the question has gone begging about the very nature of man! If you want to understand the pre-aids erotic situation read this, if you want stimulation of another sort, I suspect you can do a lot better! Apropos the necessity of youth and beauty, it would be interesting to know where the very aged "Mario" and extremely frail "Emmanuelle" now stand.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
29 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Stunning imagery.
7 Oct 1997
Format:Paperback
While some might find the frankness of the book's text shocking, Emmanuelle Arsan's infamous bestseller is rich in imagery and detail which still resonates brightly so many years after its initial publication.
The story concerns a young Parisian who flies to Bangkok to join her diplomat husband. In a marriage which in the strictest sense might be termed "open," Emmanuelle struggles to conform to what she believes are her husband's wishes. She becomes entranced by an older man named Mario, whom she believes can teach her the "Secrets of Eros," and help her to become what she terms a "real woman." The real star of the book, however, is not the story, but the period philosophy which is so oft found throughout the book, and especially in the chapter "The Law."
Love "scenes" are frequent, but are told with such subtle beauty and grace, that they never become unpleasant or gratuitous. "Emmanuelle" is without a doubt a classic of the genre.
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Erotic well-written nonsense
14 Jan 2000
Format:Paperback
Emmanuelle is rather a well written book and it has a certain charm. With any doubt it is nicely erotic in parts. There is lesbian sex and love which are arousing to read. There is also a reasonable feel for colonial French expats living a decadent life in South East Asia. The endless dialogue about love and fulfilment between Emmanuelle and Mario is, to an Anglo-Saxon at least, pretentious nonsense but I have to admit it is very much of the French psyche and is an acquired taste - I found it rather dull. I also found some parts laughable. If you read the first chapter and Emmanuelle's adventures on the aircraft it seems to me quite clear that Arsan must never have been flying except in her dreams. If you see it at a friend's, or are bored and need something to read then by all means try it an you will find enough to keep you interested. If you believe that there really is a philosophy of sex then this is a book for you. If not, then read it for the narrative and the love scenes which are erotic to be sure. Otherwise Anais Nin is really much more literary and artistic in the same genre.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Rejoice
30 Sep 2004
Format:Paperback
The sex scenes in this book are pretty good, if you are into that sort of thing. And most of the first half of the book is amusing, especially Emmanuelle's relationships with other women (sexual or not). But the second half of the book is dominated by Italian playboy Mario educating Emmanuelle about his philosophy of eroticism. This is pretty pretentious stuff, and rather dull. Mario almost makes sex seem boring. What a windbag! Also, the book ends rather abruptly. It feels like there was another chapter that got left out. But the book is worth a read, if only because it has become so iconic.
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