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Marthe Blau is the pseudonymous author of the
novel "Submission," the graphically sexual story -- "based
on the author's own experience" -- of a relatively happily married
Parisian lawyer and mother, Elodie, who gets involved in an obsessive
sadomasochistic relationship with another man. The book describes in excruciating
detail the heroine's encounters with the man called, in godlike fashion,
"He," who becomes her master.
While it would be presumptuous to say that "Submission" has
no literary value whatsoever, this reviewer could find none. It is also
worth noting that if a book has even a hint of redeeming smut, despite
its dearth of literary merit, I will usually not only appreciate this
but also race eagerly through it (pausing, of course, to highlight and
dog-ear especially salient passages for later, more leisurely rereading).
"Submission" was a struggle to finish even once.
"Submission" begins with Elodie, "shaved and scented, teetering
on black stilettos ... wearing an uncomfortable garter belt and a G-string
that cuts into my skin," standing outside the door of the house of
a man she hardly knows who has demanded her presence. Once inside, He
tells her to expose herself, then, approving what he sees, tells her,
"Nobody has ever treated you as I'm going to treat you." This
turns out to be true, but not in the way readers or our heroine might
have hoped. His treatment pretty much consists of filling one particular
cavity of Elodie's nether region with extremely uncomfortable objects
and then making her go out to society parties with the objects lodged
inside her. He also gives her a couple of beatings. What He never does
is what she craves so dearly: have sex with her in any standard fashion
(thus showing she is "worthy" of him).
What Blau never bothers to do is give the reader more of a hint as to
why Elodie would (beyond His initial magnetism and her newfound predilection
for submission) continue to subject herself to his continued abuse, neglect
and general callousness. What we are shown of Him -- and perhaps the reader
is beginning to appreciate how intrusive the constant capital "H"
is throughout the book -- is a vague sketch of a man who, on top of his
sadism, is patronizing, inconsiderate and misogynistic. (S&M Web groups
have complained about Blau's portrayal of their lifestyle.) He is also
egotistical to the point of taking her to a bookstore, showing her books
about submission and suggesting she might someday write a book about him.
The one time He is truly pleased with Elodie is when she recruits a "willowy"
(many women in "Submission" are "willowy," e.g., "naked,
her tall, willowy body is even more spectacular than I imagined")
younger woman for him to play with. Outside Elodie's glamorous circle
of women in their 30s, the only women here considered beautiful are those
who are young and tall, and thin to skinny, with the exception of one
or two women who are lanky in all but one particular area, "sirens
with breasts raised to the sky, defying all the laws of gravity."
"Submission" is sloppy and sketchily done in every respect,
and it's redundant to the extreme, the "nobody has ever treated you"
line repeated ad nauseam along with Elodie's shock at her own desires
and tearful complaints about His ignoring or denying her. In frustration
with the lack of plot or character development, and the endless stretching
of any credibility (for example, how does Elodie's husband have no clue
that she's having an affair -- wouldn't he at least see the scars from
her beatings or hear about her canoodling with Him in the middle of parties
with friends all around?), the reader reaches for the only other substantial
content he or she can find: brand names and exotic locales. Paris nightclubs,
San Tropez beaches, Ambien, Gucci. The list goes on, a veritable CliffsNotes
for a Jackie Collins novel.
Forty years ago, the pseudonymous Pauline Reage published her scandalous
"Story of O," a novel depicting a woman's relationship with
a lover who dominates her and shares her with other men. Graham Greene
called "The Story of O" "a rare thing, a pornographic book
well written and without a trace of obscenity." Thousands upon thousands
of titles with similar subject matter have followed. Three years ago,
French art critic Catherine Millet's brave and sexually frank memoir "The
Sexual Life of Catherine M" was published to both shock and acclaim.
Blau is being hyped as a worthy successor to both Reage and Millet (whom
Elodie actually refers to, dismissively, in the novel), which only shows
that this book's publicists are as shameless as the author herself.
So why then, when stores and catalogs are full of cheap paperbacks that
are more titillating, have much greater depth, and are much better written,
is "Submission," at least in Europe, getting so much attention?
Why did the book supposedly, as a promotional quote from a London Times
article reads, send "tremors through the French establishment"?
Because the author is a glamorous Parisian lawyer married to a "morning
television show host." While this surely sparked titters and speculation
in France (as it would in the United States if, say Regis Philbin and
Condoleezza Rice decided to publish an account of their affair with a
Shetland pony), it's hard to imagine it will do so stateside, where few
people know or care about who the president of France is, let alone who
"Marthe Blau" or her husband might actually be.
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