About
Dominique Aury, born Anne Cécile Desclos, was a major figure in French literary life. Born in 1907, she joined Gallimard in 1946 and became general secretary of the Nouvelle Revue Française in 1953. A respected translator, she introduced French readers to authors such as Virginia Woolf and T. S. Eliot. Under the pseudonym Pauline Réage, she published the erotic novel Story of O in 1954, written to take up a challenge from Jean Paulhan. The book won the Prix des Deux Magots and sparked legal controversy. Her identity remained secret for forty years, until she revealed it in 1994. She died in 1998.
* 1907-09-23 — † 1998-04-26
Major works
- Histoire d'O (1954)novel
- Lecture pour tousessay
Key milestones
- 1946Joined the publishing house Gallimard as editorial secretary.
- 1953Became general secretary of the Nouvelle Revue Française.
- 1994Publicly confirmed being the author of Story of O in an interview with The New Yorker.
Themes
eroticismidentity and pseudonymityliterary criticismtranslationwomen's role in literature
Sources: id.loc.gov · britannica.com