French

Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

Story of the Eye

Only Georges Bataille could write, of an eyeball removed from a corpse, that "the caress of the eye over the skin is so utterly, so extraordinarily gentle, and the sensation is so bizarre that it has something of a rooster's horrible crowing." Bataille has been called a "metaphysician of evil," specializing in blasphemy, profanation, and horror. Story of the Eye, written in 1928, is his best-known work; it is unashamedly surrealistic, both disgusting and fascinating, and packed with seemingly endless violations. It's something of an underground classic, rediscovered by each new generation. Most recently, the Icelandic pop singer Björk Guðdmundsdóttir cites Story of the Eye as a major inspiration: she made a music video that alludes to Bataille's erotic uses of eggs, and she plans to read an excerpt for an album. Warning: Story of the Eye is graphically sexual, and is only for adults who are not easily offended.

In 1928, Georges Bataille published this first novel under a pseudonym, a legendary shocker that uncovers the dark side of the erotic by means of forbidden obsessive fantasies of excess and sexual extremes. A classic of pornographic literature, Story of the Eye finds the parallels in Sade and Nietzsche and in the investigations of contemporary psychology; it also forecasts Bataille's own theories of ecstasy, death and transgression which he developed in later work.

The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings

A Sport and a Pastime: A Novel

The Sexual Life of Catherine M.

Juliette

Locker Room Nudes / Dieux du Stade: The French National Rugby Team

This remarkable collection of candid nude photos of France’s national rugby team goes beneath the uniform to reveal what real jocks look like underneath it all. Each image taken by leading French photographer François Rousseau depicts the rugby player―alone or with teammates―undressing, lounging on the bench, showering. Locker Room Men is at once a celebration of athletes and the beauty of the male form as well as the fulfillment of the fantasy of going behind the scenes in a winning team’s locker room.
Sure to appeal to both gay men and straight women, these photos are unusual because the men are not models. They don’t work out just to look good―and look good they do―their bodies are sculpted by winning victories on the field. They aren’t made up, shaved, or prettified in any way. These are some of the world’s best rugby players―brawny, tough, competitive.
Since 1999, the French national rugby team has posed nude or semi-nude for an annual calendar. The purpose behind the calendar was to get wider “exposure” for rugby and the team. In 2004, François Rousseau was selected as photographer, and he successfully brought out the sensual beauty and sexiness inherent in the rugby players’ rough and tumble exterior. The calendar became a cult hit, and thus the book was born so that even more of these unparalleled images could be savored.
Whether or not rugby will become more popular in this country remains to be seen, but this book will certainly raise the game’s profile…

French Quarter (Ellora's Cave Presents, Hot in the City)

When Liz Marsh hires P.I. Jack Wade to find out if her fiancé is cheating on her, she has no idea she's about to embark upon a sexual odyssey through New Orleans' steamy French Quarter. Raised to be a prim, conservative woman, it takes Jack's sizzling sexuality to make Liz shed her old self and release the secret woman inside her, a woman who seeks every sensual adventure she can find. With Jack on her arm and the decadence of Bourbon Street beckoning, Liz's sexual daring knows no bounds.

Philosophy in the Boudoir: Or, The Immoral Mentors (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

This most joyous of de Sade’s works follows three aristocrats as they indoctrinate Eugénie de Mistival in “the principles of the most outrageous libertinism.”

Return to the Chateau

The sequel to one of the most scandalous and sensational of modern erotic novels.