On June 15, 1954, the Jean-Jacques Pauvert publishing house published Story of O by Pauline Réage, the name behind which she advanced masked Dominique Aury. She only publicly revealed that she was the author of this book in 1994, which everyone had known for a long time. However, a few months before this official announcement, Jean-Jacques Pauvert remained faithful to the oath he had made to Dominique Aury and his companion Jean Paulhan, not to reveal the identity of the author. In this issue of “Un jour au singulier” broadcast in 1993 on France Culture, Geneviève Ladouès invites Jean-Jacques Pauvert to remember this year 1954 and the sensational publication ofStory of OThe opportunity for him to recall his beginnings as a publisher marked by a first scandal: the publication of a book by the Marquis de Sade in 1947 which triggered a historic trial lasting several years.
“By editing Sade, I got to know the society brigade, the judges, the magistrates”
Jean-Jacques Pauvert tells us how he became an editor, a profession he discovered at the age of 19. Editor of Sartre, Genet, he published in 1947 a book by Marquis de Sade. “I published a book by Sade for the first time in the world, putting my name and address on it. The society brigade thought it was a joke“. An adventure which quickly plunged him into the world of justice, meeting examining magistrates, police commissioners and magistrates, defended by his lawyer Maurice Garçon during a long eight-year trial.”In 1947 I published an absolute of literature, while still being somewhat aware of it. The 120 days of Sodom, for example, it took me seven years to publish this because I was hesitant.”
“Story of O is the most important manuscript of my entire publishing career”
1954: France celebrates the virtues of the electric locomotive and speed records. France bans songs and certainly does not publish erotic books. When Jean-Jacques Pauvert discovers the manuscript ofStory of O : “I feel like I’m reading a masterpiece and I say to myself: this is my book.“. When it was published, a sort of very muted underground scandal broke out in literary circles. Booksellers opened the book and sent it back immediately, articles did not mention the title, people thought that the anonymous author could only be a man. In 1955, the novel received the Prix des Deux Magots and copies began to sell over time. Regarding his reputation as a shady publisher, he replied that he had published few erotic books in the end, five or six, much fewer than other publishers.
Find all of “Jean-Jacques Pauvert, a publisher at liberty”an archive program proposed by Albane Penaranda.
- Production: Geneviève Ladouès
- Directed by: Marie-Laure Colin
- With Jean-Jacques Pauvert (editor and writer)
- Excerpts from texts read by Evelyne Guimmara
- With sound archives and column by François Angelier
- A day in the singular – Jean-Jacques Pauvert for the publication ofStory of O June 15, 1954 (first broadcast: 01/10/1993 France Culture)
- Web edition: Radio France documentation
- Ina-Radio France Archive
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