"The Ties that Bind" by Vanessa Duries

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Tanos
Posted by Tanos on Wed 24 Jan 07, 12:03 AM

"Le Lien" ("The Bond" or "The Link") is an autobiographical account of a BDSM relationship by Frenchwoman Vanessa Duries. Following it's publication in 1993, she shot to fame and notoriety, and even appeared on French television, before dying in a car crash in the December of the same year, at the age of 21. I had high hopes based on reviews of the French original, but I'm quite disappointed.

Putting together the www.100bdsmbooks.com site is what prompted me to order the "The Ties that Bind" translation of "Le Lien". Duries presents her relationship with her master, Pierre, as one of slavery, and it's always in the top handful of best selling BDSM books in French.

However, the narrative of the book almost exclusively consists of blow by blow accounts of SM and sexual play, and although there are some thoughtful sentences, and even paragraphs, their relationship comes across as part time BDSM play and swinging rather than M/s in our sense - that is, of ownership.

For example, the frequently quoted comment that "sadomasochism is an art, a philosophy, a cultural space prohibited to liars and sworn hypocrites" (which sounds great), is really just the punchline to a catalogue of the various frustrations and timewasters Pierre encountered when driving Duries around France in response to personal ads. It is not, for example, a summary of any artistry, philosophy or culture which Duries had presented in that chapter.

Even worse is the strong element of the prima donna: displayed, for instance, at an swingers club in Toulouse. "By an artful pirouette I wrapped myself around his arm and removed my jacket. I was naked in front of the dancers, who were struck by amazement. ... Then, having judged that none of the witnesses gathered there was worthy of sharing our complicity - we felt negative and even aggressive waves - Pierre threw my black jacket over my shoulder and we left that place and those mediocre people to be together again amorously."

So in summary, I have the very strong feeling that this book's reputation is really based on voyeuristic vanilla curiosity amongst reviewers, rather than its insights into the psychology or philosophy of BDSM, or the feelings of a consensual female slave.


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