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Histoire d'O (English title: Story of O) is an erotic novel published in 1954 about sadomasochism by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage. Desclos did not reveal herself to be the author until four years before her death, forty years after its initial publication. Desclos said that she had written the novel as a series of love letters to her lover Jean Paulhan who admired the work of the Marquis de Sade.

Published in French, by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, éditeur, it is a story of female submission about a beautiful Parisian fashion photographer, O, who is blindfolded, chained, whipped, branded, pierced, made to wear a mask, and taught to be constantly available for oral, vaginal, and anal intercourse.

O's lover, René, brings her to the château of Roissy, where she is trained to serve the men of an élite group. After that, O moves through a series of increasingly harsh masters, from René to Sir Stephen to the Commander. At the climax, O appears as a slave, nude but for an owl-like mask, before a large party of guests.

In February 1955, it won the French literature prize Prix des Deux Magots, although this did not prevent the French authorities bringing obscenity charges against the publisher. The charges were rejected by the courts, but a publicity ban was imposed for a number of years. The prose style is terse, simple, and blunt. Rhetorical devices are avoided, although several levels of symbolism can be inferred.

The first English edition was published by Grove Press, Inc. in 1965. Eliot Fremont-Smith (of the New York Times) called its publishing "a significant event." A sequel was published in 1969 in French, again with Jean-Jacques Pauvert, éditeur, Retour à Roissy (Return to Roissy, but often translated as Return to the Chateau, Continuing the Story of O). It was published again by Grove Press, Inc., in 1971. It is not known whether this work is by the same author as the original. The English edition is published by Grove Press, as An Evergreen Black Cat Book, printed in the United States, and distributed by Random House, Inc., New York.

A critical view of the novel is that it is about the ultimate objectification of a woman. The heroine of the novel has the shortest possible name, consisting solely of the letter O. Although this is in fact a shortening of the name Odile, it could also stand for "object" or "orifice", an O being a symbolic representation of any "hole".(read more . . . )