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The Fatal Woman: Three Tales
John Glassco is a stylist of international reputation and has won the Governor-General’s award for both poetry and non-fiction. Readers who know his brilliant Memoirs of Montparnasse will be delighted to find the same sophistication, skill and power at work in these fictional pieces.
The figure of the femme fatale - seductive, cruel, irresistible - dominates these three novellas. In The black helmet the fatal woman is disguised as a governess whose disciplinary force and ridged bathing cap entice a passive young dreamer to his awakening and apotheosis. In The Fulfilled Destiny of Electra two fatal women, a mother and daughter bound by passion to the same lover, slowly destroy the body and soul of their man. Lust in Action glances at the future: here, women rule the world, lesbian love is the norm, and imprisoned boys must rebel to prove their manhood only to meet nemesis in the beautiful Marian Hope, female detective extraordinaire.
The fatal woman is a diverting and important book by one of Canada’s most distinguished writers.
The figure of the femme fatale - seductive, cruel, irresistible - dominates these three novellas. In The black helmet the fatal woman is disguised as a governess whose disciplinary force and ridged bathing cap entice a passive young dreamer to his awakening and apotheosis. In The Fulfilled Destiny of Electra two fatal women, a mother and daughter bound by passion to the same lover, slowly destroy the body and soul of their man. Lust in Action glances at the future: here, women rule the world, lesbian love is the norm, and imprisoned boys must rebel to prove their manhood only to meet nemesis in the beautiful Marian Hope, female detective extraordinaire.
The fatal woman is a diverting and important book by one of Canada’s most distinguished writers.
172 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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About the author
John Glassco
29 books11 followersHe also published under the pseudonyms Miles Underwood, Sylvia Bayer, George Colman and Jean De Saint-Luc.
John Glassco was a Canadian poet, memoirist, novelist and translator. Glassco will be remembered for his brilliant autobiography, his elegant, classical poems, his translations and his erotica.
See also Encyclopaedia Britannica
John Glassco was a Canadian poet, memoirist, novelist and translator. Glassco will be remembered for his brilliant autobiography, his elegant, classical poems, his translations and his erotica.
See also Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 12, 2016
John Glassco, who I’ve seen rightfully called 'the Canadian Wordsworth', must be one of the most fascinating figures in Canadian literary history. He has used more pseudonyms for his works than I’ve ever come across (e.g. Miles Underwood and Sylvia Bayer) and he was extremely versatile, as he has written gorgeous poetry, a beautiful memoir, a number of essays, a number of erotic works, and also translated a number of books into English. And all with the same enormous skill.
As an example of Glassco’s immense skills, a quote taken from each one of the novellas in The Fatal Woman: Three Tales:
From 'The Black Helmet' (p. 31): “Early next morning the now besotted Mairobert was making his way to the lake again. It was raining now, and everything was sheeted in a warm white mist through which the nightlong drizzle still came softly down, surfeiting the spongy lawn in whose hollows little pools had formed, their surface pricked by the spears of the couch-grass which stuck up like sedge, the air was heavy, breathless and the damp rising from earth and leaf-mould had the sickly acid tang of strawberries just gone bad. He breathed deeply as he walked, hearing the rain pattering on his capped head with the gentle persistence of a shower of light musical notes.”
From 'The fulfilled destiny of Electra' (p. 98): "She raised the lamp higher, letting the yellow light gild her lover’s smooth heavy limbs, marvelling at the ripe exhausted grace of every pose into which they moved and fell, making permanent in her mind, like the changing shape of trees in the wind or the water flowing among rocks, a series of simultaneous visions of a wavering, constant beauty revolving around the glory of his risen sex."
From 'Lust in Action' (p. 123): "It was therefore, on this particular occasion, a great distraction from her woes for Mrs Coxweiler, as she lay on the loveybed with one foot on one side and the other on the other, to see before her a plump pretty young woman wearing only the headgear of her predilection. And when Mary began to tickle her Mrs Coxweiler at once forgot all her troubles, and gasped, and groaned, and grunted, and yelled, and swore, and vociferated, and moaned, and mewed, and cooed, and paid compliments, and chirped, and twittered, and clucked, and bleated like a sheep, and cheered, and roared, and huzzaed, and bounced her big rubbery buttocks up and down and from side to side, until she reached the period of her joy, which occurred in about five minutes, more or less."
John Glassco was a real virtuoso when it came to language. Not only his poems show his wonderful use of language but, as shown by the above quotes, the three novellas that make up The Fatal Woman are also a great example of his masterly skills. If you are looking for the ordinary and more explicit kind of erotic stories, then this book is not for you. But if you love reading beautifully phrased, almost poetic and sometimes erotic prose, then do pick up this book, as it won’t disappoint.
I really, truly enjoyed reading these three beautifully written novellas with their intricately woven stories. And if The Fatal Woman is to be classified as erotica, then whoever thinks literary prose and erotica do not mix is so wrong, as this is a perfect blend: This is erotica at its best!
For a review in Dutch, see No Dutch copy available: Books never translated into Dutch/Flemish.
For more info on John Glassco, see Brian Busby's biography A Gentleman of Pleasure : One Life of John Glassco : Poet, Memoirist, Translator, and Pornographer.
As an example of Glassco’s immense skills, a quote taken from each one of the novellas in The Fatal Woman: Three Tales:
From 'The Black Helmet' (p. 31): “Early next morning the now besotted Mairobert was making his way to the lake again. It was raining now, and everything was sheeted in a warm white mist through which the nightlong drizzle still came softly down, surfeiting the spongy lawn in whose hollows little pools had formed, their surface pricked by the spears of the couch-grass which stuck up like sedge, the air was heavy, breathless and the damp rising from earth and leaf-mould had the sickly acid tang of strawberries just gone bad. He breathed deeply as he walked, hearing the rain pattering on his capped head with the gentle persistence of a shower of light musical notes.”
From 'The fulfilled destiny of Electra' (p. 98): "She raised the lamp higher, letting the yellow light gild her lover’s smooth heavy limbs, marvelling at the ripe exhausted grace of every pose into which they moved and fell, making permanent in her mind, like the changing shape of trees in the wind or the water flowing among rocks, a series of simultaneous visions of a wavering, constant beauty revolving around the glory of his risen sex."
From 'Lust in Action' (p. 123): "It was therefore, on this particular occasion, a great distraction from her woes for Mrs Coxweiler, as she lay on the loveybed with one foot on one side and the other on the other, to see before her a plump pretty young woman wearing only the headgear of her predilection. And when Mary began to tickle her Mrs Coxweiler at once forgot all her troubles, and gasped, and groaned, and grunted, and yelled, and swore, and vociferated, and moaned, and mewed, and cooed, and paid compliments, and chirped, and twittered, and clucked, and bleated like a sheep, and cheered, and roared, and huzzaed, and bounced her big rubbery buttocks up and down and from side to side, until she reached the period of her joy, which occurred in about five minutes, more or less."
John Glassco was a real virtuoso when it came to language. Not only his poems show his wonderful use of language but, as shown by the above quotes, the three novellas that make up The Fatal Woman are also a great example of his masterly skills. If you are looking for the ordinary and more explicit kind of erotic stories, then this book is not for you. But if you love reading beautifully phrased, almost poetic and sometimes erotic prose, then do pick up this book, as it won’t disappoint.
I really, truly enjoyed reading these three beautifully written novellas with their intricately woven stories. And if The Fatal Woman is to be classified as erotica, then whoever thinks literary prose and erotica do not mix is so wrong, as this is a perfect blend: This is erotica at its best!
For a review in Dutch, see No Dutch copy available: Books never translated into Dutch/Flemish.
For more info on John Glassco, see Brian Busby's biography A Gentleman of Pleasure : One Life of John Glassco : Poet, Memoirist, Translator, and Pornographer.
June 11, 2025
Smut and trash!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews