Emmanuelle II

by Emmanuelle Arsan

For a moment, Mario seems lost in reverie about an epoch which Emmanuelle knows he would have liked to live in.

I'd like to think the narrator is aware Mario is full of himself.

She looks at him for a while, as if waiting. Her eyelids move, once or twice; then she closes her eyes and sits there, motionless.

Were this not followed by Emmanuelle stripping as per several pages of Mario's filibuster, I'd say her reaction was BlinkingWhiteGuy.gif

“Two women seems to make more sense to me, seeing that you’re Lesbian.

They knew what bisexuality was when this book was written, right?

“The universe,” said Emmanuelle, “is just a cold, smooth piece of percale: we’ve put in a few pleats to make it more pleasing. Or, at least, that’s what we tell ourselves, in order to leave our own mark upon it.” “The great flatiron of time will take care of that. Come back in a couple of hundred millennia and tell me if you’ll see any trace left of your dressmaker’s art!” “Well, perhaps love won’t be there any more,” said Emmanuelle, “but its traces will remain, all right.”

I think this makes the difference between Emmanuelle and Mario. Mario wouldn't be willing to consider love to be a light thrown into the future - Emmanuelle, in her idealism, her empathy, and her compassion, does.

“Remember what one expert said: Incest strengthens family ties, and thus it furthers the citizens’ devotion to their fatherland.” Ariane winked. “The family that lays together stays together.”

I kinda want to know if this quote was manufactured for the book.

“All art is work, first of all. Do you expect to live out your life without ever working?”

I appreciate the book recognizing that sex work is work, but I also feel like I could have done without Mario's condescending view of prostitution. People can (and should) be able to select their partners, and to vet them based on concerns over STDs and whether prospective partners will respect their boundaries (also, Mario isn't really into partners having boundaries, in context, which is also gross).

They have nothing but praise for the woman who rents out her body to be a beast of burden or a machine slave—or even exposes it as a photographer’s model: and no one finds their moral sense outraged by the fact that her employer remunerates her for such services, which are physical services, at that! But it is not legitimate, it is not decent, it is downright sinful, it is not meritorious, it is obscene, sordid, shocking, sacrilegious, if she decides to utilize the most delightful faculties of her body! Does that mean that it is less dignified to make love than to sit typing arrest warrants?” “But if all women were such gallant ladies, who would answer the phone?” “Are those two functions so incompatible? The only secretaries I have any respect for are those who whore.”

Mario shifts back and forth between making a valid point ("Sex work is work and should be treated with the same dignity and respect by society as any other work") and being spectacularly shitty ("I don't respect women who don't prostitute themselves") This book was so much better when Mario either wasn't present, or the book was actively taking the piss out of him.

Although the establishment does not want to encourage this practice, as it complicates bookkeeping and thus causes additional expenses, a woman may choose to visit only for the time it takes to service one single patron, if she so desires: but, if she does, she must leave the house in his company. If this arrangement does not suit her, or if the patron is disinclined to take her along, she is obliged to receive further clients as assigned to her by the secretary. Furthermore, if her first assignment is to entertain a group of clients, she has to accomplish this task, even if she has come in the expectation of a single encounter: in this case, the group of clients is regarded as a single entity. Generally speaking, the secretary is in the best position to decide what is best suited for everyone, in number as well as in quality, and it is recommended that one submits to her authority. The discretionary powers she is invested with are entirely due to her long experience and competence. Despite the considerable rights granted to the employees by the establishment, there are a considerable number of qualifications. It goes without saying that a woman may run the risk of accidentally meeting one of her close friends, or even her husband, in the capacity of a patron. This situation does not in any way contradict the house rules, as long as the due payments are made, and the management does not accept any liability for the prejudices and complications that may ensue from such coin...

This got weirdly bureaucratic.

What I call marriage is the desire of two humans to create something that will turn out to be greater than what they created. —Friedrich Nietzsche

I don't associate truly romantic thoughts with Nietzsche, but I'm glad to be proven wrong.

That night Emmanuelle deflowered Anna Maria.

It's interesting that this scene is not described.