The book shares the story of Gigi, also known as Djinn, who is being schooled by her father to be a perfect slave and mistress. Running the gamut of unacceptable subject matter from incest to torture, this book abounds with vignettes exploring taboos and their representation in fiction, from the Brothers Grimm to the Marquis de Sade. It is titillating and disgusting, the work of a dirty old man, or brilliant agent provocateur--or both.
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In France, Alain Robbe-Grillet's final novel was sold in shrinkwrap, labeled with a sticker warning readers that this perverse fairy tale might offend certain sensibilities.
The book shares the story of Gigi, also known as Djinn, who is being schooled by her father to be a perfect slave and mistress. Running the gamut of unacceptable subject matter from incest to torture, this book abounds with vignettes exploring taboos and their representation in fiction, from the Brothers Grimm to the Marquis de Sade. It is titillating and disgusting, the work of a dirty old man, or brilliant agent provocateur–or both.
"What constitutes pornography is very much in the eye of the beholder, but there is little doubt that this is an openly and joyfully pornographic book, in that it turns into an unbound celebration of deviancy at its most explicit and imaginative" – The Guardian
"A short novel, published in France the year before his death in 2008, it is a studied exercise in obscenity, an homage to the Marquis de Sade that goes well beyond what the 18th-Century libertarian came up with, even in his 120 Days of Sodom" – Jonathan Gibbs, The Independent