The literature of SM seems to have started with poetry: the exquisite, transformative agony of one-sided love as described in "courtly love" sonnets, a French tradition said to have started as early as 1000 AD, and in religious poetry about the suffering and devotion of saints. Then there was the savagely satirical fiction written by the Marquis de Sade on the eve of the French Revolution. The classic novel of female domination, Venus in Furs, appeared in the nineteenth century, and its author, Sacher-Masoch, suffered more than he wished for when he came to be associated with the newly-diagnosed psychological "illness" which was named after him; he had hoped to be remembered for his literary skill. The Story of O, a Frenchwoman's tribute to her lover, appeared under a pen name in 1954, and was widely believed to be the work of a male chauvinist. Before the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s, these were the classic texts of "perversion."
Times have changed. Literature on specialized sexual tastes which were formerly veiled in metaphors and Latin words is now clear, thorough, often written as non-fiction, and easily available on Web sites. Although certain writers of SM fiction have carried on the literary traditions of their predecessors, the current classic texts are how-to manuals that are often recommended for beginners. As useful as this material is, it leaves out the poetry of the earlier works. Some concepts still seem better-expressed in the form of teaching stories.
Kushiel's Dart is a big (700-page) novel that refers to an older French literary tradition while reconstructing French history. In this setting, an attraction to pain is a spiritual gift from a dark angel, Kushiel (the Punisher of God), who presides over a rocky coastal region in the area of real-life Normandy. (A map is provided.) The novel plausibly presents a feudal, non-Christian Europe in which the shifting alliances and power struggles called "the game of thrones" resemble a complicated chess game.
Phèdre, the heroine, seems equally blessed and cursed to live dangerously. Her hapless parents, who unknowingly named her after a doomed character in Greek tragedy, are forced to give her up to be raised as a courtesan in the Night Court, a network of houses which combine the functions of a temple with those of a bordello. Phèdre is revealed to be both a quick study and an anguissette, a masochist from birth, and she is chosen for her qualities by a scholarly nobleman who trains her to be a spy.
The adventures of Phèdre as a young woman who has vowed to follow her spiritual calling as a "Servant of Naamah" (a kind of whore-goddess) is a wild epic that deserves to be read by fans of SM fiction who like being made to think as well as feel. Rarely has a prostitute character been drawn with such moral integrity and determination. Her clients, her friends, and her enemies are all equally memorable and complex. Although the plot of this novel builds to a climax in a spectacular battle that determines the fate of the known world (much like that of The Lord of the Rings), there is no simple division between Good Guys and Bad Guys.
Although Phèdre, her foster-brother Alcuin, her best friend Hyacinthe, and even the heiress to the national throne, Ysandre de la Courcel, are all shown to have been "marked" or fated in different ways from birth, the conscious choices they make are all enormously important. In this way, the author avoids taking an easy position in the Nature vs. Nurture debate on what causes individuals to do what they do. Even in a culture in which one's role is more predetermined than it is for most of us now, foresight, close observation, and a willingness to seize opportunities are shown to be as important in life as they are in poker or chess.
Patrick Califia (formerly Pat), a well-known writer of SM erotica, once admitted in print that he "tops" the reader. As both an avid reader and writer, this reviewer has noticed that writers tend to do that to their audience as a matter of course; what other relationship could exist between writer and reader?
In Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Cary plays with the reader's mind as her characters play such games with each other. We are led into unexpected plot twists, disappointing defeats, and miraculous victories. We are encouraged to admire characters who are then murdered or betrayed or revealed to be more sinister or more gullible than they first appear. We are also uncomfortably led to share Phèdre's mixed feelings about a beautiful and calculating Kusheline (i.e. sadistic) noblewoman, Melisande, who plays a political and sexual game that is "deep and subtle," in the words of another character.
Phèdre and her sworn bodyguard, Joscelin (a kind of warrior-priest who initially despises her) are betrayed into slavery. While the "enslaved in a foreign land" scenes somewhat resemble those in Anne Rice's "Beauty" novels, which in turn draw on the erotic tradition of the "Arabian Nights" stories, Phèdre's slavery among the "Skaldi" (Vikings) is distinct in several ways. Although ravished by sexy and powerful men, she never dissolves into willing passivity. Her enslavement gives her the chance to develop a bond with her fellow-slave in ways that probably could not have happened otherwise, and together, they are able to gain valuable information which eventually enables them to save their beloved country of Terre d'Ange (Land of the Angel).
The "dart," the blood-red mote in Phèdre's eye that indicates her nature and which gives the book its title, takes on layers of significance as the plot thickens. Warfare in this novel is literally fought with deadly "darts" or arrows, and love or attraction often feels like a dart wound to those afflicted. Moral values and spiritual vows are shown to be valuable sources of emotional support, but life shoots a hail of darts into any simple belief system. Like a dart fired from an invisible bow, the outcome of events often appears in retrospect to have followed a direct path which was not recognized at the time.
In short, this novel is so satisfying that this reviewer plans to read the two sequels, Kushiel's Chosen and Kushiel's Avatar, despite having no spare time to read for pleasure. The series promises to be worthy of serious discussion, so stay tuned for more reviews.
Jean Roberta is the thin-disguise pen name of an English instructor at a Canadian prairie university. Her erotic stories have appeared in three volumes of Best Lesbian Erotica (2000, 2001, 2004) and two of Best Women's Erotica (2000, 2003) from Cleis Press, two Wicked Words collections (3 and 8) from Black Lace in England, in Shameless: Women's Intimate Erotica (Seal Press), now in its second printing, in Blasphemy: Erotic Religious Horror (Massacre Publications, Scotland, 2004), and many other anthologies, print journals and websites. Look for her reviews/editorials column, In My Jeans," on the Web site Blue Food, edited by David Salcido. Her BDSM novel, Prairie Gothic, is in the catalogue of e-publisher Amatory Ink.
Current Reviews
Return to the table of contents for the other current reviews
