Desire

Passages

Every passage tagged with this emotion in the Vela corpus. Search the body text, narrow by source or register, click through to a book’s profile to see how the passage sits with the rest of the work.

Page 78 of 344 · 20 per page

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  he landed a job demonstrating the tango in fancy restaurants, and changed his native hills, and Ida his name to the more evocative Rodolpho di Valentina. A year later he where he had been brought moved to Los Angeles: he wanted to try to make it in Hollywood. up, and for the sheer joy of Now known as Rudolph Valentino, Guglielmi appeared as an extra in travelling visited remote places. . . .He went as far several low-budget pictures. He eventually landed a somewhat larger role in as the cities of Lycia, and the 1919 film Eyes of Youth, in which he played a seducer, and caught on to the Carians, who women's attention by how different a seducer he was: his movements were dwell nearby. In this region he spied a pool of water, so graceful and delicate, his skin so smooth and his face so pretty that when clear that he could see right he swooped down on his victim and drowned her protests with a kiss, he to the bottom. . . . The seemed more thrilling than sinister. Next came The Four Horsemen of the water was like crystal, and the edges of the pool were Apocalypse, in which Valentino played the male lead, Julio the playboy, and ringed with fresh turf and became an overnight sex symbol through a tango sequence in which he se- grass that was always duced a young woman by leading her through the dance. The scene encap- green. A nymph [ Salmacis] dwelt sulated the essence of his appeal: his feet smooth and fluid, his poise almost there. . . . Often she would feminine, combined with an air of control. Female members of the audi- gather flowers, and it so ence literally swooned as he raised a married woman's hands to his lips, or happened that she was shared the fragrance of a rose with his lover. He seemed so much more at- engaged in this pastime when she caught sight of tentive to women than other men did; but mixed in with this delicacy was the boy, Hermaphroditus. a hint of cruelty and menace that drove women wild. As soon as she had seen In his most famous film, The Sheik, Valentino played an Arab prince him, she longed to possess him. . . .She addressed (later revealed to be a Scottish lord abandoned in the Sahara as a baby) who him: "Fair boy, you surely rescues a proud English lady in the desert, then conquers her in a manner deserve to be thought a 43 44 • The Art of Seduction god. If you are, perhaps that borders on rape. When she asks, "Why have you brought me here?," you may be Cupid? . . . If

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  magic, many times worse Society and culture are based on limits—this kind of behavior is acceptable, that is not. The limits are fluid and change with time, but there are always limits. The alternative is anarchy, the lawlessness of nature, which we than before; their need for one another was more dread. But we are strange animals: the moment any kind of limit is im- Stir Up the Transgressive and Taboo • 355 posed, physically or psychologically, we are instantly curious. A part of us painful and urgent than it wants to go beyond that limit, to explore what is forbidden. had ever been. • . . . Women do lots of things If, as children, we are told not to go past a certain point in the woods, just because they are that is precisely where we want to go. But we grow older, and become po- forbidden, which they lite and deferential; more and more boundaries encumber our lives. Do not would certainly not do if they were not confuse politeness with happiness, however. It covers up frustration, un- forbidden. . . . Our Lord wanted compromise. How can we explore the shadow side of our person-God gave Eve the freedom ality without incurring punishment or ostracism? It seeps out in our to do what she would with dreams. We sometimes wake up with a sense of guilt at the murder, incest, all the fruits, flowers, and plants there were in adultery, and mayhem that goes on in our dreams, until we realize no one Paradise, except for only needs to know about it but ourselves. But give a person the sense that with one, which he forbade you they will have a chance to explore the outer reaches of acceptable, po- her to touch on pain of death. . . . She look the lite behavior, that with you they can vent some of their closeted person- fruit and broke God's ality, and you create the ingredients for a deep and powerful seduction. commandment . . . but it You will have to go beyond the point of merely teasing them with an is my firm belief now that Eve would never have done elusive fantasy. The shock and seductive power will come from the reality this, if she had not been of what you are offering them. Like Byron, at a certain point you can even forbidden to. press it further than they may want to go. If they have followed you merely —GOTTFRIED VON STRASSBURG, out of curiosity, they may feel some fear and hesitation, but once they are TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, QUOTED hooked, they will fond you hard to resist, for it is hard to return to a limit IN ANDREA HOPKINS, THE BOOK OF COURTLY LOVE once you have transgressed and gone past it. The human cries out for more, and does not know when to stop. You will determine for them when it is time to stop. One of Monsieur Leopold

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  spond to a deep-rooted childhood ideal, or represent some kind of personal travelling; the wife of a jeweler; a jealous woman; taboo that excites you, or suggest the person you imagine you would be if a covetous woman. you were the opposite sex. When a person has such a deep effect on you, it — THE HINDI: ART OF LOVE, transforms all of your subsequent maneuvers. Your face and gestures be-EDITED BY EDWARD WINDSOR come more animated. You have more energy; when victims resist you (as a good victim should) you in turn will be more creative, more motivated to overcome their resistance. The seduction will move forward like a good Leisure stimulates love, play. Your strong desire will infect the target and give them the dangerous leisure watches the sensation that they have a power over you. Of course, you are the one ulti-lovelorn, \ Leisure's the cause and sustenance of mately in control since you are making your victims emotional at the right this sweet \ Evil. moments, leading them back and forth. Good seducers choose targets that Eliminate leisure, and inspire them but they know how and when to restrain themselves. Cupid's bow is broken, \ His torches lie lightless, Never rush into the waiting arms of the first person who seems to like scorned. \ As a plane-tree you. That is not seduction but insecurity. The need that draws you will rejoices in wine, as a poplar make for a low-level attachment, and interest on both sides will sag. Look in water, \ As a marsh-reed at the types you have not considered before—that is where you will find in swampy ground, so Venus loves \ Leisure. . . . challenge and adventure. Experienced hunters do not choose their prey by \ Why do you think how easily it is caught; they want the thrill of the chase, a life-and-death Aegisthus \ Became an struggle—the fiercer the better. adulterer? Easy: he was idle— and bored. \ Although the victim who is perfect for you depends on you, certain Everyone else was away at types lend themselves to a more satisfying seduction. Casanova liked young Troy on a lengthy \ women who were unhappy, or had suffered a recent misfortune. Such Campaign: all Greece had shipped \ Its contingent women appealed to his desire to play the savior, but it also responded to ne-across. Suppose he cessity: happy people are much harder to seduce. Their contentment makes hankered for warfare? them inaccessible. It is always easier to fish in troubled waters. Also, an air Argos \ Had no wars to of sadness is itself quite seductive—Genji, the hero of the Japanese novel offer. Suppose he fancied the courts? \ Argos lacked

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  dress, which revealed her figure. A piece of muslin covered her breasts, let- and without paying ting him more than imagine them. Her hair, unfashionable in its slight dis- attention to my order, conjured the bedroom. And her face—he had never noticed how surroundings, although my reconnoitering glance left-expressive it was. Her features lit up when she gave alms to a beggar; she nothing unobserved— and blushed at the slightest praise. She was so natural and unself-conscious. And then my eyes fell upon her. when she talked of her husband, or religious matters, he could sense the My eyes fixed unswervingly upon her. depth of her feelings. If such a passionate nature were ever detoured into a They no longer obeyed love affair. . . . their master's will; it was Valmont extended his stay at the château, much to the delight of his impossible for me to shift my gaze and thus overlook aunt, who could not have guessed at the reason. And he wrote to the Mar- the object I wanted to quise de Merteuil, explaining his new ambition: to seduce Madame de see— I did not look, I Tourvel. The Marquise was incredulous. He wanted to seduce this prude? stared. As a fencer freezes If he succeeded, how little pleasure she would give him, and if he failed, in his lunge, so my eyes were fixed, petrified in the what a disgrace—the great libertine unable to seduce a wife whose husband direction initially taken. It was far away! She wrote a sarcastic letter, which only inflamed Valmont fur- was impossible to look 169 170 • The Art of Seduction down, impossible to ther. The conquest of this notoriously virtuous woman would prove his withdraw my glance, greatest seduction. His reputation would only be enhanced. impossible to see, because I There was an obstacle, though, that seemed to make success almost im-saw far too much. The only thing I have retained possible: everyone knew Valmont's reputation, including the Présidente. is that she had on a green She knew how dangerous it was to ever be alone with him, how people cloak, that is all—o ne would talk about the least association with him. Valmont did everything could call it capturing the cloud instead of Juno; she to belie his reputation, even going so far as to attend church services and has escaped me . . .and seem repentant of his ways. The Présidente noticed, but still kept her dis-left only her cloak tance. The challenge she presented to Valmont was irresistible, but could he behind. . . . The girl made meet it? an impression on me. • The sixteenth • . . . I feel

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  Marilyn Monroe loved the effect her body could have on the male libido. make you victorious in all your battles, as well She tuned her physical presence like an instrument, making herself reek of as the handsomest and sex and gaining a glamorous, larger-than-life appearance. Other women wisest man in the world." knew just as many tricks for heightening their sexual appeal, but what sepa- • " I am a humble rated Marilyn from them was an unconscious element. Her background The Siren • 11 had deprived her of something critical: affection. Her deepest need was to herdsman, not a soldier," feel loved and desired, which made her seem constantly vulnerable, like a said Paris. . . . "But I promise to consider fairly little girl craving protection. She emanated this need for love before the your claim to the apple. camera; it was effortless, coming from somewhere real and deep inside. A Now you are at liberty to look or gesture that she did not intend to arouse desire would do so doubly put on your clothes and powerfully just because it was unintended—its innocence was precisely helmet again. Is Aphrodite ready?" • Aphrodite sidled what excited a man. up to him, and Paris The Sex Siren has a more urgent and immediate effect than the Spec- blushed because she came tacular Siren does. The incarnation of sex and desire, she does not bother so close that they were almost touching. • "Look to appeal to extraneous senses, or to create a theatrical buildup. Her time carefully, please, pass never seems to be taken up by work or chores; she gives the impression that nothing over. . . . By the she lives for pleasure and is always available. What separates the Sex Siren way, as soon as I saw you, I said to myself: 'Upon my from the courtesan or whore is her touch of innocence and vulnerability. word, there goes the The mix is perversely satisfying: it gives the male the critical illusion that he handsomest young man in is a protector, the father figure, although it is actually the Sex Siren who Phrygia! Why does he waste himself here in the controls the dynamic. wilderness herding stupid A woman doesn't have to be born with the attributes of a Marilyn cattle?' Well, why do you, Monroe to fill the role of the Sex Siren. Most of the physical elements are Paris? Why not move into a construction; the key is the air of schoolgirl innocence. While one part of a city and lead a civilized life? What have you to lose you seems to scream sex, the other part is coy and naive, as if you were in- by marrying someone like capable of understanding the effect you are having. Your walk, your voice, Helen of Sparta, who is as your manner are delightfully ambiguous—you are both the experienced, beautiful as I am, and no less passionate? . . . I

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  covers of the tabloids. The other actress was younger and prettier, but so that it is from her that Perón could not take his eyes off Eva, who was talking to another colonel. everything proceeds as he She was really not his type at all. She was twenty-four, far too old for his wants it— he is and remains a bungler. . . . taste; she was dressed rather garishly; and there was something a little icy in To poetize oneself into a her manner. But she looked at him occasionally, and her glance excited girl is an art. him. He looked away for a moment, and the next thing he knew she had —SØREN KIERKEGAARD, changed seats and was sitting next to him. They started to talk. She hung THE SEDUCER'S DIARY, TRANSLATED BY HOWARD V. on his every word. Yes, everything he said was precisely how she felt—the HONG; AND EDNA H. HONG; poor, the workers, they were the future of Argentina. She had known poverty herself. There were almost tears in her eyes when she said, at the end of the conversation, "Thank you for existing." What else? If she's out, In the next few days, Eva managed to get rid of Perón's "daughter" and reclining in her litter, \ establish herself in his apartment. Everywhere he turned, there she was, Make your approach discreet, \ And— just to fox fixing him meals, caring for him when he was ill, advising him on politics. the sharp ears of those Why did he let her stay? Usually he would have a fling with a superficial around you— \ Cleverly young girl, then get rid of her when she seemed to be sticking around too riddle each phrase \ With much. But there was nothing superficial about Eva. As time went by he ambiguous subtleties. If she's taking a leisurely \ found himself getting addicted to the feeling she gave him. She was in- Stroll down the colonnade, tensely loyal, mirroring his every idea, puffing him up endlessly. He felt then you stroll there too— more masculine in her presence, that was it, and more powerful—she be- \ Vary your pace to hers, march ahead, drop behind lieved he would make the country's ideal leader, and her belief affected her, \ Dawdling and brisk him. She was like the women in the tango ballads he loved so much—the by turns. Be bold, \ Dodge suffering women of the streets who became saintly mother figures and in round the columns between you, brush your looked after their men. Perón saw her every day, but he never felt he fully person \ Lingeringly past knew her; one day her comments were a little obscene, the next she was hers. You must never fail \ 279 280 • The Art of Seduction

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  Consider instead the power of insinuation and suggestion. It requires some handsome, his clothes are patience and art, but the results are more than worth it. brown and elegantly cut, The way insinuation works is simple: disguised in a banal remark or en-and, possibly because he is unaware of my resolute counter, a hint is dropped. It is about some emotional issue—a possible nature, he appears to have pleasure not yet attained, a lack of excitement in a person's life. The hint laid siege to me. He turns registers in the back of the target's mind, a subtle stab at his or her insecuri-up infallibly whenever I either look out of my ties; its source is quickly forgotten. It is too subtle to be memorable at the window or stand at the time, and later, when it takes root and grows, it seems to have emerged front door or leave the naturally from the target's own mind, as if it was there all along. Insinuation house, and I am surprised, lets you bypass people's natural resistance, for they seem to be listening only in fact, that he is not here now. Needless to say, I am to what has originated in themselves. It is a language on its own, communi-very upset about all this, cating directly with the unconscious. No seducer, no persuader, can hope because his sort of conduct to succeed without mastering the language and art of insinuation. frequently gives an honest woman a bad name, even A strange man once arrived at the court of Louis XV. No one knew though she is quite anything about him, and his accent and age were unplaceable. He called innocent. • " . . . For the himself Count Saint-Germain. He was obviously wealthy; all kinds of gems love of God, therefore, I implore you to speak to and diamonds glittered on his jacket, his sleeves, his shoes, his fingers. He him severely and persuade could play the violin to perfection, paint magnificently. But the most in-him to refrain from his toxicating thing about him was his conversation. importunities. There are In truth, the count was the greatest charlatan of the eighteenth plenty of other women who doubtless find this sort of century—a man who had mastered the art of insinuation. As he spoke, a thing amusing, and who word here and there would slip out—a vague allusion to the philosopher's will enjoy being ogled and stone, which turned base metal into gold, or to the elixir of life. He did not spied upon by him, but I personally have no say he possessed these things, but he made you associate him with their inclination for it powers. Had he simply claimed to have them, no one would have believed whatsoever, and I find his him and people would have turned away. The count might refer to a man behavior exceedingly disagreeable." • And

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  young girls had charged Errol Flynn with rape. Nora of course noticed Flynn, a tall, dashing man who occasionally bought cigarettes from her, but her thoughts were with her boyfriend, a young Marine. A few weeks later Flynn was acquitted, the trial ended, and the place settled down. A man she Satni, the son of Pharaoh Usimares, saw a very had met during the trial called her up one day: he was Flynn's right-hand beautiful woman on the man, and on Flynn's behalf, he wanted to invite her up to the actor's house plain-stones of the temple. on Mulholland Drive. Nora had no interest in Flynn, and in fact she was a He called his page, and said, "Go and tell her that little afraid of him, but a girlfriend who was dying to meet him talked her I, Pharaoh's son, shall give into going and bringing her along. What did she have to lose? Nora agreed her ten pieces of gold to to go. On the day, Flynn's friend showed up and drove them to a splendid spend an hour with me." "I am a Pure One, I am house on top of a hill. When they arrived, Flynn was standing shirtless by not a low person," answers his swimming pool. He came to greet her and her girlfriend, moving so the Lady Thubuit. "If you gracefully—like a lithe cat—and his manner so relaxed, she felt her jitters wish to have your pleasure melt away. He gave them a tour of the house, which was full of artifacts of with me, you will come to my house at Bubastis. his various sea voyages. He talked so delightfully of his love of adventure Everything will be ready that she wished she had had adventures of her own. He was the perfect there." Satni went to gentleman, and even let her talk about her boyfriend without the slightest Bubastis by boat. "By my life," said Thubuit, "come sign of jealousy. upstairs with me." On the Nora had a visit from her boyfriend the next day. Somehow he didn't upper floor, sanded with seem so interesting anymore; they had a fight and broke up on the spot. dust of lapis lazuli and turquoise, Satni saw That night, Flynn took her out on the town, to the famous Mocambo several beds covered with nightclub. He was drinking and joking, and she fell into the spirit, and hap-royal linen and many gold 400 • The Art of Seduction bowls on a table. "Please pily let him touch her hand. Then suddenly she panicked. "I'm a Catholic take your meal," said and a virgin," she blurted out, "and some day I'm going to walk down the Thubuit. "That is not church aisle wearing a veil—and if you think you're going to sleep with what I have come to do," answered Satni, while the me, you're mistaken." Totally calm and unruffled, Flynn said she had noth-slaves put aromatic wood

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  debasing himself without him, they let him turn their lives upside down, even ruin them. They pre-affecting his social prestige. ferred that fate to the safe confines of marriage. Nothing can replace this In some ways, the situation of women in the early nineteenth century bizarre and powerful has become generalized in the early twenty-first. The outlets for male bad pleasure of being able to say everything, do behavior—war, dirty politics, the institution of mistresses and courtesans— everything, profane and have faded away; today, not just women but men are supposed to be emi-parody without any fear of nently civilized and reasonable. And many have a hard time living up to retribution, remorse, or responsibility. It is a this. As children we are able to vent the darker side of our characters, a side complete revolt against that all of us have. But under pressure from society (at first in the form organized society, his of our parents), we slowly repress the naughty, rebellious, perverse streaks organized, educated self and especially his in our characters. To get along, we learn to repress our dark sides, which religion." Monsieur become a kind of lost self, a part of our psyche buried beneath our polite Mauclair hears the call of appearance. the Devil in this dark As adults, we secretly want to recapture that lost self—the more adven-passion poetized by Baudelaire. "The turous, less respectful, childhood part of us. We are drawn to those who prostitute represents the live out their lost selves as adults, even if it involves some evil or destruc-unconscious which enables tion. Like Byron, you can become the lightning rod for such desires. You us to put aside our responsibilities." must learn, however, to keep this potential under control, and to use it — N I N A EPTON, strategically. As the aura of the forbidden around you is drawing targets into LOVE AND THE FRENCH your web, do not overplay your dangerousness, or they will be frightened away. Once you feel them falling under your spell, you have freer rein. If they begin to imitate you, as Lady Caroline imitated Byron, then take it further—mix in some cruelty, involve them in sin, crime, taboo activity, Hearts and eye go traveling along the paths that have whatever it takes. Unleash the lost self within them; the more they act it always brought them joy; out, the deeper your hold over them. Going halfway will break the spell and if anyone attempts to and create self-consciousness. Take it as far as you can. spoil their game, he only makes them the more passionate about it, God Baseness attracts everybody. knows. . . . so it was with —JOHANN WOLFGANG GOETHE Tristan and Isolde. As soon as they were forbidden their desires, and prevented from enjoying one another Keys to Seduction by spies and guards, they began to suffer intensely. Desire now seriously tormented them by its

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  Valmont decided to test the waters. One day he arranged a little walk no impatience, for she must with the Présidente and his aunt. He chose a delightful path that they had live here in the city, and at never taken before, but at a certain point they reached a little ditch, unsuit-this moment that is enough for me. This possibility is able for a lady to cross on her own. And yet, Valmont said, the rest of the the condition for the proper walk was too nice for them to turn back, and he gallantly picked up his appearance of her image— aunt in his arms and carried her across the ditch, making the Présidente everything will be enjoyed in slow laugh uproariously. But then it was her turn, and Valmont purposefully drafts. . . . • The picked her up a little awkwardly, so that she caught at his arms, and while nineteenth • Cordelia, he was holding her against him he could feel her heart beating faster, and then, is her name! saw her blush. His aunt saw this too, and cried out, "The child is afraid!" Cordelia! It is a beautiful name, and that, too, is But Valmont sensed otherwise. Now he knew that the challenge could be important, since it can met, that the Présidente could be won. The seduction could proceed. often be very disturbing to have to name an ugly name together with the most tender adjectives. Interpretation. Valmont, the Présidente de Tourvel, and the Marquise de —SØREN KIERKEGAARD, THE Merteuil are all characters in the eighteenth-century French novel Danger-SEDUCER'S DIARY, TRANSLATED ous Liaisons, by Choderlos de Laclos. (The character of Valmont was in-BY HOWARD V. H O N G AND EDNA H . H O N G spired by several real-life libertines of the time, most prominent of all the Duke de Richelieu.) In the story, Valmont worries that his seductions have become mechanical; he makes a move, and the woman almost always responds the same way. But no two seductions should be the same—a differ-Love as understood by Don Juan is a feeling akin ent target should change the whole dynamic. Valmont's problem is that he to a taste for hunting. It is is always seducing the same type—the wrong type. He realizes this when he a craving for an activity meets Madame de Tourvel. which needs an incessant diversity of stimuli to It is not because her husband is a count that he decides to seduce her, challenge skill. or because she is stylishly dressed, or is desired by other men—the usual — S T E N D H A L , L O V E , reasons. He chooses her because, in her unconscious way, she has already TRANSLATED BY GILBERT AND seduced him. A bare arm, an unrehearsed laugh, a playful manner—all SUZANNE SALE

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  The cost of this vast illusion had been enormous, and the war with Turkey would fail, but Potemkin had accomplished his goal. To the obser-vant, of course, there were signs along the way that all was not as it seemed, but when the empress herself insisted that everything was real and glorious, the courtiers could only agree. This was the essence of the seduction: Catherine had wanted so desperately to be seen as a loving and progressive ruler, one who would defeat the Turks and liberate Europe, that when she saw signs of change in the Crimea, her mind filled in the picture. When our emotions are engaged, we often have trouble seeing things as they are. Feelings of love cloud our vision, making us color events to coincide with our desires. To make people believe in the illusions you create, you need to feed the emotions over which they have least control. Often the best way to do this is to ascertain their unsatisfied desires, their wishes crying out for fulfillment. Perhaps they want to see themselves as noble or romantic, but life has thwarted them. Perhaps they want an adventure. If Confuse Desire and Reality— The Perfect Illusion • 303 something seems to validate this wish, they become emotional and irrational, almost to the point of hallucination. Remember to envelop them in your illusion slowly. Potemkin did not start with grand spectacles, but with simple sights along the way, such as grazing cattle. Then he brought them on land, heightening the drama, until the calculated climax when the windows were flung open to reveal a mighty war machine—actually a few thousand men and boats lined up in such a way as to suggest many more. Like Potemkin, involve the target in some kind of journey, physical or otherwise. The feeling of a shared adventure is rife with fantasy associations. Make people feel that they are getting to see and live out something that relates to their deepest yearnings and they will see happy, prosperous villages where there are only facades. Here the real journey through Potemkin's fairyland began. It was like a dream— the waking dream of some magician who had discovered the secret of materializing his visions. . . . [ Catherine] and her companions had left the world of reality behind. . . . Their talk was of Iphigenia and the ancient gods, and Catherine felt that she was both Alexander and Cleopatra. — G I N A KAUS Keys to Seduction

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  this sudden flood of caresses, all her resistance gave way. "From this mo-keeps up an appearance of ment on I am yours," she said, "and you will hear neither refusals nor retaking by storm even that which we are quite grets from my lips." Tourvel was true to her word, and Valmont's suspicions prepared to surrender; and were to prove correct: the pleasures he won from her were far greater than adroitly flatters our two with any other woman he had seduced. favorite passions— the pride of defense and the pleasure of defeat. — M A R Q U I S E DE MERTEUIL IN Interpretation. Valmont—a character in Choderlos de Laclos's eighteenth-CHODERLOS DE LACLOS, century novel Dangerous Liaisons—can sense several things about the Prési-D A N G E R O U S LIAISONS, dente at first glance. She is timid and nervous. Her husband almost TRANSLATED BY P.W.K. STONE IN M I C H E L FEHER, ED., certainly treats her with respect—probably too much of it. Beneath her in-THE LIBERTINE READER terest in God, religion, and virtue is a passionate woman, vulnerable to the lure of a romance and to the flattering attention of an ardent suitor. No one, not even her husband, has given her this feeling, because they have all What sensible man will been so daunted by her prudish exterior. not intersperse his coaxing \ With kisses? Even if she Valmont begins his seduction, then, by being indirect. He knows doesn't kiss back, \ Still Tourvel is secretly fascinated with his bad reputation. By acting as if he is force on regardless! She contemplating a change in his life, he can make her want to reform him—a may struggle, cry desire that is unconsciously a desire to love him. Once she has opened up "Naughty!" \ Yet she wants to be overcome. Just ever so slightly to his influence, he strikes at her vanity: she has never felt Master the Art of the Bold Move • 409 desired as a woman, and on some level cannot help but enjoy his love for take care \ Not to bruise her. Of course she struggles and resists, but that is only a sign that her emo- her tender lips with such hard-snatched kisses, \ tions are engaged. (Indifference is the single most effective deterrent to Don't give her a chance to seduction.) By taking his time, by making no bold moves even when he has protest \ You're too rough. the opportunity for them, he instills in her a false sense of security and Those who grab their kisses, but not what

• From The Annotated Lolita (1991)

  Remember she is only a child, remember she is only— Hardly had the car come to a standstill than Lolita positively flowed into my arms. Not daring, not daring let myself go—not even daring let myself realize that this (sweet wetness and trembling fire) was the beginning of the ineffable life which, ably assisted by fate, I had finally willed into being—not daring really kiss her, I touched her hot, opening lips with the utmost piety, tiny sips, nothing salacious; but she, with an impatient wriggle, pressed her mouth to mine so hard that I felt her big front teeth and shared in the peppermint taste of her saliva. I knew, of course, it was but an innocent game on her part, a bit of backfisch foolery in imitation of some simulacrum of fake romance, and since (as the psychotherapist, as well as the rapist, will tell you) the limits and rules of such girlish games are fluid, or at least too childishly subtle for the senior partner to grasp—I was dreadfully afraid I might go too far and cause her to start back in revulsion and terror. And, as above all I was agonizingly anxious to smuggle her into the hermetic seclusion of The Enchanted Hunters, and we had still eighty miles to go, blessed intuition broke our embrace—a split second before a highway patrol car drew up alongside. Florid and beetle-browed, its driver stared at me: “Happen to see a blue sedan, same make as yours, pass you before the junction?” “Why, no.” “We didn’t,” said Lo, eagerly leaning across me, her innocent hand on my legs, “but are you sure it was blue, because—” The cop ( what shadow of us was he after?) gave the little colleen his best smile and went into a U-turn. We drove on. “The fruithead!” remarked Lo. “He should have nabbed you.” “Why me for heaven’s sake?” “Well, the speed in this bum state is fifty, and—No, don’t slow down, you, dull bulb. He’s gone now.” “We have still quite a stretch,” I said, “and I want to get there before dark. So be a good girl.” “Bad, bad girl,” said Lo comfortably. “Juvenile delickwent, but frank and fetching. That light was red. I’ve never seen such driving. ” We rolled silently through a silent townlet. “Say, wouldn’t Mother be absolutely mad if she found out we were lovers?” “Good Lord, Lo, let us not talk that way.” “But we are lovers, aren’t we?” “Not that I know of. I think we are going to have some more rain. Don’t you want to tell me of those little pranks of yours in camp?” “You talk like a book, Dad.” “What have you been up to?

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  A few nights later, as promised, she appeared at his house. They kissed a night with you isn't and began to undress. He wanted to savor every minute, to take it slowly, worth the risk. but he felt like a caged bull finally set free. He followed her into bed, his — O V I D . THE ART OF LOVE, hands all over her. He started to take off her underwear but it was laced up TRANSLATED BY PETER GREEN in some complicated way. Eventually he had to sit up and take a look: she was wearing some elaborate canvas contraption, of a kind he had never seen. No matter how hard he tugged and pulled, it would not come off. "Certainly," I said, "I He felt like hitting Conchita, he was so distraught, but instead he started to have often told you that pain holds a peculiar cry. She explained: she wanted to do everything with him, yet to remain a attraction for me, and that mozita. This was her protection. Exasperated, he sent her home. nothing kindles my passion Over the next few weeks, Don Mateo began to reassess his opinion of quite so much as tyranny cruelty and above all Conchita. He saw her flirting with other men, and dancing a suggestive fla-unfaithfulness in a menco in a bar: she was not a mozita, he decided, she was playing him for beautiful woman." money. And yet he could not leave her. Another man would take his — L E O P O L D VON SACHER- place—an unbearable thought. She would invite him to spend the night in M A S O C H , VENUS IN FURS, T R A N S L A T E D B Y J E A N M C N E I he L r bed, as long as he promised not to force himself on her; and then, as if to torture him beyond reason, she would get into bed naked (supposedly because of the heat). All this he put up with on the grounds that no other man had such privileges. But one night, pushed to the limits of frustration, he exploded with anger, and issued an ultimatum: either give me what I Mix Pleasure with Pain • 373 want or you will never see me again. Suddenly Conchita started to cry. He Oderint, dum metuant had never seen her cry, and it moved him. She too was tired of all this, she [ Let them hate me so long as they fear me] , as if only said, her voice trembling; if it was not too late, she was ready to accept the fear and hate belong proposal she had once turned down. Set her up in a house, and he would together, whereas fear and see what a devoted mistress she would be. love have nothing to do with each other, as if it

• From My Life and Loves, Vol. 1 (of 4) (1922)

  “We must get up and dress”, she said, “they’ll soon be back”, so I had to content myself with just lying in her arms with my sex touching hers. Soon she began to move against my sex, and to kiss me, and then she bit my lips just as my sex slipped into hers again; she left it in for a long moment and then as her lips grew hot: “it’s so big”, she said, “but you’re a dear.” The moment after she cried: “We must get up, boy! if they caught us, I’d die of shame.” When I tried to divert her attention by kissing her breasts, she pouted, “That hurts too. Please, boy, stop and don’t look”, she added as she tried to rise, covering her sex the while with her hand, and pulling a frowning face. Though I told her she was mistaken and her sex was lovely, she persisted in hiding it, and in truth her breasts and thighs excited me more, perhaps because they were in themselves more beautiful. I put my hand on her hips; she smiled, “Please, boy” and as I moved away to give her room, she got up and stood by the bed, a perfect little figure in rosy, warm outline. I was entranced, but the cursed critical faculty was awake. As she turned, I saw she was too broad for her height; her legs were too short, her hips too stout. It all chilled me a little. Should I ever find perfection? Ten minutes later she had arranged the bed and we were seated in the sitting-room but to my wonder Jessie didn’t want to talk over our experience. “What gave you most pleasure?” I asked. “All of it”, she said, “you naughty dear; but don’t let’s talk of it.” I told her I was going to work for a month, but I couldn’t talk to her: my hand was soon up her clothes again playing with her sex and caressing it, and we had to move apart hurriedly when we heard her sister at the door. I didn’t get another evening alone with Jessie for some time. I asked for it often enough, but Jessie made excuses and her sister was very cold to me. I soon found out it was by her advice that Jessie guarded herself. Jessie confessed that her sister accused her of letting me “act like a husband: she must have seen a stain on my chemise”, Jessie added, “when you made me bleed, you naughty boy; any way something gave her the idea and now you must be good.” That was the conclusion of the whole matter. If I had known as much then as I knew ten years later, neither the pain nor her sister’s warnings could have dissuaded Jessie from giving herself to me. Even at the time I felt that a little more knowledge would have made me the arbiter.

• From My Life and Loves, Vol. 1 (of 4) (1922)

  “I can’t promise”, I said, “it was too sweet; but kiss me and I’ll try to be good.” She kissed me a quick peck and pushed me away. “Didn’t you like it?” I whispered, “I did awfully. I can’t tell you how I thrilled: oh, thank you, Lucille, thank you, you are the sweetest girl in all the world, and I shall always be grateful to you, you dear!” She looked down at me musingly, thoughtfully; I felt I was gaining ground: “You are lovely there”, I ventured in a whisper, “please, dear, what do you call it? I saw ‘chat’ once: is that right, ‘pussy’?” “Don’t talk of it”, she cried impatiently, “I hate to think—” “Be kind, Lucille”, I pleaded, “you’ll never be the same to me again: you were pretty before, chic and provoking, but now you’re sacred. I don’t love you, I adore you, reverence you, darling! May I say ‘pussy’?” “You’re a strange boy”, she said at length, “but you must never do that again; it’s nasty and I don’t like it. I—” “Don’t say such things!” I cried, pretending indignation, “you don’t know what you’re saying—nasty! Look, I’ll kiss the fingers that have touched your pussy”, and I suited the action to the word. “Oh, don’t!” she cried and caught my hand in hers, “don’t!” but somehow she leaned against me at the same time and left her lips on mine. Bit by bit my right hand went down to her sex again, this time on the outside of her dress, but at once she tore herself away and would not let me come near her again. My insane desire had again made me blunder! Yet she had half-yielded, I knew, and that consciousness set me thrilling with triumph and hope, but alas! at that moment we heard Edwards shout to us as he left the house to rejoin us. This experience had two immediate and unlooked for consequences: first of all, I could not sleep that night for thinking of Lucille’s sex; it was like a large fig split in the middle, and set in a mesh of soft hairs: I could feel it still on my fingers and my sex stood stiff and throbbed with desire for it. When I fell asleep I dreamed of Lucille, dreamed that she had yielded to me and I was pushing my sex into hers; but there was some obstacle and while I was pushing, pushing, my seed spirted in an orgasm of pleasure—and at once I awoke and, putting down my hand, found that I was still coming: the sticky, hot, milk-like sperm was all over my hairs and prick.

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  passion kindled the very gap, they will have to come to you. You can befriend them, as Lauzun did marrow of his bones. This the Grande Mademoiselle, moving steadily closer while always maintaining girl was not one who spent the distance appropriate for friends of the opposite sex. You can also play her time in spinning soft fibers of wool, or in cat and mouse with them, first seeming interested, then stepping back— arranging her hair in actively luring them to follow you into your web. Whatever you do, and different styles. She was whatever kind of seduction you are practicing, you must at all cost avoid one of Diana's warriors, the natural tendency to crowd your targets. Do not make the mistake of wearing her tunic pinned together with a brooch, her thinking they will lose interest unless you apply pressure, or that they will tresses carelessly caught enjoy a flood of attention. Too much attention early on will actually just back by a white ribbon, suggest insecurity, and raise doubts as to your motives. Worst of all, it gives and carrying in her hand a light javelin or her your targets no room for imagination. Take a step back; let the thoughts bow. . . . • The sun on you are provoking come to them as if they were their own. This is doubly high had passed its zenith, important if you are dealing with someone who has a deep effect on you. when she entered a grove whose trees had never felt We can never really understand the opposite sex. They are always mys-the axe. Here she took her terious to us, and it is this mystery that provides the tension so delightful in quiver from her shoulders, seduction; but it is also a source of unease. Freud famously wondered what unstrung her pliant bow, and lay down on the women really wanted; even to this most insightful of psychological turf, resting her head on thinkers, the opposite sex was a foreign land. For both men and women, her painted quiver. When there are deep-rooted feelings of fear and anxiety in relation to the oppo-Jupiter saw her thus, tired site sex. In the initial stages of a seduction, then, you must find ways to and unprotected, he said: "Here is a secret of calm any sense of mistrust that the other person may experience. (A sense which my wife will know of danger and fear can heighten the seduction later on, but if you stir such nothing; or if she does get emotions in the first stages, you will more likely scare the target away.) Es-to know of it, it will be worth her reproaches!" • tablish a neutral distance, seem harmless, and you give yourself room to Without wasting time he move. Casanova cultivated a slight femininity in his character—an interest assumed the appearance in clothes, theater, domestic matters—that young girls found comforting. and the dress of Diana, and spoke to the girl.

• From The Annotated Lolita (1991)

  Oh, winged gentlemen of the jury! And she was mine, she was mine, the key was in my fist, my fist was in my pocket, she was mine. In the course of the evocations and schemes to which I had dedicated so many insomnias, I had gradually eliminated all the superfluous blur, and by stacking level upon level of translucent vision, had evolved a final picture. Naked, except for one sock and her charm bracelet, spread-eagled on the bed where my philter had felled her—so I foreglimpsed her; a velvet hair ribbon was still clutched in her hand; her honey-brown body, with the white negative image of a rudimentary swimsuit patterned against her tan, presented to me its pale breastbuds; in the rosy lamplight, a little pubic floss glistened on its plump hillock. The cold key with its warm wooden addendum was in my pocket. I wandered through various public rooms, glory below, gloom above: for the look of lust always is gloomy; lust is never quite sure—even when the velvety victim is locked up in one’s dungeon—that some rival devil or influential god may still not abolish one’s prepared triumph. In common parlance, I needed a drink; but there was no barroom in that venerable place full of perspiring philistines and period objects. I drifted to the Men’s Room. There, a person in clerical black—a “hearty party” comme on dit —checking with the assistance of Vienna, if it was still there, inquired of me how I had liked Dr. Boyd’s talk, and looked puzzled when I ( King Sigmund the Second) said Boyd was quite a boy. Upon which, I neatly chucked the tissue paper I had been wiping my sensitive finger tips with into the receptacle provided for it, and sallied lobby-ward. Comfortably resting my elbows on the counter, I asked Mr. Potts was he quite sure my wife had not telephoned, and what about that cot? He answered she had not (she was dead, of course) and the cot would be installed tomorrow if we decided to stay on. From a big crowded place called The Hunters’ Hall came a sound of many voices discussing horticulture or eternity. Another room, called The Raspberry Room, all bathed in light, with bright little tables and a large one with “refreshments,” was still empty except for a hostess (that type of worn woman with a glassy smile and Charlotte’s manner of speaking); she floated up to me to ask if I was Mr.

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  The character was most likely inspired by the real-life seducer Fujiwara no to the maid, saying, "Well Korechika. then, tell her that I sent In his seduction of Tamakazura, Genji's strategy was simple: he would you with these," • "What a strange present to send" make her realize indirectly how charming and irresistible he was by sur-the maid smiled. "What rounding her with unspoken details. He also brought her in contact with does she want two old his brother; comparison with this drab, stiff figure would make Genji's su- handkerchiefs for? She will periority clear. The night Hotaru first visited her, Genji set everything up, be angry again and say that you are trying to make as if to support Hotaru's seducing—the mysterious scent, then the flash of fun of her." • "Don't light by the screen. (The light came from a novel effect: earlier in the eve- worry" Pao-yu assured her. ning, Genji had collected hundreds of fireflies in a cloth bag. At the proper "She will understand." • Black Jade had already moment he let them all go at once.) But when Tamakazura saw Genji en-retired when Bright Design couraging Hotaru's pursuit of her, her defenses against her protector re- arrived at the Bamboo laxed, allowing her senses to be filled by this master of seductive effects. Retreat. "What brought you at this hour?" Black Genji orchestrated every possible detail—the scented paper, the colored Jade asked. • " [ Pao-yu] robes, the lights in the garden, the wild carnations, the apt poetry, the koto asked me to bring these lessons which induced an irresistible feeling of harmony. Tamakazura found handkerchiefs for [ Black Jade] ." • For a moment herself dragged into a sensual whirlpool. Bypassing the shyness and mistrust Black Jade was at a loss to that words or actions would only have worsened, Genji surrounded his see why Pao-yu should ward with objects, sights, sounds, and scents that symbolized the pleasure of send her such a present at his company far more than his actual physical presence would have—in fact that particular moment. She said, "I suppose they his presence could only have been threatening. He knew that a young girl's must be something unusual senses are her most vulnerable point. that somebody gave him. The key to Genji's masterful orchestration of detail was his attention to Tell him to keep them himself or give them to the target of his seduction. Like Genji, you must attune your own senses to someone who will your targets, watching them carefully, adapting to their moods. You sense appreciate them. I have no when they are defensive and retreat. You also sense when they are giving in, need of them." • "They are nothing unusual," and move forward. In between, the details you set up—gifts, entertain-Bright Design said. "Just ments, the clothes you wear, the flowers you choose—are aimed precisely two ordinary handkerchiefs

• From The Art of Seduction (2001)

  talked, they moved always rado, and was warned that if the pretty-boy poet dared to show up in the nearer and nearer, without mining town of Leadville, he would be hung from the highest tree. It was realizing that they had an invitation Wilde could not refuse. Arriving in Leadville, he ignored the moved. Then, at last, the impatient ones prevailed, hecklers and nasty looks; he toured the mines, drank and played cards, then and, with one irresistible lectured on Botticelli and Cellini in the saloons. Like everyone else, the impulse, the whole body miners fell under his spell, even naming a mine after him. One cowboy was cried out, "There is no use waiting. We will go today. heard to say, "That fellow is some art guy, but he can drink any of us under We will go now. We will the table and afterwards carry us home two at a time." go at once." And then in one unanimous mass they swept along, and in another moment were Interpretation. In a fable he improvised at dinner once, Oscar Wilde talked clinging fast to the magnet about some steel filings that had a sudden desire to visit a nearby magnet. on every side. Then the As they talked to each other about this, they found themselves moving magnet smiled— for the steel filings had no doubt closer to the magnet without realizing how or why. Finally they were swept at all but that they were in one mass to the magnet's side. "Then the magnet smiled—for the steel paying that visit of their filings had no doubt at all but that they were paying that visit of their own free will. own free will." Such was the effect that Wilde himself had on everyone — O S C A R W I L D E , AS QUOTED BY R I C H A R D LE GALLIENNE IN around him. HESKETH PEARSON, OSCAR Wilde's attractiveness was more than just a by-product of his character, WILDE: HIS LIFE AND WIT it was quite calculated. An adorer of paradox, he consciously played up his own weirdness and ambiguity, the contrast between his mannered appear-Now that the bohort ance and his witty, effortless performance. Naturally warm and sponta- [ impromptu joust] was over and the knights were neous, he constructed an image that ran counter to his nature. People were dispersing and each making repelled, confused, intrigued, and finally drawn to this man who seemed his way to where his impossible to figure out. thoughts inclined him, it chanced that Rivalin was Paradox is seductive because it plays with meaning. We are secretly op-heading for where lovely pressed by the rationality in our lives, where everything is meant to mean Blancheflor was sitting. something; seduction, by contrast, thrives on ambiguity, on mixed signals, Seeing this, he galloped up on anything that eludes interpretation. Most people are painfully obvious. to her and looking her in