Behind Her Eyes: The Authorship and Literary Representation of Women in Erotic Literature Presented in Pauline Réage’s Story of O and E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey

Abstract

This thesis explores women’s authorship and literary representations within the realm of erotic literature. Through the examination of two erotic novels, Story of O (1954) by Pauline Réage and Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) by E.L. James, I consider how the emergence of female authorship from the mid-twentieth century to the early twenty-first century changes the dynamics in which women are seen, placed, and used within the erotic narrative. I approach this thesis using feminist literary criticism and draw on the scholarship of second-wave feminists, like Susan Sontag and Andrea Dworkin, to ground my understanding of the evolving landscape of female authored erotic discourse. Given both scholars’ diametrically opposing schools of thought on women’s role in erotic discourse, I use this space to investigate women’s involvement in erotic literature as its creators and characters. To do so, I appropriate the ideas espoused in Laura Mulvey’s treatise on the male gaze and Rosalind Gill’s female sexual agency to illuminate alternative ways of viewing women's representations presented in the works of Réage and James. As a result, this thesis seeks to renew interest in female-authored erotic discourse and to provide an alternative perspective on viewing Réage and James’ respective heroines: one which brings awareness to O and Ana’s subjectivity—proving that they can be seen as subjects of their narratives, rather than merely objects of male desire. Ultimately, by challenging how we view these women who occupy the erotic realm, this thesis furnishes us with the perspective from behind her eyes.

Key words: erotic literature, female authorship, women’s representation, male gaze, female sexual agency, Réage, James