Long-lost manuscript of "Story of O" found! (Part 1)
The original manuscript of “Story of O” has been discovered in the pocket of an overcoat left at the English National Opera’s performance of “Alcina”.
Author Dominique Aury, writing as Pauline Réage, originally conceived O’s story as a play, “A Brat at Roissy”, to be performed before her lover, publisher Jean Paulhan.
But in 1954 Desclos accidentally posted the theatrical version not to a publisher but to a 24 year old English luvvie. She later reconstructed her lost play as a novel, re-drafting several scenes and removing all signs that O might have any sort of personality. How the draft play got to be in Harold Pinter’s overcoat remains a mystery.
Here's the original opening scene of "A Brat at Roissy".
A Brat at Roissy
Act 1, Scene 1
Scene: The punishment room at Roissy Chateau.
O and Sir Stephen enter. O is naked, except for a collar with chain attached. She is reading a copy of the Roissy Chateau Rules.
O: "You are here to serve your Masters." Well, you won't catch me doing any serving! As if!
[Sir Stephen does not speak, but slaps O's bottom with a paddle. From now on, we'll call that, "Business".]
0: Yowchie! And it says here, "You may not look your Masters in the eyes." Who do you guys think you are, Tom Cruise?
[Sir Stephen: Business.]
O: Ow! That paddle is mean!
[Sir Stephen: Business.]
O: Yow! Wow! Hey, Mister, I totally wasn't looking you in the eye! I was rolling my eyes! It doesn't say anything about rolling my eyes! Where does it say you can smack me if I roll my eyes?!
[Sir Stephen: Business. Twice.]
O: Owwwww! That hurts, buster! All right, all right, all right! Oweeee! Yes, Sir, I'm fully here to serve my Masters, and I'll keep my freaking eyes down! Just don't blame me if I bump into the walls, OK? Yowwwwwwwch! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorreeeee!
[A pause.]
To be continued...
