num_pages: 188
description: The startling and groundbreaking novel that inspired Luis Buñuel's film by the same name is finally available once more. In a world that blurs the lines between feminism and female sexuality, Belle de Jour remains as vital and controversial today as it was in its 1960 debut.Severine Serizy is a wealthy and beautiful Parisian housewife, who loves her husband, but she cannot share physical intimacy with him, and her vivid sadomasochistic fantasies drive her to seek employment at a brothel. By day, she enacts her customers' wildest fantasies under the pseudonym "Belle de Jour"; in the evenings, she returns home to her chaste marriage and oblivious husband. Famous for its unflinching eroticism, Joseph Kessel's novel continues to offer an eye-opening glance into a unique female psyche.
language: English
title: Belle de jour
titlecomplete: Belle de jour
characters: Severine Serizy
genres: 20th Century, Sexuality, Classics, Feminism, Novels, France, Erotica, French Literature, Fiction, Romance
ratings_count: 1490
places: Paris
publisher: Harry N. Abrams