Eros and
Thanatos 2002
The Martinet
M.S. Valentine
Chimera Publishing, Waterlooville, U.K.
221 pp. $8.95
Though the salacious
S&M-Barbie cover bears little relation to the literary material inside, this
should not give a prospective reader pause. What should give him/her pause is
that The Martinet is a pulpy sex-genre offering that, frankly, shows
little or no originality in a literary sense. Yes, there are some fun
archaicisms employed both in language and in story, but they are used so
repetitively and unimaginatively that they fail to enliven the text to any
significant degree. The characters, though cast in an S&M setting, are
standard romance-novel issue. Cliché abounds in the form of stable-hands,
highwaymen, chambermaids, strict masters and submissive slaves. The writing,
though florid (normally an Absinthe bonus) and for the most part
competent, lacks the poetic and political sensibility needed to elevate such a
work beyond the base confines of spank material. The author borrows
heavily from works of The Divine Marquis (Justine, 120 Days of Sodom) in
both idiom and action yet seems completely unaware of the source of Sade’s
dynamism/literary importance—his obsession with social and spiritual
transgression. I suppose there may be some social transgression inherent in the
act of shoving wooden dildos into the “fundament” (you know, I liked that
word prior to reading it here a few hundred times) of “the beautiful daughter
on an English earl,” (repeated again and again until it’s bleeding from your
ears) but in The Martinet, the act evokes no interest other than that of
the most prurient variety. It’s really nothing more than gothic romance posing
as hardcore erotica, but if you’re into repetitive anal penetration, slave
bondage and piercings* with happy endings, then this book is for you.
However, if your reading goals are more literary, less narrow, or less
libidinous, it should be avoided like a weeping sore.
*(Hint to literalists and copycats: Don’t try
using iron piercings anywhere but in fictional genitalia. Why? Two words: Rust
and Tetanus.)
– CAW –
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