Introduction
"Pleasure Island" is the deceptively mild title for this notorious novel of sex in all its normal and abnormal manifestations. The raw, powerful, vividly descriptive sex scenes in this unusual story have given it a wide circulation abroad. It is now presented in its complete and unexpurgated entirety by Continental Classics for the first time in this country.
Oddly enough, the writer of this unusual tale is an American author living in Paris who wishes to remain anonymous. This remarkably detailed story of forbidden sex is in all its forms arouses one's immediate interest and merits consideration from a number of angles. First of all, it is a good story. From the very first page, there is something about the unsophisticated, frank manner of the hero, Peter which makes us identify with him to such an extent that we too seem to experience every wild, erotic episode as it occurs. The events disclosed may prove shocking and even repugnant to some, but our interest never falters as this gaudy sexorama unveils. As a matter of fact, the spell of compelling fascination which Peter's revelations seem to weave over the reader are deserving of further analysis.
It should be borne in mind that this is the story of an unsophisticated young man who is literally just embarking on the perilous seas of amour. Those who care to read between the lines can actually feel the intense satisfaction of youth's innermost sex desires quenched fully. One soon realizes that every scene of lust has actually been lived through by the writer. The twisted sex desire, the instances of sadism and perversion are presented with the ring of truth. There is much autobiography here, with all the actual reactions of a lusty young man having every kind of sex.
As Peter steps up the gangplank of the luxury yacht to embark on a "working vacation" cruise and meets the beautiful, voluptuous owner, Nora, we sense that it will be a most unusual voyage indeed. When the lush Nora gives Peter his first shipboard order, we know that we are indeed sailing upon "queer seas."
"I want you to lick the seams of my stockings. When you come up to my thigh, I want you to lick around the rim, with half of your tongue touching the stocking and I will allow the other half to touch my skin ..."
Peter obeys the bizarre command with mixed reactions as conveyed in his own words.
"And as I rimmed around the inner thigh, I used all my will power to keep from burying my face and tongue in her lovely pussy, which was secreting a faint animal odor. It was personally the most cherished, exciting scent that had ever came into my life. Just as I was starting down from the seam, she produced a noiseless fart which pervaded my nostrils ..."
As the yacht gets under way to an unknown destination, even stranger characters and situations evolve in rapid succession. Peter begins to have a series of sex adventures which run the gamut from homosexuality to the wildest orgies imaginable.
Peter feels that he has now experienced everything, but only until the yacht reaches its destination, the fabulous island of Frigolia. The ensuing sex escapades between the people on the yacht and the native Frigolians culminate in a fantastic orgy without parallel in modern erotic literature.
Up to this point Peter has developed intimacies on board the yacht with a gallery of women, ranging from the nymphomanical Mag to the virginal Hilda.
Peter describes his first encounter with Mag in his usual blunt manner: "She observed my bulging pants and spoke boldly, 'I think you're having a bit of trouble. Lift my skirt and sink that bursting prick of yours right in my pussy.'"
I looked around to see if anyone was coming.
"'C'mon now,' she whispered. 'We don't have all day!'"
Peter builds the picture of his maturing innermost love life with similarly vivid scenes. When we read the end of this curious cruise, we understand how and why Peter has finally attained true manhood.
As a study of the psycho-sexual impact of perversion upon masculine emotional development, "Pleasure Island" now rightfully takes its place as a little known gem. Now published for the first time in this country in its complete and unexpurgated form, it supplies welcome psychological date in extending our knowledge of the male and female libido.
In accordance with the fundamental tenets of Freud, the brutal frankness of "Pleasure Island" produces an emotional catharsis, which can only lead to greater understanding of self on the part of the reader.
Al Lee, M.A.
New York City,
August 1967