Introduction
"Queer Frolics" by Elliot Sahli was originally published in London, as it was considered "too hot to handle" by publishers in the States. However, it was also banned very quickly in England, after having fantastically high sales in the few weeks that it was available to the reading public. It has remained in strong demand as an "underground" novel of unusual sexual relationships, and is herewith reprinted in its entirety.
The notable psychiatrist, Dr. O. Berndorff, has discussed, with illustrations from his case history files, patients similar to the main characters in this book as follows:
"Dr. W. M. was a psychoanalyst himself who came to me with a serious ethical conflict. He had been treating a most attractive young woman for a year, when she declared that she was madly in love with him and offerred herself for sexual intercourse at his pleasure. He told me that he had discharged her as a patient, but felt that he cared for her as a woman and would like to have sex with her.
"I went into great detail telling him that it would be most unethical for him to possess this woman's body, no matter how freely she seemed to offer it. I stressed the strong hypnotic effect he had probably had upon her during their innumerable sessions of intimate talk and reminded him that all patients were very susceptible to the unconscious hypnotism emanating from a respected psychiatrist's suggestions.
"I told him that we psychiatrists were no more moral than the average person, but that we had more knowledge of the forces of the mind and that we should therefore regulate our conduct accordingly! And that this was to be especially observed in the treatment of young women patients...."
The seductions, orgies and sexual perversions described in "Queer Frolics" show how an unscrupulous individual with a knowledge of psychology may use it for immoral purposes.
It is from this instructive point of view that Continental Classics presents this complete, unexpurgated novel. It is recommended only for the graduate student or the mature adult reader.
A. L. Saunders, M.A. New York City June, 1969