''The Kiss of the Octopus'' is the twenty-second novel of

Patrick Grainville Patrick Grainville (born 1 June 1947 Villers-sur-Mer, Calvados) is a French novelist. He spent his childhood in Villerville, a small town east of Deauville. An Associate Professor of Letters, he received the Prix Goncourt in 1976, 29 years ol ...

published in éditions du Seuil in 2010.

Historical background

The painters are in the center of Patrick Grainville's work — Jacques Callot in "''The Edge"'' (1973),

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...

in ''"The Workshop of the painter"'' (1988), George Catlin in ''"

Bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...

"'' (2014), etc. The Japanese painter

Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...

is the author of an

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, scul ...

and fantastique Ukiyo-e engraving: '' The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife''. There is shown the ecstasy of a naked woman clutched by two

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

es there. Patrick Grainville undertakes to tell the story of these supernatural lovers. With ''The Kiss of the Octopus'' he extends once again the imagination of a famous picture and offers his literary equivalence. The present theme of animality in all his books is carried across the engraving to the paroxysm of art and of transgression and found between others. The hallucinosis advantageous of

situations also returns in Japanese tradition idealised by Yasunari Kawabata in "

The House of the Sleeping Beauties ''House of the Sleeping Beauties'' is a 1961 novella by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata. It is a story about a lonely man, Old Eguchi, who continuously visits the House of the Sleeping Beauties in hope of something more. Plot The titular ...

Reception

''The Kiss of the octopus'' was received well, following the example of ''The Paradise of storms'' in 1986 and reissued concomitamment with ''Flamboyants'' and ''The Orgy, the Snow'' in 2010. It was considered to be a «classic of

erotism Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use ...

» since then. Criticism greets style of the author, which is colourful and virtuoso, although sometimes too thick, close to one of Clézio work. In the service of a work which is not,

doesn't afraid to dare and breaks on the contrary with "the puritanical humanism".''Le Victor Hugo du sexe''
Jacques-Pierre Amette, ''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'' du 11 février 2010, .

Editions

* ''The Kiss of the Octopus'', éditions du Seuil, 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiss of the Octopus Novels set in the 2000s 2010 French novels Novels by Patrick Grainville