''Irene's Cunt'' (French: ''Le Con d'Irène'') is a short

erotic novel Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of eros (passionate, romantic or sexual relationships) intended to arouse similar feelings in readers. This contrasts erotica, which focuses more specifically on sexual feeli ...

written by the French poet and novelist

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (; 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the Surrealism, surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littératur ...

under the pseudonym Albert de Routisie, first published in 1928. Its title is rendered in English variously as ''Irene'' or ''Irene's Cunt''.

Jean-Jacques Pauvert Jean-Jacques Pauvert (8 April 1926 – 27 September 2014) was a French publisher, notable for publishing the work of the Marquis de Sade in the early 1950s and as the first publisher of the '' Story of O'' (1954) and the first edition of Kenneth A ...

has called the novel "one of the four or five most beautiful poetic works produced by

surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

". The novel details the life of a man through his adulthood to old age and the latter half of the text concerns his inner thoughts after he has lost his ability to speak and move due to

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...

. The first edition was illustrated with etchings by

André Masson André-Aimé-René Masson (; 4 January 1896 – 28 October 1987) was a French artist. Biography Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but when he was eight his father's work took the family first briefly to Lille and then to Brus ...

which were aesthetically very similar to those of

Georges Bataille Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 8 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...

's ''

Story of the Eye ''Story of the Eye'' ( is a 1928 novella written by Georges Bataille as Lord Auch (literally, Lord "to the shithouse" — "auch" being short for "aux chiottes", slang for telling somebody off by sending him to the toilet), that details the increa ...

''.

Régine Deforges Régine Deforges (15 August 1935 – 3 April 2014) was a French author, editor, director, and playwright. Her book ''La Bicyclette bleue'' was the most popular book in France in 2000 and it was known by some to be offensive and to others for i ...

republished it in 1968 under the title ''Irène'', which did not prevent its seizure as

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

. American novelist William T. Vollmann has cited ''Irene's Cunt'' as an influence for his novel ''

The Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while the ...

''. It was adapted by Toméo Vergès for a choreographic work ''Pas de panique'' in 1999.

References

French erotic novels 1928 French novels Novels by Louis Aragon Works published under a pseudonym Surrealist novels {{1920s-erotic-novel-stub