I first discovered the work of French-Belgian author and poet Pierre Louys when I was researching my studies of Aphrodite and Dionysos. Since then, I have written extensively about his best known works, his novels Aphrodite and Les Chansons de Bilitis, and his collection of sexual verse Pybrac. The first two of these are his acknowledged masterpieces and, along with Femme et Pantin (Woman & Puppet) and Les Aventures du Roi Pausole (The Adventures of King Pausole) are widely available in print and online. They remain readable and valuable today.
Much of the rest of Pierre Louys output was more or less sexual in content (and more or less successful as literature). Pybrac and other similar books, such as his parody of etiquette manuals, The Handbook for Young Ladies, and his scandalous novella, Trois filles de leur Mere (Three daughters of one mother) are readily available to buy online like the most famous books already described. Some fragmentary texts discovered after the author’s death, such as Toinon, are also available. The editions of Trois filles available mostly seem to be reprints of a translation into English produced in the late 1920s. However, there are two modern translations of Louys available:
- The Young Girl’s Handbook of Good Manners, translated by Geoffrey Longnecker, Wakefield Press, 2010; and,
- Pybrac, translated by Longnecker, Wakefield Press, 2014.
Most of the rest of Louys’ books are much less accessible, being only available in French or in original, limited issue editions (typically just 100-200 copies) from the 1920s and 1930s; frequently the books are both rare and in French. It is still possible to buy the original editions, from the 1920s and 1930s, but these are needless to say highly collectible items and can be extremely expensive.
I have translated a number of these texts as part of my own research into Louys. I am happy to make pdf copies of these texts (with notes and an introduction) to any readers who would find them useful. Please contact me if you would like to acquire a copy. NB: these texts by Louys are strictly over eighteens only and their content may be highly offensive to some. If you have read the commercially available texts already (Trois filles, Pybrac and the Handbook and wish to investigate Louys further, then these texts may be suitable for you).
Poesies Erotiques (Erotic Verse)- initially published in 1927, the Poesies is a collection of loosely connected verses; and,
Le Histoire du Roi Gonzalve et des douzes princesses (The History of King Gonzalve and the Twelve Princesses) used was first published in Madrid in 1927. It is a fragment of a novel and is typical of Louys’ later obscene and outrageous scenarios.
A translation of Douze Douzains de Dialogues is also in preparation. Alternatively, you can locate many of these texts online, for example at wikisource.fr and simply translate them yourself using AI.
I have also prepared Three Notes on the Work of Pierre Louys; this comprises three short essays looking at ‘Custom, right & hospitality in the work of Pierre Louys,’ ‘Finding a continuum in society- the writings of Pierre Louys’ and ‘Pierre Louys and Food,’ which examines how the sensuous nature of consuming food and drink finds parallels with the sensuality of sex in his verse and prose. Other notes and essays include Pierre Louys and the Theatre of Sensuality, Pierre Louys and Religion, The Problems of Interpreting Trois Filles de leur mere and a Note on Trottins and Apprentices. A copy of these documents can be supplied as a PDF upon request. I have now posted several dozen essays on Louys’ work and related issues (its impact upon the graphic arts and other fields) on my Academia pages.
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