Coños by Juan Manuel de Prada (in the Valdemar edition)

De Papieren Man reports[1] that French publishing house Seuil just launched an erotic fiction series in its Points collection of cheap paperbacks.

Nine titles have been published at the end of January. They feature strikingly bright pink covers. “Parce que la littérature est une provocation…” (Eng: Because literature is a provocation), goes the slogan to the new collection.

The slogan reminds me of Mallarmé‘s famous dictum on the subversive qualities of book reading “Je ne sais pas d’autre bombe, qu’un livre.” (I know of no bomb other than the book.)

Four titles were acquired from other publishing houses. Coños[2] by Juan Manuel de Prada, Le Beau Sexe des hommes by Florence Ehnuel, Le Fouet by Martine Roffinella and Légendes de Catherine M. by Jacques Henric on the exploits of his wife Catherine Millet. Other titles include La vie sexuelle de Catherine M. by Catherine Millet, Le Boucher by Alina Reyes and Putain by Nelly Arcan; an anthology of erotic poetry by Jean-Paul Goujon. Director of Points is Emmanuelle Vial. First prints range from 4.500 to 8.400 copies, price hovers between 6 to 8 euros. Every two books bought merit a “naughty gift” by lingerie brand Yoba. The first present was a mask.

It was not the first time that the color pink came to symbolize eroticism in the media. In the eighties started the popular TV series Série Rose.