The free publication of Story of O in this country is an event of consdarable importance .... ist is a significant measure of how far we habe come in lifting the restrictions on art and our responses to it ... In brief, Story of O relates the progressive willful debasement of a young and beautiful Parisian fashion photographer, O, who wants nothing more than to be a slave to her lover, Rene. The test is severe-sexual in method, psychological in substance .... The artistic interest here has precisely to do with the use not only of erotic materials but also erotic methods, the deliberate stimulation of the reader as a part of and means to a total, authentic literary experience. "New York Times"