Customer Reviews

The Young Girl's Handbook of Good Manners for Use in Educational Establishments (Wakefield Handbooks)

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I'm proud to be the first to review this little gem which I discovered by pure chance in a bookstore.

I'd often read of Louys' pornographic writing, yet everything I'd read (mostly poetry) was very tame by today's standards, though beautiful.

This short book is a whole 'nother story. Wow. Lou˙s addresses this anti-etiquette book to "little girls" - in other words children - and gives page after page of such diabolical advice like urging them to never tell daddy that their brother forced them to perform oral sex; to never masturbate with a statue of the virgin marry; or to never masturbate in a confessional "so that you can be absolved immediately afterwards." But Lou˙s pulls it off with wonderful comedic skill, pretending to be dead-serious the whole time, and the book doesn't read like mere vulgarity, but rather as supreme wit. When I read it, I laughed out loud (literally) page after page.

The book is also worthy of a deeper reading beyond the superficial comic side. I don't think the book can be dismissed as "just a joke". There is obviously a strong element of both fantasy and truth in this work. It brings up a really controversial question about child sexuality, and whether it exists or not. Lou˙s seems to assume undoubtedly that it naturally does, and on an astounding level. It's also interesting to read that pornographic literature in 1926 was just as decadent (if not more so) as it is today. Child sexuality remains a very dreaded taboo in much of the world.

The translation reads wonderfully, keeping the charm of the 19th century style and yet enjoying itself of modern slang, and the book is very slim and comfortable. You can read it in one sitting. I think it makes a great gift for granddaughters.