Stanislas de Rhodes – författare

The Autobiography of a Flea is an erotic novel originally published in 1887. Set in France, the story is told entirely from the perspective of a flea who witnesses a priest, Father Ambrose, blackmailing a young girl, Bella, after he catches her with her lover. In order to keep the couple’s secret, Father Ambrose convinces Bella to commit various sexual acts with different partners.

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The Victorians may have attempted to show the world they were upright, strict and full of virtue but much of this thinking has been subverted by their erotic and pornographic writing. In The Autobiography of a Flea the whole narrative is undertaken by that most pesky of authors; The common household flea. It is indeed an unusual narrator but once the story begins then the viewed adventures become the focal point. Published anonymously in 1887 it was later revealed that author was in fact a London lawyer named Stanislas de Rhodes. The story opens with the flea revealing that although he gets his living by blood sucking he is "not the lowest of that universal fraternity". The flea further claims that his intelligence and abilities of observation and communication are comparable to a human. Obviously unable to participate in the erotic adventures he is able to shift the story’s viewpoint very successfully by merely moving from one body to another. Although the viewpoint is unusual the story does follow a near normal pattern of encounters involving a beautiful young girl named Bella whose growing sexuality is taken advantage of by her young lover Charlie. Overseen by the local priest, Father Ambrose, Bella is required to have sex with him and then a succession of others - two of his colleagues in holy orders and her own uncle in order to keep the initial encounter a secret. Bella is then employed to procure her best friend, Julia for the sexual enjoyment of both the priests and of her own father……and so the story goes…..