Letter: Story of O 'mystery' an old story

Sir: So the New Yorker has solved a 40-year mystery by identifying the Frenchwoman Dominique Aury as author of The Story of O, the erotic novel 'which many said could only have been written by a man' (report, 25 July). They needn't have bothered. On page 491 of the 1985 edition of his Guide to Modern World Literature, Martin Seymour-Smith attributes the book to . . . Dominique Aury. 'It is obviously by a woman,' he adds.

Yours faithfully,

PATRICK REYNOLDS

Luxembourg

25 July