Paris (AFP)

The lord in "History of O", the billionaire boss in "Fifty shades of Gray", and now the wealthy mafioso in "365 days": in erotic literature written by women, the cliché of the arch-fortunate lover sells well .

"365 jours", of which the Hugo et Cie editions come out the three volumes in French in May, June and July, is the latest avatar to date of a well-established literary genre, after a few bestsellers, the "romance" spiced up by steamy scenes.

This three-volume novel by Polish artist Blanka Lipinska has sold 1.7 million copies in the original version.

And its film adaptation, when it was broadcast in many countries by the Netflix platform, attracted good audiences.

We immediately understand what kind of man is the protagonist, the Silician Massimo Torricelli: silver-clad, extremely arrogant, willingly brutal with women.

In Chapter 1, he tells the first person that he gets the favors of the hostess in his private jet, that his current lover sends him suggestive messages, and that he intends to submit to all his wishes a Polish tourist in which he recognizes the woman he has always sought.

- Bathing in luxury -

"Histoire d'O" by the Frenchwoman Pauline Réage, which has become a literary classic, also told, in 1954, that René and then "Sir Stephen" were bathed in luxury.

As for Christian Gray, the dominator of the trilogy of which the British EL James has sold millions of copies, according to Forbes he controls a fortune of $ 2.5 billion.

The sixth and last volume of his adventures, "Freed", in which he marries Ana Steele, is released on June 1 in English.

We could multiply the examples.

From "Emmanuelle" by the Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Arsan, where the mysterious Mario navigates among the rich expatriates of Bangkok, to the "Beautiful Bastard" ("handsome bastard") of the American Christian Lauren, pseudonym of two authors, still a man successful business.

Blanka Lipinska herself explained, in Oprah Magazine, about her male character.

"When I wrote the book, I really needed someone who would take care of everything for me. (...) I said to myself: it would be so good to have a strong man who would tell me what to do ".

"Strong", therefore vigorous, sure of himself, and endowed with large financial means.

The portrait recalls that of the "alpha male" portrayed by a German biologist, Meike Stoverock: in the controversial theory of this researcher, these men, one in five according to her, sexually attract all or almost all women.

- At the restaurant by helicopter -

"Christian Gray, it's not even a cliché anymore, it's ubuesque. He runs a company with thousands of employees but he has time for SM sessions at any time, he goes to the restaurant in helicopter ... ", remarks Olivier Bessard-Banquy, professor of literature at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne.

"These books fall under the archetypal scheme of the Harlequin novel. The specifications are a woman of modest background and a charismatic, powerful man. They were not to meet. They do not understand each other. They have an intense relationship, which turns everything upside down. And in the end they got married and had many children. But the novelty, in the expectations of readers, especially female readers, is that intense sex must integrate this story ", he adds.

A Parisian publisher specializing in erotic literature, La Musardine, tries to avoid the cliché.

"We do not play at all in the same court. With us there are prints of 1,500, 2,000 copies", underlines the manager, Anne Hautecoeur (against a total of 350,000 for the three volumes of "365 days").

For her, "social class is not the issue in erotic literature. In the best of cases this question is erased, and above all our female authors invent the most diverse male characters".

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