Dominique Aury; Author of Erotic Bestseller ‘Story of O’

PARIS — Dominique Aury, the long-hidden author of the erotic bestseller “The Story of O,” has died. She was 90.

French censors forbade any publicity for the novel when it appeared in 1954 under the pseudonym Pauline Reage. The description of O’s sadomasochistic relationship with her lover shocked much of French society.

Over the years, the book sold millions of copies and was translated into about 20 languages. In 1955, it won the Deux-Magots prize, an important French literary award.

Aury, a longtime member of the editorial board of an influential French literary review, admitted to writing “The Story of O” in an interview with the New Yorker in 1994.

Born in 1907 at Rochefort-sur-Mer, Aury studied English and was a well-known translator.

She died April 26 and was buried Thursday in a private ceremony, French newspapers reported Saturday.

There was no information on survivors.