BODYBUILDER NATHALIE GASSEL'S NEW BOOK:  'Strategie d'Une Passion'  

               Reviewed by Wessex Man    

Brussels, March 22  -- Nathalie Gassel's new book seems to be part of an extended masterpiece, now in its fourth volume, exploring the sensual limits of her huge imagination. The Belgian author, a 39 year old veteran of what she calls her salle de musculation,  is not a crude pornographer. Readers looking for instant Eros may be disappointed. But she manages to project  her extraordinary sexuality -- the lusts and torments of an androgynous bodybuilder -- in prose which develops in progressive crescendos.  And she's a French only stickler. Her language draws on the full range of classic French vocabulary.

Right now she needs an English translator, plus a publisher to display her craft and her image in the wider world. So far her books have been published only in French and Continental languages.  See http://www.nathaliegassel.fr.fm/ for her background details

In basic terms Nathalie admires both the pliant soft-limbed male and the opposite, the bodybuilt woman with bold weight-trained biceps.  She scorns the muscular male as a creature outside her erotic universe.  In the effeminate boy she loves 'le cul'. Here her experiences have probably been more frequent than her liaisons with females from the worlds of bodybuilding and strength sports  -- who are less numerous and available.

In fact her frustration can just be detected. There she is, a strikingly photogenic woman of hermaphrodite image who is armed with the eyes of Medusa and beautifully pronounced muscles. But the Creator continues to deny her the solace of a permanent consort of her own choice. Or so it seems. Nathalie lives on her own.

In his introduction to 'Strategie d'Une Passion', the author Pierre Mertens describes her approach this way: "Strategie is an erotic book. Sex is central, obsessive yet radiant...But Nathalie's style is just as vital. Without her sophsticated style one would say that this is only erotica. But we're not just playing with words.... Let's acknowledge only that dear Nathalie evokes a complex pornography. The reader who wants something basic should look elsewhere."

The book takes the form of extracts from letters to an absent male lover. Throughout she's referring to the stressful vigour of her lusts. "I must find a solution to my deprivations, to my carnal needs, I mean my body's solitude...I must respond to my urgent leanings."

Elsewhere she talks of her lover's impact. "He makes me chuck douches of iced water on my heart to douse the flames." To which he replies: "I welcome your assaults on me -- so I can feel the full strength of your body, your arms of steel, your terrible will....Like a wave which envelops a small island, your power, your strength press against my feeble body, my open spirit and my yearning heart."  She answers: "You are my intoxication, your phrases are magic, the fire overwhelms me.  And your member is pretty.... I am too sensual not to adore it. As an aesthete and a fetishist I need to lust for flesh...."

Actually English translation can undermine the power and originality of Nathalie's literary momentum. There is nothing banal in the overall impact of her style. The pace is fast and full of the unexpected.  There's no doubt that her creative mind has a lot more brewing up.  More texts are in preparation.

Her publications so far include "Eros Androgyne" in 2000, "Musculatures" in 2001, "Strategie d'Une Passion" 2004 and in a few months time another book to be entitled "De La Construction d'Un Corps Pornographiqe".