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A Model
Seven erotic tales of sensuous sexual fantasy.
86 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1995
4 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Anaïs Nin
355 books8,879 followersWriter and diarist, born in Paris to a Catalan father and a Danish mother, Anaïs Nin spent many of her early years with Cuban relatives. Later a naturalized American citizen, she lived and worked in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Author of avant-garde novels in the French surrealistic style and collections of erotica, she is best known for her life and times in The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volumes I-VII (1966-1980).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%...
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 6, 2015
I had never read erotica before. Sex is real and beautiful when incorporated within a story, but I've never been interested in reading erotica. I wanted to read this because I love Nin and her work and what she stood for, she was brave and experimental, and comfortable with who she is fully. which is difficult for anyone, more so a sexually experimental woman. I cant say I was a big fan of this, the writing was very chic and pretty. it didnt come across as filthy at all, although I suppose being filthy is good in erotica? I dont know it sounded like someone who appreciates the beauty of human bodies. Most of the stories are built on very submissive female fantasies, that's totally okay but often they boarder-lined rape. it was uncomfortable and a terrible thing to promote, the whole concept of 'surprise sex' hope you like it, the lack of consent was a turn on for most of the protagonists of the story. And I think that's very unfortunate but the role of erotica is to be honest i guess, I really dont know what it's role is haha.
January 1, 2016
So erotica as a genre doesn't really feature in my reading. I mean there are plenty of books with sex in them, even books with plots revolving around sex, but these are short stories where they are all about sex. These short stories are taken from the 1979 book Little Birds, which sounds a bit creepy for erotica to be honest!
This is a Penguin 60s book, a set which I read and enjoy mainly because of that very reason - it makes me read authors and genres that I normally don't read.
This was readable, and quite well written, but I guess the stories just didn't lead to anything, other than an orgasm or three (not mine). I feel slightly bad giving it two stars, but ultimately "it was ok", more than "I liked it".
This is a Penguin 60s book, a set which I read and enjoy mainly because of that very reason - it makes me read authors and genres that I normally don't read.
This was readable, and quite well written, but I guess the stories just didn't lead to anything, other than an orgasm or three (not mine). I feel slightly bad giving it two stars, but ultimately "it was ok", more than "I liked it".
January 23, 2014
V svetu, ki nerazumno slavi priljubljenost 50 odtenkov sive, je nadvse čudovito v roke vzeti klasično erotično čtivo, ki ga preplavljata mesenost in čutnost namesto mehaniziranih poročil. Anais Nin pusti ravno dovolj prostora za domišljijo, ki ga v kratki knjižici vzdržuje skozi osrednjo tematiko pogleda. Skoraj vse zgodbe se vrtijo okrog pogleda, opazovanja, umetnikov in njihovih modelov.
Na določenih mestih je pisanje rahlo naivno in poenostavljeno, vendar se sicer čudovito in hitro bere. Še posebej ob misli, da so bile zgodbe napisane v zgodnjih 40. letih.
Na določenih mestih je pisanje rahlo naivno in poenostavljeno, vendar se sicer čudovito in hitro bere. Še posebej ob misli, da so bile zgodbe napisane v zgodnjih 40. letih.
March 27, 2012
Well written, but the stories themselves seemed secondary to the eroticism, which seemed calculated rather than honest. This probably deserves three stars, but I can't honestly say I liked it - tenderness, a little more delicacy and some emotion would have made all the difference.
July 2, 2025
A Model and Other Stories by Anais Nin, the author of Elena, included in the collection The Delta of Venus, which is included on the list of 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read, most likely in the Love section, my note on Elena is at https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
8 out of 10
The (erotic) stories of Anais Nin are so distracting, I was thinking it is hard to have an opinion on them, at least close to objective, because you find yourself so excited by the blunt, explicit descriptions, sex scenes that…well, the thought of Buddha comes to mind, for all the wrong reasons, Buddhists and sex, is it an oxymoron?
Why The Buddha, just because divinity, those religious figures work in mysterious ways…no, in fact it is that thing with the arrow, some disciple was asking about God, details, and The Enlighted One says something along the lines of ‘you worry about this, just like the man who is pierced by a poisoned arrow, curious to know:
- Who was it, what village?
When he has to address the danger, never mind the source…’ there is wisdom there, there must be, we are talking about the Serene One, brought back to earth and the sensual, arousing tales of Anais Nin, ‘the poison’ of the fornication, the multiple positions, orgasms, change of partners, orientation, tastes, olala!
I better stop quoting, or else I am censored, again, I have two posts on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... that come with a warning or something, just because there are some lines from this admittedly steaming hot narrative style
The thing is, how is it possible to have access to something like this, not that I mind, on the contrary, but just like the cover on my two posts proves, it can be, what, distressing, causing hypertension, heart attack…
We have to consider under age people, Australia has just banned the use of social networks for under sixteen, maybe a good thing, anyway, there are so few visitors where I park my notes, it is not a danger, besides…
There is the book itself
Some passages deal with perversion, absolutely, no question about it, but then we must know about it, in order to have protection, probably, there is The Hungarian Adventurer, who falls for a dancer in south America
That is not the issue, she is having sex – or is it something else, I remember there was this debate, connected with Bill Clinton, when he had that thing with Monica Lewinsky and kept insisting ‘I did not have sex with that woman’, presumably a felatio is not that for some people – in the public arena of a theater hall
Only the sensitive part relates to The Hungarian Adventurer’s time in Rome, when he plays with two girls, one ten and the other twelve – if I am not mistaken, they are clearly not just under age, but children, really
He has them jump on him, and then it gets ugly, in the sense that he has orgasms, through the clothes or something, but this is still statutory rape, perhaps not called this back then, maybe a hundred years ago, but still
Another, more recent story ahs this other girl, interested in a boy of her age, who is alas very rude to her, worse, this is cruelty, accusing her of being ‘just like her prostitute mother’, and rejecting her attempts to get closer
However, her adoptive father is not just attracted to her, he has the skill, knowledge, savoir faire to, what do they call it, it is not gas light, maybe that too, but I think it is ‘grooming’, he leads her into situations that he can use
They visit this place, and he sees that the girl is maturing, she has desires, and she has no way of fulfilling them with this inept fellow, her age, but hostile, so the mature male is pushing his interests, near the limit
He is rejected, when he comes close to kiss her, but that is in the first instance, then the rapprochement appears inevitable, jokingly we could add that by now, this is maybe story number twelve, we know the way it ends
Indeed, sex is not just soon on the menu, it is steaming hot, she kisses his sex, and…just about then, what do you think, the initial winner enters the room, they have some arrangement in the house, with connecting rooms
She promises the young man that she is not the depraved creature he thinks her to be, and to prove it, she would sleep by him, chaste, so they go on to test this evidence, nothing happens, expect the fellow becomes interested, so we have a menage a trois, threesome, with the girl sleeping at daytime with the adult and at night, with the now connected stallion, just like in Boccaccio https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
8 out of 10
The (erotic) stories of Anais Nin are so distracting, I was thinking it is hard to have an opinion on them, at least close to objective, because you find yourself so excited by the blunt, explicit descriptions, sex scenes that…well, the thought of Buddha comes to mind, for all the wrong reasons, Buddhists and sex, is it an oxymoron?
Why The Buddha, just because divinity, those religious figures work in mysterious ways…no, in fact it is that thing with the arrow, some disciple was asking about God, details, and The Enlighted One says something along the lines of ‘you worry about this, just like the man who is pierced by a poisoned arrow, curious to know:
- Who was it, what village?
When he has to address the danger, never mind the source…’ there is wisdom there, there must be, we are talking about the Serene One, brought back to earth and the sensual, arousing tales of Anais Nin, ‘the poison’ of the fornication, the multiple positions, orgasms, change of partners, orientation, tastes, olala!
I better stop quoting, or else I am censored, again, I have two posts on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... that come with a warning or something, just because there are some lines from this admittedly steaming hot narrative style
The thing is, how is it possible to have access to something like this, not that I mind, on the contrary, but just like the cover on my two posts proves, it can be, what, distressing, causing hypertension, heart attack…
We have to consider under age people, Australia has just banned the use of social networks for under sixteen, maybe a good thing, anyway, there are so few visitors where I park my notes, it is not a danger, besides…
There is the book itself
Some passages deal with perversion, absolutely, no question about it, but then we must know about it, in order to have protection, probably, there is The Hungarian Adventurer, who falls for a dancer in south America
That is not the issue, she is having sex – or is it something else, I remember there was this debate, connected with Bill Clinton, when he had that thing with Monica Lewinsky and kept insisting ‘I did not have sex with that woman’, presumably a felatio is not that for some people – in the public arena of a theater hall
Only the sensitive part relates to The Hungarian Adventurer’s time in Rome, when he plays with two girls, one ten and the other twelve – if I am not mistaken, they are clearly not just under age, but children, really
He has them jump on him, and then it gets ugly, in the sense that he has orgasms, through the clothes or something, but this is still statutory rape, perhaps not called this back then, maybe a hundred years ago, but still
Another, more recent story ahs this other girl, interested in a boy of her age, who is alas very rude to her, worse, this is cruelty, accusing her of being ‘just like her prostitute mother’, and rejecting her attempts to get closer
However, her adoptive father is not just attracted to her, he has the skill, knowledge, savoir faire to, what do they call it, it is not gas light, maybe that too, but I think it is ‘grooming’, he leads her into situations that he can use
They visit this place, and he sees that the girl is maturing, she has desires, and she has no way of fulfilling them with this inept fellow, her age, but hostile, so the mature male is pushing his interests, near the limit
He is rejected, when he comes close to kiss her, but that is in the first instance, then the rapprochement appears inevitable, jokingly we could add that by now, this is maybe story number twelve, we know the way it ends
Indeed, sex is not just soon on the menu, it is steaming hot, she kisses his sex, and…just about then, what do you think, the initial winner enters the room, they have some arrangement in the house, with connecting rooms
She promises the young man that she is not the depraved creature he thinks her to be, and to prove it, she would sleep by him, chaste, so they go on to test this evidence, nothing happens, expect the fellow becomes interested, so we have a menage a trois, threesome, with the girl sleeping at daytime with the adult and at night, with the now connected stallion, just like in Boccaccio https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
August 17, 2017
Found in the bottom of a bag while tidying out a wardrobe. A series of, let's be diplomatic, racey short stories with a basic theme of artists and models, usually from the female perspective. Anais Nin must have been some woman.
May 31, 2022
An interesting collection, and I do not profess to be sufficiently 'aware' to comment upon what might nowadays be deemed as inappropriate or troublesome. To some extent, of course, that lies in the eye of the beholder. Still, all the stories are thought-provoking: not all of those thoughts - for me - were positive, but no piece was without interest or at least some intrigue in terms of its approach to sexuality. I struggled most with 'The Queen', which to me (less than totally aware, remember) came over as a portrait of toxic masculinity. And yet, ameliorated by its being written by a woman? I am unsure, but I did not enjoy its reductionist male perspective. Although, even then, clearly it remains a thoughtful piece, no less lyrical. This collection is certainly of interest as an exploration of some perspectives on sexuality, and very well written, I thought. Just take note that it says '60s' right on the cover: do not expect to find the 'woke' perspectives increasingly prevalent in modern publishing some 60 years later.
July 24, 2017
it is good, actually better than expected. I enjoyed reading these erotic stories in a cafe shop on a rainy sunday (if you know what I mean). The writing has a smooth rhythm, rich and exquisite vocabularies, and agreeable plots. It makes you feel like reading M-rated fanfiction , but in a more professional and intensive level. It is like when you read a cheesy romance and try to skip over boring and abundant parts to go straight to the hot steamy part, like kids waiting for kissing scenes in Hollywood movies if this is right to say. After all, this book is all about erotica so needless to describe the stories or feelings. :)
I think I'll pay more attention to Anais Nin after this.
I think I'll pay more attention to Anais Nin after this.
August 11, 2020
Let's keep it short.
'A Model' is a collection of short erotic tales by the intriguing Anaïs Nin.
The book has delectable, fantastical imagery which is sadly, devoid of the element of beauty.
This is a rushed work by the celebrated author and ends up falling apart inspite of some mesmerising moments.
Yet THE Anïas Nin should not be judged beacuse of this. Never.
.
.
.
My verdict - For Anaïs Nin's mouth watering language, well...
'A Model' is a collection of short erotic tales by the intriguing Anaïs Nin.
The book has delectable, fantastical imagery which is sadly, devoid of the element of beauty.
This is a rushed work by the celebrated author and ends up falling apart inspite of some mesmerising moments.
Yet THE Anïas Nin should not be judged beacuse of this. Never.
.
.
.
My verdict - For Anaïs Nin's mouth watering language, well...
September 24, 2025
First Anaïs hell yeah. Majorly horny read but she does so well at immersing you completely within the scenes especially given so many of these shorts were just a few pages long. Big fan, keen to try her others
October 18, 2025
Very chic erotica. Some of the fantasies that were written about are a bit outdated but I suppose desire in its rawest form is often taboo and unvocalised in popular media.
Interesting to read about a variety of kinks & desires in a retrospective light. Proof that people have always been freaky!
Interesting to read about a variety of kinks & desires in a retrospective light. Proof that people have always been freaky!
Read
December 16, 2021Choose your own adventure: review edition
A collection of vignettes with the central theme being the inversion and examination of the gaze
OR
Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life
A collection of vignettes with the central theme being the inversion and examination of the gaze
OR
Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life
May 25, 2023
3.5✨
im sure this is better written than “the idol”
im sure this is better written than “the idol”
April 17, 2025
she needs to read a feminist book badd but shes pretty good at erotica
October 4, 2024
Yeah look I love her and this was delightful
October 3, 2014
And now for something completely different: straight erotic writing. Not something I encounter regularly. One can imagine how stories of this nature were received originally (with shock for some and released joy for others) and why Penguin only published these stories about 14 years after the author's death. Most of the stories in this collection involve artists, suggesting something about the sensuousness of creating art, being a model, etc, or casting interesting light on the personalities involved in artistic enterprises. Well written and interesting, although I won't investigate the oeuvre further.
Anaïs Nin se erotiese verhale sou sekerlik skok ontlok het, en by ander lesers 'n gevoel van bevryding. Interessante uitbeelding van die erotiese sy van kunstenaars. Nie 'n oeuvre wat ek verder sal ondersoek nie, al was dié bekendstelling nie onaangenaam nie.
Anaïs Nin se erotiese verhale sou sekerlik skok ontlok het, en by ander lesers 'n gevoel van bevryding. Interessante uitbeelding van die erotiese sy van kunstenaars. Nie 'n oeuvre wat ek verder sal ondersoek nie, al was dié bekendstelling nie onaangenaam nie.
Read
April 3, 2016in such swift narratives, it's achieved gracefully in playing out a nice range of various innate sexual desires of human beings, that are in one way or another inhibited or never been discovered or explored by the societal constructs in each character's world .
anais nin at her most natural. probably the head maestra of erotic lit.
anais nin at her most natural. probably the head maestra of erotic lit.
November 12, 2011
well written filth
March 18, 2015
Nicely-written brusque erotic tales.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews