The Art of Seduction (GREENE, Robert)

Get what you want by manipulating everyone’s greatest weakness: the desire for pleasure.

Seduction in the most subtle, elusive and effective form of power. It’s as evident in John E Kennedy’s hold over the masses as it is in Cleopatra’s hold over Antony. Now, the author of the bestselling The 48 Laws of Power has written a handbook synthesizing the classic literature of seduction from Freud to Kierkegaard and Ovid to Casanova, with cunning strategies illustrated by the successes and failure of characters throughout history. And once again Robert Greene identifies the rules of a timeless, amoral game and explores how to cast a spell, break down resistance, and, ultimately, compel a target to surrender. The Art of Seduction takes us through the characters and qualities of the ten archetypal figures of seduction (including the Siren, the Ideal Lover, the Dandy, the Natural, the Charismatic, and the Star) and the twenty-four manoeuvres by which anyone can overcome a victim’s futile resistance to the practise of this devastating and timeless art form. Every bit as essential as The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer of persuasion that reveals one of history’s greatest weapons and the ultimate form of power.

• 1 Choose the Right Victim
• 2 Create a False Sense of Security-Approach Indirectly 
• 3 Send Mixed Signals 
• 4 Appear to Be an Object of Desire-Create Triangles 
• 5 Create a Need-Stir Anxiety and Discontent 
• 6 Master the Art of Insinuation 
• 7 Enter Their Spirit 
• 8 Create Temptation 
• 9 Keep Them in Suspense-What Comes Next? 
• 10 Use the Demonic Power of Words to Sow Confusion 
• 11 Pay Attention to Detail
• 12 Poeticise Your Presence 
• 13 Disarm Through Strategic Weakness and Vulnerability 
• 14 Confuse Desire and Reality-The Perfect Illusion
• 15 Isolate the Victim
• 16 Prove Yourself 
• 17 Effect a Regression 
• 18 Stir Up the Transgressive and Taboo 
• 19 Use Spiritual Lures 
• 20 Mix Pleasure with Pain 
• 21 Give Them Space to Fall-The Pursuer Is Pursued
• 22 Use Physical Lures
• 23 Master the Art of the Bold Move 
• 24 Beware of the Aftereffects