I read a few books by the Marquis de Sade when I was in my early twenties. I was thoroughly amused, but I haven’t really felt the need to revisit his work since. A few days ago I was searching through my local library’s collection of audiobooks when I spotted a book called The Curse of the Marquis de Sade. Initially, I thought it might be a light BDSM romance novel, but on closer inspection it seemed to be a history of the manuscript of 120 Days in Sodom, perhaps the most twisted novel ever written and one of my personal favourites.
So de Sade wrote 120 Days in Sodom while locked up in prison. After the storming of the Bastille, he lost the hand-made scroll it was written on and assumed it had been destroyed. It turned up after his death, and while he had spent his remaining years writing other foul books, none of them compared to 120 Days in terms of their meticulous and undiluted cruelty.
It’s the story of 4 perverts who kidnap a bunch of kids and take them to a remote castle. There, they proceed to perform acts of every perversion imaginable. The plot is extremely simple, and as the novel was never actually finished, the version that we have is largely just a list of perverted acts. We’re not talking foot fetish or balloon popping stuff here. This is mostly shit eating, blasphemy, dismemberment and masturbating to scenes of brutal torture. I wrote more about this book a long time ago in case you’re interested.
Warner’s book goes into very little detail on the contents of 120 Days of Sodom and instead focuses on the history of the scroll. Obviously as a one of a kind manuscript, it became quite a collector’s item, and it has been highly sought after and prized by several interesting characters. Warner also gives a biographical account of de Sade. I knew the basic story of his life, but I found this part quite amusing. He was a terrible person, but his pettiness and penchant for blasphemy are quite endearing to me.
The Curse of the Marquis de Sade is a short book about a book. If you have managed to read 120 Days, I would imagine you will find Warner’s book quite entertaining. It has made me think about revisiting de Sade’s work. I’ve had unread copies of Justine and Juliette on my shelf for years. Maybe the time is now right.
Nocturnal Revelries 
Good ol’ M d S. Not sure if he was an early martyr for free speech or a depraved freak, but what an imagination. At Home With the Marquis de Sade by Francine du Plessix Gray was another interesting bio. Of his works, I’ve only read Philosophy in the Boudoir, a kind of play, which contains the line, “I can’t tell which of your tongues feels more exquisite.” Enough said.
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