Has anyone actually read the Marquis de Sade's book, 'Justine'?

Well?

(Not me, but I plan on checking my public library this afternoon. However, since they don’t even have Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the shelf, I doubt if they’ll have this.)

Sure have. S’alright, but a might bit too obsessed with torture, rape, mutilation, domination, sadism, masochism, the complete psychological breakdown of a human being and other fun stuff.

'Course I’ve read it! It’s amusing and holds your interest soemwhat, but is VERY repetitive. I mean, how many S&M nun orgies can you READ about?

If you like that period of naughty lit, I’d recommend “Pamela,” by Samuel Richardson, and its contemporary parody, “Shamela,” by Henry Fielding, which should be read in conjunction.

Naw, but I might get the video if its captioned.

“Synopsis:
Two sisters, after being abused and expelled from a convent, make their way to London to seek fame
and fortune. One sister adapts well to life in the bordello, but Justine makes her escape only to
become a victim of outrageous crimes.”

Yeah, I read it. Studied it, actually, as a Comp Lit major, along with Philosophy in the Boudoir and The 120 Days of Sodom. Compare and contrast to Rousseau, as two diametrically opposite predecessors to Romanticism.

See, Rousseau thought Man was fundamentally Good. The Marquis felt that if you gave motherfucking Man an inch, he’d take a mile, and whack your nose like Moe from the Three Stooges into the bargain.

Made for some fascinating seminar discussions. If you’re looking for a one-handed read, though, you could do better or yourself.

I think that statement is redundant!

I’ve read Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and 120 Days of Sodom. As far as I can tell, the Divine Marquis was taking the piss out of the Enlightenment, with its belief in the infinite perfectability of man. His books are all about degredation of purity and the corruption of innocence. I have only read De Sade in translation, so I have no idea if the faults of his prose are his or his translator’s, but his characters speak in a ridiculously highfalutin’ manner, given the subject matter. “Madame, I pray you frig my prodigious member with greater vigor to produce the copious flow of my eruption.” Not very spank-worthy stuff.

Try John Cleland’s *Fanny Hill * for some hot 18th century porn.

“Madame, I pray you frig my prodigious member with greater vigor to produce the copious flow of my eruption.”

—Sonofabitch! Someone’s been hiding tape recorders in my boudoir!

Whoops, sorry eve. I won’t do it again. Unless you want me to…

Okay, I’m back from the library and no, they didn’t have it. They did have a biography of him by one Francine DuPlessix Gray, which looks interesting and repulsive at the same time. Evidently his wife was what we now call an “enabler”.

My next question is, where does one get a copy of his stuff, then, without resorting to ordering it from exotic websites? (Dunno how I could explain the VISA charge to the Better Half…“You bought WHAT?”)

I live in a totally blue-collar medium-size Rust Belt town. We don’t have the kind of bookstore where you can just casually drop by and pick up the collected works of the Marquis De Sade. (although we do have a WaldenBooks…? --Nah.)

I read it as part of my porn course in college.

Really. It was called “Sex, Literature, and Censorship,” but we read all the major pornographic works – “Fanny Hill,” “Story of O,” “Tropic of Cancer,” etc.

I haven’t checked, but you might try Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com. I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t carry it. I have that same biography, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet, let me know if you enjoyed it, please :slight_smile:

I bet with the recent release of the movie ‘Quills’, the books are more widely available now. And to answer the OP, I haven’t read squat.