Abstract

'A fine addition to Sadean studies.’ Gaëtan Brulotte, Professor of French, University of South Florida

This is a lively and accessible introduction to the Marquis de Sade's four most notorious novels: 120 Days of Sodom, Philosophy in the Boudoir, Justine and Juliette. Informed by a wide range of contemporary theories, John Phillips’s controversial study challenges conventional perspectives on the notorious 'pornographer' and suggests new ways of reading his most shocking narratives. Setting all four novels in their historical and biographical context, Phillips provides a comprehensive and highly readable analysis of works that have exercised an enormous influence on literature, art and cinema in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Clearly written and accessible to the general reader, this study provides an indispensable guide to the creative achievements of the libertine’s libertine.