Fountaindale Public Library

The curse of the Marquis de Sade, a notorious scoundrel, a mythical manuscript, and the biggest scandal in literary history, Joel Warner

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-266) and index

maps

index present

non fiction

The curse of the Marquis de Sade

bibliography

1338166609

Joel Warner

a notorious scoundrel, a mythical manuscript, and the biggest scandal in literary history

Described as both "one of the most important novels ever written" and "the gospel of evil," 120 Days of Sodom was penned by the Marquis de Sade, the notorious eighteenth-century aristocrat who waged a campaign of mayhem and debauchery across France, evaded execution, and inspired the word "sadism." Despite all his crimes, Sade considered this work to be his greatest transgression. The original manuscript of 120 Days of Sodom, a tiny scroll penned in the bowels of the Bastille in Paris, would embark on a centuries-spanning odyssey across Europe, passing from nineteenth-century banned-book collectors to pioneering sex researchers to avant-garde artists and hidden away from Nazi book burnings. In 2014, the world heralded its return to France when the scroll was purchased for millions by Gérard Lhéritier, the self-made son of a plumber who had used his savvy business skills to upend France's renowned rare book market. But the sale opened the door to festering government vendettas, feuds among antiquarian booksellers, manuscript sales derailed by sabotage, a record-breaking lottery jackpot, and allegations of a decade-long billion-euro con, the specifics of which, if true, would make the scroll part of France's largest-ever Ponzi scheme. Told with gripping reporting and flush with deceit and scandal, this book weaves together the sweeping odyssey of 120 Days of Sodom and the spectacular rise and fall of Lhéritier, once the "king of manuscripts" and now known to many as the Bernie Madoff of France. At its center is an urgent question for all those who cherish the written word: As the age of handwriting comes to an end, what do we owe the original texts left behind?

Prologue: The Prisoner in the Tower -- Relic of Freedom -- Par Ballon Monté -- In the Bosom of Luxury and Plenty -- Psychopathia Sexualis -- Rise of an Empire -- The Tyranny of Lust -- Reign of the Red Vicomtesse -- Trouble in Bibliopolis -- Citizen Sade -- The Purloined Scroll -- Erased from the Minds of Men -- The Grand Bargain -- The Divine Marquis -- The Prisoner by the Sea -- The Black Sale -- Epilogue : Entombed

adult