The Charenton Journals: Prison Diaries of a Sadist
Jul 2013 · SCB Distributors
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200
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About this ebook
The secret and scandalous journal which the Marquis de Sade risked severe punishment in order to maintain, even when ill and ageing at Charenton asylum, reveals the shadowy life of an exceptional, complex man whose philosophies and works are legendary. This book contains the living, everyday presence of Sade as an old man, almost 67 years old when the “first notebook” begins of his once-lost journal.
In the “hospital-prison” of Charenton, under a liberal regime of surveillance, Sade’s days were slow and grim, full of mundane preoccupations, worries about money, quarrels with the people around him – but were also lit up by the sordid, secret episodes of a final erotic adventure: the last flames of his passion for a teenaged serving-girl, an affirmation of life even as death approached, darkening the colours of his life and tearing apart his feelings.
Only the first (1807–8) and fourth (1814) of these notebooks have been rediscovered, out of a series of four; they are now presented in English for the very first time.
In the “hospital-prison” of Charenton, under a liberal regime of surveillance, Sade’s days were slow and grim, full of mundane preoccupations, worries about money, quarrels with the people around him – but were also lit up by the sordid, secret episodes of a final erotic adventure: the last flames of his passion for a teenaged serving-girl, an affirmation of life even as death approached, darkening the colours of his life and tearing apart his feelings.
Only the first (1807–8) and fourth (1814) of these notebooks have been rediscovered, out of a series of four; they are now presented in English for the very first time.
About the author
The Marquis De Sade was born in Paris, France on June 2, 1740. He fought in the French Army during the Seven Years War before being tried and sentenced to death in 1772 for a series of sexual crimes. He escaped to Italy but upon his return to France in 1777, he was recaptured and thrown into the prison at Vincennes. De Sade spent six years at Vincennes before being transferred first to the Bastille and then to Charenton lunatic asylum in 1789. He was released from the asylum in 1790 but was arrested again in 1801. He was moved from prison to prison before returning to Charenton in 1803, where he later died on December 2, 1814. A French novelist and playwright, he is largely known for his pathological sexual views and ethical nihilism. His works include Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, Juliette, and Aline and Valcourt or The Philosophic Novel.
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