Book description
'Justine' was the Marquis de Sade's first novella, written in 1787,
whilst imprisoned for two weeks in the Bastille. Although published
anonymously, de Sade was eventually indicted for blasphemy and obscenity
(without trial) for the authorship of 'Justine' at the behest of
Napoleon Bonaparte.
Who suffers in the pursuit of desire?
The Countess de Lorsange reveals her history, in a tavern, to a young
woman named Therese; where a young girl and her sister fight a battle of
morality. Set in a period before the French Revolution, Justine shows
the battle of virtue versus vice, where earning your keep takes on fresh
connotations, and a titled lady holds a lifetime of illicit secrets.
The Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary and writer of
violent pornography. Incarcerated for 32 years of his life (in prisons
and asylums), the majority of his output was written from behind bars.
Famed for his graphic depiction of cruelty within classic titles such as
'Crimes of Love' and 'One Hundred Days of Sodom', de Sade's name was
adopted as a clinical term for the sexual fetish known as 'sadism'.
