‘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.
About the author
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’.
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