There are two kinds of people interested in sadism: those who want to see it under a microscope, and those who want to view it from space. Readers who dare to open The Curse of the Marquis de Sade: A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History will find something for everyone. Inventively assembled by Joel Warner, the book’s time-jumping chapters offer a gentleman’s guide to ungentlemanly behavior. Sure, the hero once ordered a sex partner to defecate on a cross. But she didn’t, and his insistence cost him.
In the 18th century, that hero, a twisted French nobleman, composed a scroll of 157,000 vile words on a 40-foot scroll in 37 days while imprisoned in the Bastille. He wrote 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage, in which four noblemen abuse hundreds of captives, many unwilling and under-age. It doesn’t end well for anyone—there is disemboweling, dismemberment, disgrace. Some deeds he did; others are merely weird wishes. And though the Marquis de Sade is dead, the scroll still unravels.
