Crimes of Passion

By Marquis de Sade

Originally published in 1800, Crimes of Passion contained eleven stories and an essay on the novel. The present book contains three (abridged) tales. In “Florville and Courval” we find not only a reinterpretation and elaboration of the Oedipus myth, but an unforgettable illustration of Donatien Alphonse François de Sade’s artistic creed. He was not simply an eccentric aristocrat with artistic pretensions, but a pathological rebel against the Age of Enlightenment, and a prisoner of the Prince of Darkness. Two other tales are presented here. “Juliette and Raunai” has a historical setting. It is sentimental and melodramatic. In it, virtue does triumph, but not before the lovers have run the gamut of human suffering. “Miss Henriette Stralson” has a contemporary setting and ranks above his historical tales. In it, virtue wins only a pyrrhic victory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Oct 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504022903

Marquis de Sade

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, was a French aristocrat and writer who was notorious for his immoral lifestyle, and whose name provided the basis for the modern terms “sadism” and “sadist”. Among de Sade’s best known works are the erotic novels Justine, or Good Conduct Well Chastised, Juliette, or Vice Amply Rewarded, and The 120 Days of Sodom. Although an elected delegate to the National Convention during the French Revolution, de Sade was regularly incarcerated because of his lasciviousness, spending approximately 32 years in prison or in an insane asylum. He died in the asylum at Charenton in 1814. De Sade’s life is depicted in the 2000 film Quills starting Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Joaquin Phoenix.