Product Description

'Senneval, you see in me your sister, the girl you seduced at Nancy, the woman who murdered your son, the wife of your own father and the ignoble creature who sent your mother to the gallows...' Who but the Marquis de Sade would write, not of the pain, tragedy, and joy of love but of its crimes? Murder, seduction, and incest are among the cruel rewards for selfless love in his stories; tragedy, despair, and death the inevitable outcome. Sade's villains will stop at nothing to satisfy their depraved passions, and they in turn suffer under the thrall of love. Psychologically astute, and defiantly unconventional, these stories show Sade at his best. A skilled and artful storyteller, he is also an intellectual who asks questions about society, about ourselves, and about life, for which we have yet to find the answers. This new selection includes 'An Essay on Novels', Sade's penetrating survey of the novelist's art.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #355795 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 388 pages

Times Literary Supplement, Friday, 1 July 2005
"excellent new edition"

Review
[An] excellent new edition... A recommended introduction to the Sadean oeuvre for anyone genuinely interested in the ideas that won him enduring notoriety. (Ruth Scurr, Times Literary Supplement )

Customer Reviews

Title
This book is tame compared to de Sade's other writings. This should be expected, since it is from him that the term "Sadism" derived. Crimes of Love, a collection of short stories, was first published in 1800. Now five of these weird and wonderful tales are available to modern readers.
The stories themselves are extremely witty, moral, tragic and bizarre, all at the same time. They contain murder, incest and intrigue. The contrast between the villainous and virtuous characters is fascinating. Sade's villains stop at nothing to fulfil their evil plans, and have no motivation other than to cause suffering. if you are squeamish or prudish, you should avoid this book and anything else by the Marquis de Sade. (Considering that he was imprisoned for his pornographic writings and is to this day considered dangerous.) Having read his magnum opus, The 120 Days of Sodom, I can assure you that his work can go beyond pornographic. He is probably responsible for the most disturbing and vile piece of literature ever created.
Crimes of Love is not an evil book, nor is it by an evil author. The arguments and philosophising of the characters and narrator are thought provoking. It is interesting, entertaining and well written. It provides everything one should expect from a good book. I would recommend this to anyone over 18, naturally.