Donatien Alphonse François Sade, Les Cent Vingt journées de Sodome [The One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sodom]

Robert Gillan (University of Manchester)

Ed. by Tim Unwin, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900.
Vol. editors: David Elwyn Evans (University of St Andrews), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Elisabeth Gerwin (University of Lethbridge), Nigel Harkness (University of Newcastle upon Tyne), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield), Jennifer Yee (University of Oxford)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1785

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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On 29 February 1784 the Marquis de Sade was transferred from the prison of Vincennes to the Bastille. Twenty months later he began to copy up his first novel. In the interests of secrecy, he wrote on a roll of paper, made up of a number of small sheets glued end to end, measuring some twelve metres in length by twelve centimetres in width. Beginning on 22 October 1785 he worked each evening between seven and ten o'clock. By 28 November he had covered both sides of the manuscript, creating what has become perhaps the most infamous work of world literature.

The story of Les Cent Vingt Journées de Sodome [The One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sodom] can be summarized as follows. Towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV, four libertines – Blangis, his brother, referred to only as

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2749 words

Citation: Gillan, Robert. "Les Cent Vingt journées de Sodome". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 March 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4036, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Donatien Alphonse François Sade, Les Cent Vingt journées de Sodome [The One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sodom]

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