The author of notorious pornographic novels, a sexual pervert who spent much of his life in prison and whose name was unmentionable in polite society. For the best part of two centuries such
was the verdict on the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), and only in recent times has the Marquis come to be seen as one of the most misunderstood writers of his day.
The stories in this collection are among the most accessible of Sade's fiction. They range from the dramatic novella Eugenie de Franval - in which a father's criminal passion for his beautiful
daughter leads to intrigue, abduction and murder - to comic tales such as 'The Husband Who Played Priest', concerning a lecherous monk who finds an ingenious way to combine clerical duties and
secular pleasures. Sade's gifts as a humorist are much in evidence, as is his particular delight in unusual marital situations - which inevitably lead to the most diverting conclusions. Whether
he is writing bawdy, exuberant comedy or high tragedy, Sade is essentially a moralist, and his exploration of the darker side of human nature remains as relevant to our society as it was to his
own.
