8. Justine: Or The Misfortunes Of Virtue - The Marquis de Sade
Justine and Juliette are the young daughters of Monsieur de Bertole. He fornicated with another man's wife who took great exception to this and poisoned him. The girls live in a nunnery and Juliette is corrupted by libertine nuns. Justine retains her virtue. When their background is found out, the girls have to leave the nunnery. Juliette's story is told in another book but meanwhile, the virtuous Justine has a terrible time of it trying to keep her morals. She flees to a monastery for protection only to become the sex slave of the monks who subject her to rape and orgies. She helps a man who is robbed in a field and he takes her back to his house and keeps her in a cave. Accused of arson, she begs the judge for mercy only to be humiliated and mocked. The story is told by 'Therese' to Madame de Lorsagne. It so happens Therese is Justine and the Madame is her long lost sister Juliette. Ironically, Juliette surrendered to a life of sin and thrived while Justine, who refused it, was driven deeper into a life of lugubrious vice. Thankfully for our poor beleaguered heroine, she is finally put out of her misery by a bolt of lightning. The chances of you getting your jollies from Justine are slim. Yes there are graphic sexual acts but they all take place within the context of Justine's misery. It is, however, vastly more readable than 120 Days of Sodom - Justine is written in the classic style which was popular at the time with very flowery prose and it lacks the mean spirited depravity and the very naughty swear words that pepper de Sade's later work. It made a major impression on Napoleon who described it as 'the most abominable book ever engendered by the most depraved imagination'. He ordered the arrest of de Sade who spent 13 years - until the end of his life locked in the Bastille. We owe it to de Sade to go out and buy his book and wallow in depravity like all those French people did, a couple of centuries ago.