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Justine

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Justine

By: Marquis de Sade
Narrated by: Polly Edsell, Nicholas Boulton
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About this listen

Underneath the patina of civilized society lies the Sadean demimonde: a bundle of lustful appetites fueled by momentary impulse and a desire for unfettered indulgence. And the target of this savagery: Justine de Bertole, a pious and virginal heroine.

While her amoral sister Juliette gets all the wonders in the world, virtuous and faithful Justine is subjected to punishment after punishment at the hands of sadistic and abusive deviants. Grotesque, inhumane and compelling, Sade’s novel overturns Rousseau’s views of the social contract, and the common trope that punishment only visits sinners, to deliver a passionate treatise on good and evil, virtue and sin.

2012 translation by John Phillips.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2012 John Phillips (translation) (P)2018 Naxos AudioBooks Classics
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Marquis de Sade wrote the way he did in reaction to the widespread abuse under the crown and the clergy of the time, and gives some context to the idea of unchecked power. This novel watches a progressively worse state of abuse find a destitute girl, who tries to make a virtuous decision at every intersection, unerringly at her peril.

The question arises whether virtue is actually practised by anyone, or is just an excuse to punish victims when they stray, but all the philosophising is done by odious self-interested parties, so we're left as an audience rather than a classroom. The glimmer of hope seems to be in those who would investigate the clergy, judiciary, and nobles, whose thinly-veiled crimes are so close to the surface because they are so rarely questioned. The book is very fictional but also very astute, and gives some context to the revolution, which was perhaps no more violent than the peace that preceded it.

It is also a horror book, reminding me of some horror films, or even the memoir Tears of the Silenced, in terms of showing that there isn't a limit to how bad abuse can get if there is no transparency and accountability in any group of people over another. I think that it's a stirring indictment of what horrified Marquis de Sade so much about society as it was, and hadn't entirely escaped being. I'd go so far as to say that the kinds of people who would call it pornography, are the kinds of people he was writing about.

A politically astute horror story

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A highly disturbing look into the extremes of materialistic atheism and moral relativism. Darkly humerous in its depiction of Justines naivety and over the top villains and tortures. Certainly not for the faint of heart or easily offended.

Transgressive classic

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No idea why anyone would think this was good writing. All the bad guys are the same and boring. So boring. After the disgust and violence it’s just an incredibly boring story. Could have been told as a 2000 word fable.

Don’t bother

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