In her first novel, Monsieur Venus, Rachilde created Raoule de Venerande, a Decadent heroine as depraved as she is resourceful and ingenious. The Marquise de Sade, published three years later, in 1887, has a female protagonist to rival Raoule in her relish for destruction and her passion for outrage. Like Rachilde herself, Mary Barbe is a cavalry officer's daughter. Barely in her teens, she is orphaned and taken to live with her elderly uncle, a man of science. As a girl in a family where only the male sex is prized, she is relegated to a life of dull seclusion in her attic room. But with the approach of womanhood, beauty, learning and an inordinate streak of ruthlessness give her the means to carve out a place in the world, and exact the cruel dues of a femme fatale.
The novel gives us a rare glimpse of female sexuality, explored not only from a decadent, but even more tellingly, from a woman's perspective.
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Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Seller: Apeiron Book Service, Sant'Oreste, RM, Italy
brossura. Condition: nuovo. New. Translated and with an introduction by Liz Heron, Ill. bn: --, Ill. colori: --, Peso: 260 gr. Seller Inventory # 2566-AA26
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