Le Valet de Sade

by Nikolaj Frobenius, Vincent Fournier (Translator)

Au XVIIIe siècle, un enfant au regard terrifiant naît à Honfleur. Il se nomme Latour et révèle, en grandissant, une totale insensibilité à la douleur. Après une formation chez un taxidermiste, il quitte la Normandie pour Paris où commence vraiment son aventure. Obsédé par son infirmité, Latour devient meurtrier ; il tue et dissèque dans l'espoir de percer le mystère de la douleur. Un jour, pourtant, sa vie bascule : il entre au service du marquis de Sade et devient son valet, son complice, jusqu'à la mort.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Historical, Novels, Scandinavian Literature, Roman

270 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Nikolaj Frobenius (born September 29, 1965) is a Norwegian novelist and screen writer.

Frobenius was born in Oslo, but grew up at Rykkinn. He studied film writing and research at LCP, London. He has written several books and screenplays, including the screenplay for the classic Nordic film thriller Insomnia, which was adapted into a major Hollywood production in 2002. His international breakthrough as a novelist came with the novel "Latours katalog" (1996). His books have been translated into eighteen languages, including English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Russian and Danish. His novels have received critical acclaim both in Norway and internationally, and he has won several literary prizes for his writing. Nikolaj Frobenius is a former editor of the periodical Vinduet and worked as a commissioning editor for Norsk filmfond from 2005-2008. Frobenius has written several successful screenplays, including Dragonfly (2001). In 2011 he adapted his own novel, the semi-autobiograhical "Teori og praksis" into the film "Sønner av Norge" (Sons of Norway). He lives and writes in Oslo.

Reviews

[paper0r0ss0 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deludente thriller storico dove la vera tensione consiste nel capire come abbiano potuto essere scritte certe sperticate recensioni positive. Senza capo ne' coda, scritto in maniera a dir poco deludente, non trasmette nemmeno l'ombra di un'emozione o di una sorpresa. I personaggi sono scolpiti con l'accetta e hanno le stesse sfumature di un faro da 100.000 watt. Unica eccezione la madre del personaggio principale, figura che ha forse smosso qualcosa nel pigro autore e che regala qualche accenno di originalita' e interesse.

[Kai Weber · Rating 2 out of 5]

At least the first half of the book is nothing but platitude, bromide and half-baked gothic novel. Ugly mother, ugly child, outcasts, dirty business, crooked feelings. I know of no psychology that could render the protagonist's thoughts and actions plausible.
During the second half of the book there is some more openness, a deliberate indeterminacy of motivations, which opens this novel up for a reader's speculations, for filling in gaps, for interpretation. So in the end I was a bit reconciled with the novel, and once again justified for not dropping a book too early; on the other hand the ending is not so great that you would necessarily have to wade through all of this, too.

[Ina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing like the german edition - maybe little better to read because I could read it in original language. Like with other books with french backgound - I don't like it too much, maybe I'm a little bit frankphob.

Wie ich leider erst nach 90(!) Seiten festgestellt habe hatte ich das Buch schon einmal auf Deutsch gelesen - das Ergebnis war wohl so enttäuschend dass ich das Buch und seine Handlung verdrängt haben muss und wiederum (wie schon bei der deutschen Edition)auf den verführerischen Klappentext reinfiel. Die Geschichte wirkt immer noch fragmentartig aneinandergereiht, und eingestreute detailgetreue Beschreibungen ihrer Charaktere führen ins nichts. Es wirkt wie eine schlechte Mixtur aus Szenen aus Sades Geschichten, Geschichte der Anatomie und einer grotesk "normalen" Variante des Göckners von Notre Dame.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one, I have read several books with a 'Perfume/de Sade/Casanova' theme this year, and have enjoyed them all, so was looking forward to a similar experience of exploring the seedier aspects of 18th century society. This novel certainly does do that, however the result was not as satisfying as I had hoped. This follows the exploits of de Sade's valet, a genuine historical character who was at one point arrested alongside the Marquis for buggery and assorted other crimes. The novel presents Latour as having an inability to feel pain, hence his interest in de Sade's attempts to inflict and receive pain. Latour is driven to murder in order to avenge the death of his Mother, an infamous money lender, and yet there is a surprising lack of passion in the writing. It may be simply that something was lost in translation, in any case I was left feeling rather dissatisfied by the experience.

[Amandine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinant. Une ressemblance fort marquée avec Le parfum de Süskind tout d'abord, qui se laisse ensuite oublier au fil des pérégrinations du valet et des apparitions de Sade. Le second est représenté tel que je l'ai connu en tant qu'auteur et à travers mes lectures critiques ; le premier semble plus romancé, mais fascine par sa quête et sa froide détermination. Une narration qui m'a marquée plus encore, alternant première et troisième personne en fonction des chapitres, usant aussi bien des longues phrases presque lyriques comme des phrases saccadées de la pensée. Un roman tout à fait fascinant, à la hauteur de l'auteur évoqué.

[terrystad dit Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Titre pompeux, dans le style « vendeur ». Je préfère le titre original du livre: « Latours Katalog ».

À la lecture du roman, tu t’aperçois que l’auteur a investigué, non seulement pour les lieux où a passé Sade, mais aussi réfléchi sur une personnalité psychologique plausible (non exagéré) du personnage. En cela, l’auteur a tout mon respect.

Sade n’est pas l’objectif essentiel du livre, il en est qu’une voix des possibles. Vous saurez en lisant l’oeuvre.
Car il s’agit plutôt du processus par lequel est passé et passe un genre de tueur en série. Ce n’est pas en soi mon style le livre. Par contre, c’est très bien amené dans ce cas-ci:

« Découvrir l’énigme de la souffrance » car notre valet, ici, est HYPOSENSIBLE à la douleur physique. Cela existe ,physiologiquement parlant, chez l’être humain, nous le savons aujourd’hui. Comment un être du XVIIe siècle pouvait vivre cet état… Je vous laisse en découvrir un cas, à travers ce récit!"

[Justinas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Na skaityti iki galo jau nematau reikalo, nes pasidarė gana nuobodu. Autorius lyg ir bando šokiruoti rašydamas apie visokius akiai bjaurius dalykus, bet ties nei vienu ilgiau neapsistoja, o siunčia Laturą vis kažkur toliau. Sakyčiau, kad knygos tempas per greitas, nes ji tokia lyg ir filosofinė, lyg ir trileris, bet dabar gaunasi nei šis, nei tas. Ir kaip ten seksis Laturui toliau man ne itin terūpi, nes tas sąrašas su žmonėmis, kuriems jis nori atkeršyti - toks nukritęs iš dangaus, ir neaiškus. Kažkaip kvaila, kad Laturas taip ėmė ir sugalvojo, kad štai šie žmonės dėl visko kalti.

[Oda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strange book.

[Anja Rønning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was.. Interesting. And gross. And unfulfilling. It wasn't all bad, but I'm glad it wasn't longer..

[Patou des Pyrénées · Rating 3 out of 5]

La traduction du titre original "Latours Katalog" induit en erreur sur le contenu du livre, en vérité la partie avec Sade ne tient qu'une petite place dans l'intrigue.

[anny · Rating 3 out of 5]

** 3.5

[Manon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sublime autant que déconcertant

[Noémie Berte · Rating 4 out of 5]

j’ai bien aimé même si c’était bizarre parfois mdrr

[Krocht Ehlundovič · Rating 2 out of 5]

Autor hovorí, že chce písať o extrémnych veciach a rôznych tabu, nuž toto asi je o tom... Ja sa nejak neviem vyrovnať s touto knihou, vidím tam pokus o to šokovať, priniesť hnus, či dokonca rozhorčenie, ale celé mi to pripadá také nedotiahnuté, nekompletné, akoby chýbala myšlienka.

Ako prvé čo mi pred očami skákalo, bola istá podobnosť (letmá) s Parfémom, lebo i tu hlavný hrdina trpí "vadou" - necíti bolesť, čo ovplyvňuje jeho celý život; plus je ohromne škaredý s krásnymi uhrančivými očami. Táto kombinácia si rovno pýta to, čo autor ponúka - vraždy (respektíve vedecké bádanie - hlavný hrdina sa stavia do role vedca, ktorý skúma mozog). Celé sa to odohráva v osvieteneckom Francúzsku tesne pred revolúciou, teda myšlienky vedátorov onej doby sú v diele prítomné a dávajú mu akýsi punc "vedeckosti". Stretnutie s markízom de Sade mi zas pripomenulo dielo Guenassia: Valčík stromov a oblohy, kde sa stretávame s van Goghom... Aby to celé nebolo len také onaké, vedeckosť a osvietenecká racionálna filozofia sa tam kĺby vo vyšetrovateľovi vrážd.

Čo sa mi páčilo, boli "obrazy mozgov", to beriem ako pozitívum! Škoda, že autor nerozvil tento bod použitím slastného naturalizmu, bolo by to úchvatné.

Kompozícia knihy, celý život na 200 stranách sa mi zdá trocha plytká; zároveň som mal pocit, že dej bol rozbitý a nekompaktný, čo rušilo. Aby som však autorovi nekrivdil, skúsim sa dostať k jeho iným knihám...

[Stine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and grotesque the same way that Das Floß der Medusa and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is fascinating and grotesque. Not for the faint-hearted, but nevertheless an interesting read.

[Orange Bleu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kniha stejně zběsilá a horečnatá jako sám život na okraji francouzské společnosti v dobách rodícího se libertinství a osvícenského materialismu. Pro Latoura představuje okolní svět jedno velké "theatrum anatomicum"; jeho bezmezná posedlost stavbou lidského těla a zejména fungováním mozku vychází z vrozené anomálie spočívající v neschopnosti cítit bolest - atmosféra prostředí plného nenávisti a morálního úpadku ("Všechno se děje z nutnosti, dobro a zlo jsou jen prvky nutnosti." s. 110) však tuto obsesi ještě umocňují a dávají volný průchod sériovým vraždám, prostřednictvím nichž si Latour obstarává orgány, které posléze pitvá a studuje ve snaze objevit centrum bolesti. Děsivá výpověď o tom, že "tělesná bolest je jediným důkazem toho, že člověk není zcela sám" (s. 175) a že "na pitevním stole jsou všichni stejně oškliví" (s. 96).

[Henrik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Handlingen er lagt til Frankrike på 1700-tallet. Latour er sønn av den forhatte ågerkjerringa Bou-Bou. Han er født uten evne til å føle smerte, og han har helt fra han var liten gutt vakt oppsikt i landsbyen på grunn av sitt frastøtende utseende. Da moren dør flytter Latour til Paris hvor han får tjeneste som lakei hos marki de Sade. Side om side med markiens libertinske livsførsel, søker Latour skånselsløst etter smertesenteret i hjernen. Og han søker hevn over dem han holder ansvarlig for morens død.

[Callie S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo leggi con la pancia e ti rovescia lo stomaco: è un libro viscerale. Tetro, terribile, gratuito, ma scritto benissimo.
Ho orrore di me stessa nel dirlo, perché quest'opera è un prolungato esercizio di sadismo, ma sono rimasta incollata dalla prima all'ultima pagina.
Per una storia che mira a sfibrare il nervo, insidioso come morfina.

[Ann-Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

7 years after I first read this I found out that the autor was born in Norway..:)
I really love the atmosphere in this book and as many say, it reminds me of the "Perfume" book.
Latour is a character that gives me goosebumps, not of the happy kind.

[Hayley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother with this one. The tone is uniformly ugly and unpleasant, but not in enough detail to actually make an impression. I would actually have preferred if De Sade's Valet had outraged me, because that at least would be an impression. As it is, I've got nothing.

[Rune Kaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deler av denne boken er helt brilliant skrevet, mens andre deler er helt uforståelig dårlig. Spennende historie. Anbefalt med forbehold. Likte du Parfymen, kan det godt hende at du liker denne også.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

atmosphère sombre sur les découvertes anatomiques au 18e
bien au début, un peu long vers le milieu où l'histoire n'avance plus vraiment, et redevient interessant à la fin

[Paddy O'callaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hitherto component of Sade's life which has lain unappreciated until not. Even the best Sade biographies fail to give Latour enough page space.

[Gunnhild · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to pretend I'm reading this in lithuanian, there just wasn't any other goodreads version (and I was too lazy to make one..)

[Muldvarper]

A favorite from my youth.