Τεχνάσματα του έρωτα και άλλες ιστορίες

by Marquis de Sade, Έφη Κορομηλά (Translator)

Οκτώ σύντομες ιστορίες γεμάτες ερωτικά τεχνάσματα, κωμικές παρεξηγήσεις με τραγικό τέλος ή το αντίστροφο, πέπλα αιδούς που πέφτουν, ανατροπές, ίντριγκες... Γραμμένες με την πένα ενός συγγραφέα που, εκτός από «σαδιστής», ήταν και μεγάλος λογοτέχνης..

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Literature, France, Philosophy, Classics, Erotica

195 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

A preoccupation with sexual violence characterizes novels, plays, and short stories that Donatien Alphonse François, comte de Sade but known as marquis de Sade, of France wrote. After this writer derives the word sadism, the deriving of sexual gratification from fantasies or acts that involve causing other persons to suffer physical or mental pain.

This aristocrat, revolutionary politician, and philosopher exhibited famous libertine lifestyle.

His works include dialogues and political tracts; in his lifetime, he published some works under his own name and denied authorship of apparently anonymous other works. His best erotic works combined philosophical discourse with pornography and depicted fantasies with an emphasis on criminality and blasphemy against the Catholic Church. Morality, religion or law restrained not his "extreme freedom." Various prisons and an insane asylum incarcerated the aristocrat for 32 years of his life: ten years in the Bastile, another year elsewhere in Paris, a month in Conciergerie, two years in a fortress, a year in Madelonnettes, three years in Bicêtre, a year in Sainte-Pélagie, and 13 years in the Charenton asylum. During the French revolution, people elected this criminal as delegate to the National Convention. He wrote many of his works in prison.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been taught since I was a wee lass that the Marquis was to be avoided as he only touched upon the subject that holds his namesake: sadism. Yet, I was extremely and pleasantly surprised when I finished The Mystified Magistrate and realized that though De Sade's tales were indeed ribald and perverted, they were also very witty and wonderfully written. He aims his satirical wand at not only the virtues of sex but politics and social norms. If you're looking for a bit of jolly satire, The Mystified Magistrate's the way to go.

[Sotiris Gatsos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Μπορεί η ανάγνωσή του να ξεκίνησε με μία μικρή επιφύλαξη, ωστόσο με περίμενε μια ευχάριστη έκπληξη. Πέρα από τη σύνδεση του με τον όρο σαδισμός και τις σεξουαλικές διαστροφές, κρύβεται ένας συγγραφέας με βαθύ φιλοσοφικό υπόβαθρο που εκτείνεται από τον επικούρειο ηδονισμό, μέχρι την αισθησιοκρατία του εμπειρισμού. Οι αντισυμβατικές ιδέες του (για την εποχή) σχετικά με την αθεΐα, την ομοφυλοφιλία κ.α. θα στείλουν τον ίδιο στη φυλακή και τα έργα του να αποτελούν ακόμα, για ορισμένους, ταμπού, 250 χρόνια μετά.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having been recently brutalized by Philosophy in the Boudoir, I was very pleasantly surprised by this book of semi-lost tales from the Marquis de Sade. Philosophy matched aggressive, obnoxious pseduo-intellectual philosophical ravings with tiresome and repetitive sexual description tarted up with, at times, extreme violence. It is bizarre and fascinating as a historical and psychological document, but not exactly a hot read. I mean... I'm weird, but I'm not quite that kind of weird.

The stories in The Mystified Magistrate, on the other hand, were intended by De Sade as a "light" counterpart to his more "serious" works. In the introduction it's said that De Sade initially set out to be an dramatist and penner of light entertainments. That is certainly evident from these stories, which read rather like "The Three Stooges of Provence." They're bawdy, obnoxious, and bizarrely illuminating in historical terms. The title story is about a judge who wants to marry a much younger woman well above his station, and how he is brutally humiliated by the girl's secret paramour and her noble relatives. Then there's the one about the Persian ambassador who's shown an entire court's worth of pee-pees by way of convincing him that none of them are circumcised, and therefore are infidels, not blasphemous Muslims... it's truly bizarre, and utterly fascinating both in its illumination of De Sade as comic weirdo and of the incredibly complex and contradictory times.

The manuscripts were uncorrected, resulting in numerous errors and inconsistencies, which actually makes for fascinating reading. Wonderful, readable translations. Strange and lovely, in that fringe-history sort of way.

[Jane Fudger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Marquis de Sade has a controversial reputation due to his originality and scandalous writing in the late 1700's. Much of his writing was whilst he was in prison particularly in the Bastille.
Sade used his writings to portray his hatred of all things pretentious particularly the judical system and their hyprocisy and false piety which is examined, with a dark sense of humour, in this collection of stories .Although by 1700 standards the stories would be deemed salacious and ungodly [which put him in prison both from writing and actions],he attempted to overturn social justice norms and questioning the conventions of justice and powe
An interesting and addictive read.

[Stasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because it was the one of two books the library had by the Marquis de Sade. For his time, deSade was considered pornographic. If he wrote the same things today, he would be on Oprah talking about the evils of child abuse, incest, and pedophile priests. Heavy on philosophy and moralizing on the punishment those who aren't virtuous, he denounces the lack of parental education which allows young virgins to be debauched by dirty old men and his evildoers end up being punished for their sins.

I was reminded of the line from Quills where deSade's wife tells him that the problem is not his writing but that he acts his writing out in his life. The political commentary has mostly been lost but this edition was well footnoted so that some sense of the political commentary was saved.

[Rain · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novella itself is a protracted revenge-fantasy farce at the expense of the judge who sentenced de Sade to jail time for being impossibly extra. The later short stories are a mixed bag - some are subversive and amusing to the modern reader, some are just gross, cruel, and misogynistic. The overall experience is saved by an outstanding translation and set of notes, but MdS's humor isn't that different from his taste in kink, and is never going to be for everyone.

[Genndy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a Serbian translation of de Sades collection of stories and short stories originally called "Historiettes, contes et fabliaux". I have no clue if there are all of the stories from the original in this translation, because Serbians in Yugoslavia liked to just pick the stories they liked the most from the comlete work and translate only them, and publish it under the same title as the original, as though no alternaions were made, which can be confusing. Anyway, this is not that infamous extreme de Sade material in here. Most of the stories from this collection are like just a bit spicyer Decameron. SOME of them are really provocative, like the story about the priest who uses the narrative about the holy sacraments to lure and fuck children, but in this book, this kind of provocativeness is only occasional. Don't get me wrong, this is in no way a children's book, for most stories still revolve around lust, corruptivenes, sex and torture, but they are far lighter in comparison to his novel Justine, for example. So I'm guessing this was one of his works that he managed to publish under his real name while he was still alive, although I don't know for sure and I don't feel like checking. Still, it is interesting read. Some of the stories are boring because they just drag on or endlessly moralize, but overall, it is worth of reading.

[Graeme Sutherland · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title story is amusing enough and has some very effective satirical touches. However, I felt it over-stayed its welcome, with just a couple of twists and turns too many. I did love the fact that the crimes ascribed to the judge just happen to tally so closely to "wrong-doings" that the author famously suffered at the hands of the law!

The accompanying shorter pieces are the real joy of this collection. Witty, often laugh-out-funny. Bawdy without graphic obscenity. Playful and light in comparison to the darkness of the writer's reputation based on works such as the epic "120 days... " The stories reveal the Marquis to be a true man of Enlightenment, but in his own terms: his open-hearted tolerance of what we would today call LGBTQ+ is joyously proclaimed.

You could quite forget whose work you were reading... until he hits you with an outrageous moment like the old theology tutor's "lesson" in the meaning of the Trinity!

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Marquis is not a great writer, but I liked some of these stories. His writing style reminds me a little of good but not great fanfiction -- plot-driven, fun, unpretentious, and seemingly written more for the author's and his friends' pleasure than for than for literary greatness. These stories are much less gruesome than some of his longer novels like Juliette or Justine, but there are similar themes (suffering, hedonism, domination, anarchism, the tyranny and corruption of the courts and --sometimes -- families, etc.). This collection of stories has nice, detailed footnotes that are a huge help for readers (like me) who don't know much about the Marquis de Sade's life.

[Francis Steppe · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading 120 Days of Sodom and Justine as an introduction to Sade's work, this book was a refreshing change of pace---much less heavy on descriptions of heterodox sex acts and preferences, filling the space with wordplay and often absurd humor.

[jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

only read the novella and not any of the short stories, will visit those another time. a good intro to de sade and a good sign i’m gonna like his more known works because i kept wanting this to get grosser lol

[AttackGirl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read a few of these tales elsewhere, it will come to me

[Alexander Taggart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very funny, kinda boring, not bad

[Abstract Reader]

Got to about 1/3 and while amusing and interesting enough, just struggled to hold my attention. Lovely narration, classics and all that but yet again I am convinced classics is probably not for me…..

[Seneca · Rating 2 out of 5]

So totally fascinating to see what passed for jailable smut in the late 18th century.

[Lisajean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm impressed by de Sade's boldness, but not by his prose.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my.

Monsieur de Sade. What more can we say.

Probably one of the tamest of the marquis' works, this book is a collection of short, perverted stories.

I read it in french, and you won't enjoy it as much (probably) if you don't. The reason is simple; One of the short stories, for example, is about a priest sodomizing a young boy, while the young boy himself rapes a younger girl. All this to teach the boy the principles of the holy trinity.

Did I mention the word Sadism comes from the Marquis de Sade? :p

Anyways, this is an awful subject matter. But it is written so exquisitely, with such a colorful and delicate choice of words and figures of speech, that one surely will giggle and blush instead of being offended. A true work of art.

If you want to read something written by a true french foppish libertine, this is a good way to start.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow such a great book! It's so bold and daring even to today's standards, so I can only imagine what it must have been to the Marquis de Sade's contemporaries. He was definitely ahead of his time, and even though these tales are his most humorous and not his most scandalous ones, they are still pretty impressive with their critiques to society and religion and everything the Marquis despised. And it is also a fun book.

[Topcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic translation. The Stories are so marvellous, I couldn't stop laughing. These storied shined a new light on De Sade for me. This is completely different to The 120 Days of Sodom, at least on the violent and disturbing scale. There is plenty of sexuality in these storied but it is completely comical. I also highly recommend to go through the notes as you read, they provide some fantastic insight into the time period and Donatien's personal life.

[Lizz Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know.... I think I expected something more. "More" what though, I'm not sure. Perhaps violence (notably absent unless intended to humiliate judges)? All in all this collection of short stories was more Carry On and less erotica.
Although, I know I'm doing a bad job of placing this in cultural context...
But Ovid is much, much more risque! We view Ovid as a cheeky comic poet more than an erotic poet.

No, I stand by initial response. I expected more.

[Harkonnen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For D.A.F. De Sade fans, this is a must read, I can say no more

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever and funny

[Velvetink]

This is the 1963 Panther edition titled "Quartet".

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

As a writer Sade is best when he philosophises less. This is proved here.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gross, but fun

[Kent Winward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think bawdy Chaucerian tales that focus on poking fun at the French legal system and you get the idea.

[Vassia L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book!!!

[Floriane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sex and profanity. Sade you know...