The Curse of the Marquis de Sade

A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History

By: Joel Warner

Narrated by: Stephen Mendel

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • The captivating, deeply reported true story of how one of the most notorious novels ever written—Marquis de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom—landed at the heart of one of the biggest scams in modern literary history.

“Reading The Curse of the Marquis de Sade, with the Marquis, the sabotage of rare manuscript sales, and a massive Ponzi scheme at its center, felt like a twisty waterslide shooting through a sleazy and bizarre landscape. This book is wild.”—Adam McKay, Academy Award–winning filmmaker

Described as both “one of the most important novels ever written” and “the gospel of evil,” 120 Days of Sodom was written by the Marquis de Sade, a notorious eighteenth-century aristocrat who waged a campaign of mayhem and debauchery across France, evaded execution, and inspired the word “sadism,” which came to mean receiving pleasure from pain. Despite all his crimes, Sade considered this work to be his greatest transgression.

The original manuscript of 120 Days of Sodom, a tiny scroll penned in the bowels of the Bastille in Paris, would embark on a centuries-spanning odyssey across Europe, passing from nineteenth-century banned book collectors to pioneering sex researchers to avant-garde artists before being hidden away from Nazi book burnings. In 2014, the world heralded its return to France when the scroll was purchased for millions by Gérard Lhéritier, the self-made son of a plumber who had used his savvy business skills to upend France’s renowned rare-book market. But the sale opened the door to vendettas by the government, feuds among antiquarian booksellers, manuscript sales derailed by sabotage, a record-breaking lottery jackpot, and allegations of a decade-long billion-euro con, the specifics of which, if true, would make the scroll part of France’s largest-ever Ponzi scheme.

Told with gripping reporting and flush with deceit and scandal, The Curse of the Marquis de Sade weaves together the sweeping odyssey of 120 Days of Sodom and the spectacular rise and fall of Lhéritier, once the “king of manuscripts” and now known to many as the Bernie Madoff of France. At its center is an urgent question for all those who cherish the written word: As the age of handwriting comes to an end, what do we owe the original texts left behind?

©2023 Joel Warner (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“Fans of John Carreyrou’s Bad Blood or Billion Dollar Loser by Reeves Wiedeman will probably enjoy the final thread of The Curse of the Marquis de Sade. . . . Warner excels at explaining Lhéritier’s complex— and possibly criminal—business operations in easy-to-understand language. And his depiction of France’s lively rare-manuscript community is a fascinating look at a largely hidden subculture.”—The Washington Post

“Readers who dare to open The Curse of the Marquis de Sade: A Notorious Scandal, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History will find something for everyone. Inventively assembled by Joel Warner, the book’s time-jumping chapters offer a gentleman’s guide to ungentlemanly behavior.”—Air Mail

“Lively . . . Aristophil’s downfall reads like the best kind of business thriller. . . . Warner writes like a man having fun with his subject.” —The Times

A very fascinating historical story

First thing to mention is that the narration is great, like the narrator has to read many French names, and some German names in other chapters, and he really goes out of his way to pronounce these names in their native accent. I've heard a few audiobooks where ethnic names get butchered by an other wise professional narrator.

The book switches off between chapters with the history of the manuscript, the scroll of the 120 Days Of Sodom that was found hidden in De Sade's prison cell, and the hundreds of years of the scroll changing ownership to it's present and permanent situation, and then talking about the life and crimes of De Sade himself.

I have tried reading the 120 Days Of Sodom, never finished it. I'm no prude, it's just endless gross out scenarios, usually involving adults and children. In modern times, it's not going to seem all that special when you can go on YouTube and watch GG Allin concert footage or find sites with shock videos and gore compilations. This book gave me a historical context I wasn't aware of.

This book is far more interesting than anything De Sade actually wrote. The book doesn't really go into the graphic details, but it's more about how people of the last few hundred years have reevaluated the manuscript and how it's had largely positive cultural impacts through Europe.

Spellbinding story terribly read

As fascinating as I expected. Really odd choice of narrator. He mispronounces words in every language he attempts, including English. Producers, what were you thinking?