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The Marquis de Sade by Pierre-Emile Zola - A Novel Review

The third book in Zola's trilogy Les Rougon-Mquart is Le Ventre de la Grange. It takes place in and around the huge, bustling central market in and around the old, narrow, cobbled streets of Paris. It is a time of political turmoil and social chaos, but also an idealistic time of enlightenment and intellectual freedom for the common man. The characters, of course, are all prominent members of the society: the Marquis de Sade, his beautiful sister Marie, her lover Gabrielle, and of course, the Marquis de la Grange himself.

In the first volume of the trilogy, The Marquis de Sade, Zola sets the mood. This is a novel where one can see the beginnings of a revolution. His characters are all very young; often just teenagers, like Marie and Gabrielle. Their lives are a mixture of their parents' ideals and their own disillusionment.

The Marquis is very different. He is a rich and powerful man, proud and arrogant. He is married to a beautiful woman named Mlle Bouquet and has a son by her. But despite all this wealth and status, he still finds it difficult to control his impulses.

When Gabrielle and Louis marry, he is immediately taken with her. She is a cultured woman, full of intellectual ideas and is very artistic. He sees in her the qualities of a great artist. But she is very naive and in love with the world she perceives, so she lets herself be ruled by her emotions and her imagination.

In fact, when a French professor, Madame de Montespan, comes to Paris and declares that he will teach her the art of painting, Louis goes along. He wants her to be his wife, but she refuses, wanting nothing to do with him, preferring him as a student. But when Louis meets Countess Amour de l'Aude, she is not impressed by his poverty, but only attracted by his great talents.

In the second volume, Le ventre de la Grange, Marquis decides to return to Europe with Gabrielle. for the first time. He has no intention of marrying her, however. He has had a friend by the name of De Sade ready to give him a marriage to the Countess, and he plans to return and marry her there and then.

But when Gabrielle falls for the Countess, Marquis decides to take revenge on her by kidnapping her and driving her to the house of Count De Grange in the Vendee, where she will be killed. As Marquis arrives at the house, he sees that Count De Grange and Gabrielle are actually lovers, and he vows revenge on them.

But Marquis does not kill them. Instead, he sends De Sade to the house with two men, named Cauchon and Porthos. They are not surprised to see that Marquis has a knife with him, which he uses to threaten De Sade. and they are afraid to confront him about it. But when they do, Marquis kills them both in front of them.