THE ANTI-JUSTINE

Restif de la Bretonne (1734–1806) was perhaps the key author amongst a glut of imitators inspired by the publication of the Marquis de Sade’s “obscene” masterworks Juliette and Justine in the late 18th century. In 1798 Restif wrote his ultra-erotic epic The Anti-Justine (or The Joys of EroS), thus inaugurating a long tradition of “Sadean literature” that continues to this day. The Anti-Justine is a vivid and extreme novelization of Restif’s own life and sexual debauches, which the author tr...