"At the time I'm talking, I was quite young, a damp lieutenant, copied in uniform, but very clumsy and very scared of women, even though they never wanted to believe it, probably because of this face of mine. damn it. I never took advantage of them because of the fear I had. " - excerpt from "Diabolics".
"Diabolics" (Original title "Les Diaboliques") is undoubtedly the most representative work of the writer with a prominent Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly personality: his creatures, perverted and attractive, monstrous and adored, are described with pleasure. of one who, while letting desire and lust appear everywhere, gives erotic importance to every detail, and his heroes, tired and disappointed, are blinded by elegance, refinement, luxury, and by all the senses.
The book, consisting of six novels, tells the story of a Victorian, bourgeois, patriarchal society, in other words, a men-centered, conservative, reason-dominated society. However, it is found in the face of the fact that our lives are nourished by passions and emotions, especially sexual ones: attraction, excitement and of course, erotic love.
Barbey d'Aurevilly, dissatisfied with the world in which he lives, disturbed by the stark contrast between a rigid Catholic morality and an unyielding taste for sick situations and feelings, he seeks to display the aristocracy in the light of a theater with perversions by the most refined and cunning.
"Diabolics", first published in 1874, caused a stir in Paris at the time, and all copies of the book were seized by the French Ministry of Justice because it posed a threat to public morality. The great scandal secured the book a tremendous success, but is now considered an important classic and is studied in French schools.
"Diabolics" speaks to all readers of decadent and Gothic literature, especially those who like novels with fatal femmes .
