Rachilde’s novel La Marquise de Sade was first published towards the end of 1886, although printed editions provide a publication year of 1887. Emblazoned with a deliberately provocative title, and displaying a panoply of fin-de-siècle tropes and themes, this novel further secured Rachilde’s status as Queen of the Decadents, and fanned the flames of infamy already attracted by the publication of Monsieur Vénus in 1884. However, La Marquise de Sade is more than just a reliquary of Decadence, since its unique blend of form, style, and shifting perspectives offer the reader and critic more nuanced, if often contradictory, visions of the very movement the work purportedly represents.
The plot of La Marquise de Sade centres on the childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood of the eponymous heroine, Mary Barbe. Of the novel’s twelve chapters, the first...
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Citation: Craske, Helen. "La Marquise de Sade". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 July 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=22088, accessed 15 December 2025.]
