Summary
Aline et Valcour; ou, Le Roman philosophique is an epistolary novel by the Marquis de Sade. It contrasts a brutal African kingdom, Butua, with a South Pacific island paradise known as Tamoé and led by the philosopher-king Zamé.
 "All the parts of this beautiful body were formed by the hand of the graces." Illustration from a 1795 edition of Aline et Valcour | |
| Author | Marquis de Sade |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre | Epistolary novel |
Publication date | 1795 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Sade wrote the book while incarcerated in the Bastille in the 1780s. Published in 1795, it was the first of Sade's books published under his true name.
Bibliography edit
The book was translated into English, German, Spanish and Japanese.
An essay titled "Observations on Aline and Valcour" by Alice Laborde appeared in the collection Sade, his ethics and rhetoric by Colette Verger Michael, New York 1989.
Blank darkness: Africanist discourse in French by Christopher L Miller (Chicago 1985) contains a chapter titled "No one's novel: Sade's Aline et Valcour".
External links edit
- Aline et Valcour, tome 1 (in French) from Project Gutenberg
- Aline et Valcour, tome 2 (in French) from Project Gutenberg
- Aline et Valcour, tome 3 (in French) from Project Gutenberg
- Aline et Valcour, tome 4 (in French) from Project Gutenberg
- Aline et Valcour, ou le roman philosophique. Écrit à la Bastille un an avant la Révolution de France, vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3, vol. 4, a Paris, Chez la Veuve Girouard, Libraire maison Égalité, Galerie de Bois, n°. 196, 1795.
- Aline and Valcour, Vols 1–3 (in English) from Contra Mundum Press, tr. by John Galbraith Simmons & Jocelyne Geneviève Barque
