The Bohemians

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book The Bohemians by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport ISBN: 9780812203707
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: July 7, 2011
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
ISBN: 9780812203707
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: July 7, 2011
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

While the marquis de Sade was drafting The 120 Days of Sodom in the Bastille, another libertine marquis in a nearby cell was also writing a novel—one equally outrageous, full of sex and slander, and more revealing for what it had to say about the conditions of writers and writing itself. Yet Sade's neighbor, the marquis de Pelleport, is almost completely unknown today, and his novel, Les Bohémiens, has nearly vanished. Only a half dozen copies are available in libraries throughout the world. This edition, the first in English, opens a window into the world of garret poets, literary adventurers, down-and-out philosophers, and Grub Street hacks writing in the waning days of the Ancien Régime.

The Bohemians tells the tale of a troupe of vagabond writer-philosophers and their sexual partners, wandering through the countryside of Champagne accompanied by a donkey loaded with their many unpublished manuscripts. They live off the land—for the most part by stealing chickens from peasants. They deliver endless philosophic harangues, one more absurd than the other, bawl and brawl like schoolchildren, copulate with each other, and pause only to gobble up whatever they can poach from the barnyards along their route.

Full of lively prose, parody, dialogue, double entendre, humor, outrageous incidents, social commentary, and obscenity, The Bohemians is a tour de force. As Robert Darnton writes in his introduction to the book, it spans several genres and can be read simultaneously as a picaresque novel, a roman à clef, a collection of essays, a libertine tract, and an autobiography. Rediscovered by Darnton and brought gloriously back to life in Vivian Folkenflik's translation, The Bohemians at last takes its place as a major work of eighteenth-century libertinism.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

While the marquis de Sade was drafting The 120 Days of Sodom in the Bastille, another libertine marquis in a nearby cell was also writing a novel—one equally outrageous, full of sex and slander, and more revealing for what it had to say about the conditions of writers and writing itself. Yet Sade's neighbor, the marquis de Pelleport, is almost completely unknown today, and his novel, Les Bohémiens, has nearly vanished. Only a half dozen copies are available in libraries throughout the world. This edition, the first in English, opens a window into the world of garret poets, literary adventurers, down-and-out philosophers, and Grub Street hacks writing in the waning days of the Ancien Régime.

The Bohemians tells the tale of a troupe of vagabond writer-philosophers and their sexual partners, wandering through the countryside of Champagne accompanied by a donkey loaded with their many unpublished manuscripts. They live off the land—for the most part by stealing chickens from peasants. They deliver endless philosophic harangues, one more absurd than the other, bawl and brawl like schoolchildren, copulate with each other, and pause only to gobble up whatever they can poach from the barnyards along their route.

Full of lively prose, parody, dialogue, double entendre, humor, outrageous incidents, social commentary, and obscenity, The Bohemians is a tour de force. As Robert Darnton writes in his introduction to the book, it spans several genres and can be read simultaneously as a picaresque novel, a roman à clef, a collection of essays, a libertine tract, and an autobiography. Rediscovered by Darnton and brought gloriously back to life in Vivian Folkenflik's translation, The Bohemians at last takes its place as a major work of eighteenth-century libertinism.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Negro League Baseball by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Corporate Governance Failures by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book The Economy of Hope by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book English Letters and Indian Literacies by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Suggestions for Thought by Florence Nightingale by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Decolonization and the Evolution of International Human Rights by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book The Shame and the Sorrow by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Books Without Borders in Enlightenment Europe by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book German Students' War Letters by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book An Empire Divided by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Western Welfare in Decline by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Governing Bodies by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Iraq at a Distance by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
Cover of the book Beat Cop to Top Cop by Anne Gédéon Lafitte, Marquis de Pelleport
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy