Justine (de Sade novel) Justine (de Sade novel) Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue (French: Justine, ou Les Malheurs de la Vertu) is a 1791 novel by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade. "Justine" is set just before the French Revolution in France and tells the story of a young woman who goes under the name of Thérèse. Her story is recounted to Madame de Lorsagne while defending herself for her crimes, en route to punishment and death. She explains the series of misfortunes that led her present situation. "Justine" (original French title: Les infortunes de la vertu)
Marquis de Sade (which displays Ambrosio's sacrifice of his humanity to his unrelenting sexual appetite) as the best Gothic novel chiefly because its themes were the closest to those within his own work. Sade's fiction has been tagged under many different titles, including pornography, Gothic, and baroque. Sade's most famous books are often classified not as Gothic but as libertine novels, and include the novels "Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue"; "Juliette"; "The 120 Days of Sodom"; and "Philosophy in the Bedroom". These works challenge traditional perceptions of sexuality, religion, law, age, and gender. His opinions on sexual violence, sadism, and pedophilia stunned