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The kinky reading project continues …

Up for review is the Marquis de Sade’s “The Mystified Magistrate.”

Now, this short story makes me wish that I knew more about French literature, especially that of the pre-revolutionary period. De Sade’s tale not only contains a farcical plot, it also ends with a weird (by our standards), elitist amoral-moral. I know, confusing. You’ll see what I mean by this in a second. Here is “The Mystified Magistrate” in a nutshell:

One day, the Baron de Teroze decides that his beautiful daughter should marry an ugly, old ignoramus of a judge. No one can persuade the father to change his mind. So the young lady, her lover, sister, brother-in-law and his confederates conspire – through a series of farfetched ruses and smarting pranks – to drive away the country magistrate.

Lest any reader feel sorry for the rejected suitor, de Sade tells us that the old man is a hypocritical moral crusader with a fondness for sending people to the gallows. In fact, when the lady’s aristocratic crew is not busy poisoning him, gluing his bottom to a toilet seat or pretending to be lash-wielding ghosts, they are lecturing him on *his* cruelty.

However, de Sade fails to convince us that his young aristocrats really care about justice. For example, they condemn the magistrate for exiling a young nobleman who assaulted a prostitute. Then, at the tale’s end, the confounded and defeated judge – a mere commoner, we are reminded – is mocked for trying to marry into a “superior” family.

Ultimately, I think, the story is a revenge fantasy for de Sade. After all, the author did have several scrapes with the law (usually involving outrages against prostitutes), and being a nobleman and ex-cavalry officer, he most likely felt that his crimes should have been swept under the proverbial rug by the ancien regime.