Customer Reviews

120 Days of Sodom (Arena Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

From the translator's note: "In making this new translation, the aim was to present the book in something more resembling a completed state. With some minimal editing and restructuring, and by wherever possible correcting mistakes and filling in important gaps - mainly by following Sade's working notes and later reflections, but occasionally by extrapolating from the existing text - it is hoped that this monumental masterwork, one of the cornerstones of modern literature, has now been restored to a version more appropriate for a 21st century readership."

I will leave it up to you to decide whether this is the kind of translation that you want to pay money for, but I would rather not be presented with a book that has been "restructured", "corrected", and "filled in", in order to make it more "appropriate" for my reading. Some of these points may be valid considering that Sade lost the manuscript, but as there are no notes anywhere in the book to say where the editorial corrections and extrapolations have been introduced, it is literally impossible to say what it is that you are reading: Take any randomly chosen sentence and ask yourself, is this from Sade's text or is it the translator's corrected version?

Nor is any information given about the nature of Sade's supposed "working notes and later reflections", where have these come from? Although Sade wrote the manuscript quickly he had been preparing it for some time and he had a further three and a half years to check it before it was finally lost to him, so the need to correct mistakes and fill in gaps seems unwarranted, especially as it has not occurred to any other editor, English or French, to take on such a responsibility. Furthermore, checking the text against the French reveals that it has hardly undergone "minimal editing and restructuring", as the crucial Introduction has been reduced by half and completely reorganised, removing the extensive background details about the characters and their agreements prior to establishing their retreat.

Contrary to what Stephen Barber and Lady Jane Orgasmo have said, this version in no way supersedes the earlier edition and is very far from being "unexpurgated". Simply translating "décharge" as "cock juice" does not make the text more accurate, as décharge just means "discharge", and if that is what Sade wrote why replace his terms with something that only sounds adolescent?

It seems as though Solar Books have decided that they want a more reader-friendly version to market, one that is less challenging and more streamlined, easier to consume, which is of course hardly what Sade would have wanted.

Sounds like there are passionate feelings about whether this book is a good translation or not. It is def. a contemporary translation- as one reviewer noted "descharge" is frequently translated into "cock juice." I can't comment on the editing issues because I haven't read other translations of 120 days of sodom and I doubt I will because man, that Marquis was one sick twist. Certainly more vile then any contemporary pornography, the best thing you can say about the content of 120 Days of Sodom is that it is a Swiftian satire of contemporary society.
Sade's "Lords of Sodom' are recognizable as characters which occur in the fiction of William S. Burroughs or the reportage of Hunter Thompson. It's tough sledding though, I can see where someone might want to read a more tastefully translated version- the text is, at times, very hard to take.

If you click the "Look Inside" for this book, it gives you the Wainhouse translation. This is more a retelling. If you are interested in Sade's version of the book, ignore this edition.

I only gave it one star until I have read more.

IGNORE the idiotic "search inside" feature that has been illegally placed on this book - the text you will find jacked inside is actually from the old, creaky translation that the editors at Solar books have been trying to save us from. What you will ACTUALLY find inside this new edition is, finally, a new, modern and unexpurgated translation, with all of Sade's errors corrected and the text restored according to Sade's working notes and later written directives. This is the ONLY version for the 21st century!

I bought this book based on the product description and what I read on the descriptions on goodreads. This book sounded like it would be great but I was definitely fooled.

It is revolting to read about all of the child molestations and the true cruelty to some of the characters in this book.

It was absolutely filthy. I went ahead and continued reading the book just for the fact I paid for it and it was the first book I bought on my Kindle. Now that I am getting closer to the end I feel I just can not take anymore of this insane behaivor.

I was prepared for quite a jolt from this book, sexually speaking. I was ready to read some hard-core, graphic scenes, but I found that after only a handful of pages, I could not continue reading this filth.
What I was not prepared for was reading about sexual acts that take place between grown adults and small children. I cannot, and will not, tolerate reading something that displays acts of child molestation.

To each his own, I guess, but I persoanlly cannot imagine anyone reading this book for pleasure. There should be a warning on Amazon as to the true content of this book. had I been aware of what was written in this book, I never would have bought it. I returned it to Amazon immediately for a refund.

This book is great so far! It not only looks like new but the pages are all still in nice, neat condition. It's exactly what I've been searching for.