The 120 Days of Sodom is the Marquis de Sades masterpiece. A still unsurpassed catalogue of sexual perversions & the first systematic exploration of the psychopathology of sex it was written during Sades lengthy imprisonment for sexual deviancy & blasphemy & then lost after the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution in 1789. Later rediscovered the manuscript remained unpublished until 1936 & is now introduced by Simone de Beauvoirs landmark essay Must We Burn Sade? Unique in its enduring capacity to shock & provoke The 120 Days of Sodom must stand as one of the most controversial books ever written & a fine example of the Libertine novel a genre inspired by eroticism & anti-establishmentarianism that effectively ended with the French Revolution.