Histoire de Dom B…
Histoire de Dom B…, portier des Chartreux, écrite par lui-même ( French ; “The self-written history of Dom B…, porter of the Carthusians”), in short: Histoire de Dom B… , is a novel from 1741, one of the most important libertine works of the 18th century. Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche is believed to be the author .
action
The novel tells the life story of monk B ... (the abbreviation stands for Bougre , a French vulgar expression for pederast ), whose secular name is Saturnin , from a first-person perspective . Saturnin's first sexual intercourse happens with his sister Suzon and the mother. Even if it later turns out that there is in fact no blood relationship, the text heralds an incessant series of taboos through this alleged incest . In the further course of numerous humorous scenes, Saturnin will experience all varieties of sexual disinhibition , with relentless criticism of the church and society being exercised in constant alternation. Finally, Saturnin meets the syphilis sick sister in a brothel. He genuinely loves her and spends the night with her even though she warns him of the risk of contagion. The two are torn apart the next day; Saturnin falls ill and is forcibly castrated to save his life, Suzon dies. At the end, Saturnin is accepted into a Carthusian monastery , where, freed from all passions, he can wait for death, which he neither fears nor longs for. As a grave inscription he would like the words: Hic situs est Dom Bougre, fututus, futuit. ("Dom Bougre is lying here in bed, he fucked and was fucked.")
Classification and reception in literary history
The novel was a bestseller of its time, was reprinted repeatedly and brought follow-up publications such as Mémoires de Suzon, soeur de D .. B… (“Memoirs of Suzon, sister of D .. B…”) or Histoire de Marguerite, fille de Suzon , nièce de D ** B ***** ("Story of Marguerite, daughter of Suzon, niece of D ** B *****") .
In the end, Histoire de Dom B… does without clear moral statements and allows many interpretations. With its explicit sexual descriptions, it is one of the most important pornographic texts of the Enlightenment period. These disappeared during the 19th century in the “ poison cabinets ” of the libraries (for example in the enfer of the Bibliothèque nationale de France ) and only reappeared in the 20th century due to the literary and historical interest in them. Research into pre-revolutionary pornography takes place primarily in the context of the New Cultural History . Robert Darnton deserves special mention , who points out the emancipatory potential of the texts, in which the moral transgressions are often embedded in social and religious criticism.
literature
- Robert Darnton : Thinking Lust or The Sexual Enlightenment of the Enlightenment. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-8218-4138-9 . - Essay on the pornographic literature of the Enlightenment period. Also contains the German translation of the novels Thérèse philosophe and Histoire de Dom B… .