The Torture Garden

Mar 16, 2012 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

This one is defeating me as far as creating a formal review is concerned, so let me just instead tell you why I stuck with it, and why I may have been in a prime position to enjoy it as much as I did. Well, 'enjoy' is probably not the right word, because it is certainly not tons of fun to read. It's sexually-charged violence which explores the fork-tongued, heads-in-the-sand nature of the West in relation to its methods of maintaining order, punishing crime, and Civilizing the Natives the world...more This one is defeating me as far as creating a formal review is concerned, so let me just instead tell you why I stuck with it, and why I may have been in a prime position to enjoy it as much as I did. Well, 'enjoy' is probably not the right word, because it is certainly not tons of fun to read. It's sexually-charged violence which explores the fork-tongued, heads-in-the-sand nature of the West in relation to its methods of maintaining order, punishing crime, and Civilizing the Natives the world over. Yes, it is certainly that.

At the same time, it is also an exploration of the razor-wire between lust and violence, and our addiction, as human beings entangled with one another in various attempts at real embraces, to desiring what we can't have while rejecting what we can or do; the feelings of repulsion that sometimes go with affection, the malaise that sets in. I have historically had trouble finding a middle gray between the romantic polarities. What starts out for me as excitement and intoxication often quickly devolves into shoe-fly irritation, depression, and a crippling desire for isolation. My suppression and denial of these urges and inclinations has repeatedly led to pain for myself and others. I wait too long without saying anything about the horrors in my brain until one day I explode in one way or another, be it hurtful words or even more hurtful actions. I'm not saying this is always the case, of course; it can also go the other way, and it's me who is all starry-eyed and really trying to force it to work, to make it fit like Cinderella's stepsisters and that one shoe. Every single time I have actually been optimistic and really given it my all, I have been the one crushed under the boot. What to do? Is it possible to stare my demons in the face and scare them away completely, surrounding myself with a circle of magical glitter dust that makes me impervious to...myself? Do I conform my shape to what I have been given as a result of my life and myriad experiences, both wonderful and horrible, and just run with the hyenas shamelessly until one of them completely extracts my still-beating heart and eats it while I watch in horror? Should I just hide in a room forever because you people/myself all terrify me? Jesus, where's the middle-ground?

Well, Mirbeau doesn't exactly claim that there really is one, but then again he's working at mushing extremes here, presenting them as symbiotic. It's all masquerading cruelty. We crave punishment because of its erotic nature resulting from the simultaneous births of both bloodshed and sexuality. We so often desire what we cannot have because that desire is self-feeding, virulent and primal, while comfortable, chaos-free intimacy can be numbing specifically due to its lack of friction and self-laceration. These are possibilities presented by Mirbeau, not me. Aren't they awful? Well, I'm still tossing the complexities of intimacy around, and this book aided me in doing that. Uncomfortably. That is why I can say I am glad I read it rather than that I enjoyed reading it, despite the fact that it was beautifully written even in translation. It shined a flashlight inside of my open chest and straight to my icky little ticker, grabbed me by the hair, and forced me to look while screaming a spit-ridden "TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE!" The juxtaposition of passion and destruction just resonated with me, as did the extremes of beauty and internal suffering. "Why are we so self-defeating, and how can we be so ugly to each other sometimes?" is a lot of what is asked here, and the behavior of these characters and their interactions with one another--a sadistic woman revealing the truth of herself to her horrified and stupefied lover--is presented as a case study exploring these difficult questions. The novel made me really look at myself and the people I've known and cared for, scary and queasiness-inducing as it may have been. I mean, it depressed the shit out of me, but that's not something I make a point of avoiding in literature. Speaking of which, check out this 'pot of gold at the end of the rainbow' metaphor for romantic love:

Come, my dears, come quickly. Where you are going there is still more pain, more torture, more blood flowing and dripping on the earth, more contorted and torn bodies breathing their last on iron tables...more ragged flesh swaying on the gallows-rope, more horror and more hell. Come, my loves, lip to lip and hand in hand. And look between the foliage and the lattice-work, look at the infernal diorama unfolding, and the diabolical festival of death!

The power of positive thinking, right? Ope, looks like a storm is coming...
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Aug 06, 2012 Vanessa Wu rated it 4 of 5 stars

I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who is looking for an erotic thrill at bedtime. It's more of a literary curiosity. Here is a typical sex scene:

"The next morning, after a savage night of love, we put to sea again en route to China."

It's not that Mirbeau can't write erotic descriptions. He can. Look at this:

"Divinely calm and pretty, naked in a transparent tunic of yellow silk, she was languidly stretched out on a tiger skin. Her head lay among the cushions, and with her hands, loaded wi...more I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who is looking for an erotic thrill at bedtime. It's more of a literary curiosity. Here is a typical sex scene:

"The next morning, after a savage night of love, we put to sea again en route to China."

It's not that Mirbeau can't write erotic descriptions. He can. Look at this:

"Divinely calm and pretty, naked in a transparent tunic of yellow silk, she was languidly stretched out on a tiger skin. Her head lay among the cushions, and with her hands, loaded with rings, she played with a long wisp of her flowing hair. A Laos dog with red hair slept beside her, its muzzle resting on her thigh and a paw upon her breast."

But just when he's getting you worked up into a lather of erotic anticipation, he sickens you with an image of horrific ugliness. He draws from a vast and various store of deformity, pain, violence, mutilation and disease. It's grist to the mill for people who want to write like Tarantino or design a Vivenne Westwood fashion shoot; but for those of us who just want to nod off to a sexy story, it's far too unpleasant.

Of course, the significance of setting the Torture Garden in China wasn't lost on me. It's a political book and the commentary on China is as politically charged as the commentary on France. Mirbeau is an iconoclast. His ideas deserve serious consideration, which they are not going to get from me here in this review. But he is also a sensationalist. China served his purpose chiefly because it was largely unknown to the West except as a source of opium, exotic flowers, intense perfumes, exquisite tortures and pretty girls with skin like porcelain.

The images are lush and striking but the plot is ultimately a frustrating one. In spite of the overt philosophising, literal meanings prove elusive. So it's neither a good erotic novel nor an effective treatise on morbid beauty. But it is, nevertheless, extraordinary, bold and memorable. And if you enjoyed Mario Praz's The Romantic Agony, you simply have to read The Torture Garden.(less)

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May 14, 2008 Wyatt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ug...so I thought this would be a good time to review The Torture Garden since I just finished watching Diary of the Dead and don't want to sleep at the moment. If there's a common thread between some of what I've been reading and viewing lately, it's that we're all gluttons for the horrific--so long as the horror is one stepped removed from us.

The Torture Garden involves a relationship between a man and his mistress who loves to call him an "insignificant little woman." Despite the title, it's...more Ug...so I thought this would be a good time to review The Torture Garden since I just finished watching Diary of the Dead and don't want to sleep at the moment. If there's a common thread between some of what I've been reading and viewing lately, it's that we're all gluttons for the horrific--so long as the horror is one stepped removed from us.

The Torture Garden involves a relationship between a man and his mistress who loves to call him an "insignificant little woman." Despite the title, it's not without humor. Though it was written over 100 years ago, the well-done sarcasm and cynicism could just as well be contemporary.

Our protagonist is given the gift of banishment and given the title of government-sponsored fake scientist so that his politician friend can be free of his poisonous friendship. He ten woos a woman on his ship that seems very typically Victorian, though we catch a hint of the sick sense of humor that she carries around with her, which she lets out of her purse during some of the pricelessly nauseating dinner table discussions--chalk full the author's criticisms of colonialism and mankind. The anti-hero breaks down and confesses with a snot-running nose about what a dog he is but she soon shows him that he's actually only half the worm she is. You'll have to read the lengthy descriptions of the torture garden yourself, but thhe scene were she tortures her ex-lover/poet by reading him his own poetry while he remains shackled and animalistic is...memorable.

Okay, that brings me back to Diary of the Dead. Once again, the horror in the story is just a vehicle through which to remind us of the horrors that we condone in real life.

I particularly liked the Katrina references: "It's called looting." "No, it's called doing what you have to do."

Since I'm really just writing this for myself, two other thoughts: Teeth, the previous horror movie I saw, also shared this social-criticism quality. It's about feminism and it runs ripe with critique of the Christian conservative's idealistic views of purity--well that's what I chose to see in it anyway. It's allegories are surely more varied and complex than that but I don't really want to boil each character down to a statement...or deviate...

As I type this sub-par blog entry, I'm recognizing how I liked the real time quality of Diary of the Dead and how their disaster became (for a moment in time) an independent media "revolution." When that moment passed, it wasn't cutting edge journalism anymore, but merely an obsession--a kid trying to hold onto media in a life where media no longer mattered, probably because that's all he knew.

I feel like I could make some connection here to the recently completed Painter of Battles, because Josh's relationship with his camera in D of the D (which he chooses over his girlfriend) definitely had some side effects in common with those between war photographers and their subjects. He becomes a martyr for film because he won't go hide in the shelter. It's too cozy. There's nothing there to film. He can only watch the surveilence cameras which would make him a watcher, not a shooter. He needs to be the shooter. I've definitely become a watcher these days.

I don't think it gets my rocks off in the same way that Josh's camera does it for him, or the torture garden does for Clara, but...ya, who am I to say I'm an exception?

Anyone know any bright and happy books for my next read?(less)

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Feb 12, 2008 Danger Kallisti rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: dissolute Francophile philosophers

Shelves: debauched-intellectualism, must-read

This book was really one of those once-in-a-lifetime finds. I was randomly surfing through Amazon.com, reading about Artaud and movements in contemporary theater, and that somehow led to weird recommendations for sadomasochistic turn-of-the-century French writing. It was translated and released by a small indie publisher dealing in out-of-print and hard-to-find erotica, mostly from the 60s.

One could easily tell by the very poor editing (which I’m starting to get used to, after this year, but wh...more

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Jun 24, 2007 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: schwarzeromantik

As a well-meaning reviewer, I'd say: Don't read this book. It's disgusting. Just it is also considered so very diverting. But see if it's for you---Contains SPOILERS

Scene One: Our Parisian friend and hero of the book tries to get elected in a remote rural area of France, after a short tutorial on the beetroot crop (and how to improve it) from a friend. But alas: Obviously the peasants can smell ignorance when it comes to beetroot.

Scene Two: Having failed in politics, he takes up travel and falls...more As a well-meaning reviewer, I'd say: Don't read this book. It's disgusting. Just it is also considered so very diverting. But see if it's for you---Contains SPOILERS

Scene One: Our Parisian friend and hero of the book tries to get elected in a remote rural area of France, after a short tutorial on the beetroot crop (and how to improve it) from a friend. But alas: Obviously the peasants can smell ignorance when it comes to beetroot.

Scene Two: Having failed in politics, he takes up travel and falls for the English belle Miss Clara, a pliable individual (both in the physical, and, as we shall learn, moral sense), who relishes in the description of state-of-the art killing methods by high-ranking British officers. Unfortunately at first his passion is unrequited, but as soon as he unveils what a rotten individual he is, Miss Clara totally gives up her reserve.

Scene Three: The happy couple have taken up 'dating' (as the Americans so coyly put it), and hang out at Miss Clara's Chinese estate while they fornicate. But what's a lady to do if boredom gets to her, and she is as highly decadent as our dear Miss Clara? Why, she gets herself some rotten meat, puts it in a dainty basket and then throws it at the half-crazed starving prisoners in the local detention centre, that's what she does.
This is even more delightful if one of the prisoners happens to be a poet and former lover, so you can recite one of his own (decadent) poems to him, while he no longer recognizes you and fights for the rotten meat with other prisoners.[This scene is featured in some books on black romanticism, so watch out, key scene]

Scene Four: Somehow our French friend never thought it would get as hard (and hot) as that. After the prison episode, Miss Clara drags him on under the tropical sun, out, to the 'torture garden'. You guess right, more of the same, torture namely, and unless you want to learn what is circumscribed by 'death by caress', you really don't have to keep reading...

etc. etc....
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Sep 30, 2010 Nate D rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Nate D by: Mike E, via goodreads.

Shelves: fin-de-siecle, france

Blood from blossoms, blossoms from blood, les fleurs du mal, terrible and exquisite sensations. Vicious, grotesque, fleetingly beautiful, then again utterly abject. Necessary and unnecessary. I'm startled, both by the fountaining bile of the book, and that any can claim this has been dulled by time into quaintness.

Murder is the very bed-rock of our social institutions, and consequently the most imperious necessity of civilized life. If it no longer existed, there would be no governments of any k

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May 17, 2013 Tim Pendry rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cultural-studies, dark-fantasy, decadent, five-star, horror, literature-general, modern-european, nineteenth-century, sexuality-erotica

This is a remarkable book, a brilliant book, a powerful book but two warnings are in order for the general reader.

The first is the more obvious one. The second half contains descriptions of sadistic torture and of erotic responses to cruelty that are remarkably frank and will be disturbing to most people.

Nothing is spared. Do not pick up this book if you cannot draw the essential mental distinction between reality and the imagination.

As for the second, it is also only fair to warn that this is...more

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Jan 07, 2013 Bogdan rated it 5 of 5 stars

октав мирбо. сад пыток

сплетение страсти и боли – сад благоухающий и экзотический, в котором отражается страсть, боль и женщина, – бездна чувства и бездонность власти над смертью. смерть призываемая и убийство оправданное, красота цветка, источающего страсть и тьма страсти, пропитанной красотой. кровь черная и красная, напитывающая собой песок и битый кирпич, блеск металла пыточных орудий и лаковая шкатулка с полетом гусей над водами, в которую складываются инструменты страсти, называемые приспос...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

First things first ...the front cover shown on Amazon to accompany the book gives rise to that adage 'don't judge a book by it's cover' as it gives the look of some pulp throw away wheras a better book actually lies behind the cover(replicated in virtual 'glory' by the Kindle).
The book itself is one I had heard of but had never got around to reading...however at 75p on Amazon.co.uk I thought maybe it was time to give it a go I am glad I did.
It's been a solid decent read starting as in the way of...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Juan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Voy a comentar este libro en español porque nadie lo ha hecho y porque fue el idioma en que lo leí. Llegué a “El jardín de los suplicios (Le jardin des supplices)” de manera casi casual.
A los catorce o quince años de edad encontré en la biblioteca de la secundaria a la que asistía un libro con un título y tema similar, en ese entonces, siendo más joven, el libro me impresionó profundamente y aún la considero una de esas lecturas que aparecen una vez en la vida y dejan su marca. Años después com...more Voy a comentar este libro en español porque nadie lo ha hecho y porque fue el idioma en que lo leí. Llegué a “El jardín de los suplicios (Le jardin des supplices)” de manera casi casual.
A los catorce o quince años de edad encontré en la biblioteca de la secundaria a la que asistía un libro con un título y tema similar, en ese entonces, siendo más joven, el libro me impresionó profundamente y aún la considero una de esas lecturas que aparecen una vez en la vida y dejan su marca. Años después comencé a buscar información de dicho libro y ahí surgió “El jardín de los suplicios”. Por las reseñas supe que no era el libro que yo había leído, y que nunca he encontrado, y pasaron otros diez años antes de que me decidiera a leerlo.

En una reunión de amigos, en el París de finales del siglo XIX asoma el tema del homicidio. Tras mucho deliberar uno de los asistentes, que hasta entonces se había mantenido callado, decide mostrar al resto un borrador autobiográfico.
El narrador, que se mantiene anónimo a lo largo del texto, relata como inmerso en la corrupción de la clase política parisiense es desterrado en una misión a Ceilán. Durante el viaje conoce a una mujer inglesa, joven, bella y liberal llamada Clara. Enamorado de ella decide acceder a su petición de marcharse con ella a China, donde ella tiene residencia.
Después de un período de abandono –que no se narra en el libro, solo se hace una breve alusión- él decide volver a ella en China. El resto del libro transcurre en un solo día, la visita a un presidio con bellos jardínes, donde se ejecuta mediante tortura a los ahí recluidos: el jardín de los suplicios.

El libro no fue fácil de conseguir en español, y de hecho jámas lo encontré fisicamente. Terminé leyendo una versión electrónica escaneada de una edición de Casa Editorial Maucci (España) donada a la University of Toronto en 1937. Usualmente no recurriría a la piratería pero al menos tengo la excusa de no haber encontrado una edición impresa y de que los derechos de autor ya están vencidos.
Originalmente pensaba calificar con cuatro estrellas a esta obra, si finalmente me decidí por cinco estrellas fue por la consideración de la época en que fue publicada por vez primera, 1899. No puedo imaginar el impacto que debe haber producido en la época un libro en el cual el personaje principal es una mujer de la alta sociedad, apenas salida de su adolescencia, liberal y libertina, y que además describe graficamente las torturas a las que son sometidos los reos en el jardín de los suplicios –y más importante, la reacción que esas torturas provocan en Clara.
La novela está dedicada “a los sacerdotes, los soldados, los jueces y los hombres encargados de instruir y gobernar a los hombres”, y es, evidentemente una crítica a la hipocresía de la clase dominante que pretendía escandalizarse ante un asesinato pero sin reparo en apoyar el asesinato y la virtual esclavitud de masas con tal de mantener el poder.
El libro está muy bien escrito –considerando las técnicas literarias de la época- y es una de las cosas más originales con las que me topado en la literatura.
Con respeto a la violencia, lo considero el segundo libro más violento que he leído –siendo el primero al que me refería al inicio de este comentario-. No es el libro en el que más sangre hay, ni en el que más muertes. Hace poco leí “Meridiano de sangre” de Cormac McCarthy. El libro que narra el mayor número de asesinatos con que me encontrado, sin contar La Biblia –en broma pero cierto-. Pero en “Meridiano de sangre” y otros libros contemporáneos se asiste a esa muerte que nada significa, ya transformada en algo vulgar por la sociedad norteamericana. “El jardin de los suplicios”, sin embargo, la muerte tiene la capacidad de impresionar por el contexto en que esta se encuentra.
La novela trata también con los temas de hasta donde el hombre debe limitarse a si mismo en la busqueda de nuevas experiencias y hasta donde debe dar libertad a las sensaciones que en él producen esas experiencias -como apunta la reseña de una de las ediciones en inglés-. Y creo que por eso mismo tardé tanto tiempo en decidirme a leerlo. No estaba seguro de querer encontrar lo que sabía que en él encontraria.(less)

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Feb 27, 2013 Andromeda Arno rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Iako vidim da je ova knjiga ponekad svrstana u erotsku literaturu, ja ne pronalazim ništa veoma erotično u njoj. Iako autor, naročito u zadnjoj trećini knjige, na neobičan način povezuje ljubav (odnosno požudu) sa smrću i mučenjem, ovo definitivno nije "Venera u krznu". Za mene, ova knjiga je precizna, stilski predivno napisana i veoma mučna kritika licemjernog zapadnog društva, ali i čovječanstva u cjelini, kulture umorstva i mučenja, ali i filozoski pogled na dualnost života. Torture Garden is...more Iako vidim da je ova knjiga ponekad svrstana u erotsku literaturu, ja ne pronalazim ništa veoma erotično u njoj. Iako autor, naročito u zadnjoj trećini knjige, na neobičan način povezuje ljubav (odnosno požudu) sa smrću i mučenjem, ovo definitivno nije "Venera u krznu". Za mene, ova knjiga je precizna, stilski predivno napisana i veoma mučna kritika licemjernog zapadnog društva, ali i čovječanstva u cjelini, kulture umorstva i mučenja, ali i filozoski pogled na dualnost života. Torture Garden istinski utjelovljuje princip dualnosti, u kom se ljepota i patnja isprepliću i međusobno podržavaju. Zanimljivo je kako je ova knjiga, iako napisana krajem 19. stoljeća, skoro pa u potpunosti primjenjiva i na današnje društvo.
Mnogo toga je prikazano u ovoj knjizi, mnogo tužnih istina o našoj civilizaciji. Na samom početku knjige, u razgovoru među filozofima, znastvenicima i ostalom inteligencijom, nevjerovatno preciozno ocrtana je i razložena kultura "opravdanog nasilja" i ubojstva, licemjerno uvijena u slike heroja, slave i osvajanja.

As soon as man awakens to consciousness, we instill the spirit of murder in his mind. Murder, expanded to the status of a duty, and popularized to the point of heroism, accompanies him through all the stages of his existence. He is made to adore uncouth gods, mad, furious gods who are only gratified by cataclysms and, ferocious maniacs that they are, gorge themselves with human lives and mow down nations like fields of wheat. He is made to respect only heroes, those disgusting brutes saddled with crime and red with human blood. The virtues by which he rises above others, and which win him glory, fortune and love, are based entirely upon murder. In war, he discovers the supreme synthesis of the eternal and everlasting folly of murder—regulated, regimented and obligatory—a national function. Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he will always see that word: murder—immortally inscribed upon the pediment of that vast slaughter-house—humanity.

U nonšalantnom, poetskom, idealističkom načinu na koji likovi govore o smrti, patnji i umjetnosti mučenja nalazi se najveća snaga ove knjige. Način na koji jedan od krvnika govori o tradiciji koja je mučenje dovela do forme umjetnosti, i onda je suprostavlja zapadnjačkim "civiliziranim" mass murder by progress postupcima, istovremeno je hipnotičan i absolutno zastrašujući, poziva na odbacivanje naših uslovljenih pogleda na život i smrt, na patnju, na ono što nazivamo civilizacijom i ono što nazivamo divljaštvom. Nemoguće je ne upitati se, postaje li smrt i bol prihvatljivija ili pak manje prihvatljiva ako je uzdignuta na pijedestal ljepote i umjetnosti.
Ipak, više od djela koje potiče na promišljanje o idejama poput ovie, za mene, ovo je knjiga koja ocrtava svijet onakvim kakav jeste - predivni vrt natopljen krvlju miliona.

Ah, yes! the Torture Garden! Passions, appetites, greed, hatred, and lies; law, social institutions, justice, love, glory, heroism, and religion: these are its monstrous flowers and its hideous instruments of eternal human suffering. What I saw today, and what I heard, exists and cries and howls beyond this garden, which is no more than a symbol to me of the entire earth.

Mirebau ovim riječima opisuje svijet onakvim kakav istinski je, vrt u kom se mješaju ljepota i bol, smrt i ljubav, umjetnost i tortura.

Jedno je sigurno, baš kao što je navedeno i u samom uvodu, čitanje ove knjige je definitivno djelom i fizičko iskustvo. Ne znam da li je uopće moguće pročitati ovu knjigu, a ne biti, ne samo emocionalno i psihološki, nego i fizički uzdrman, ne osjetiti je kao mučninu u stomaku i trnce niz kralježnicu.
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Aug 09, 2012 Anna Prejanò rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Mostri, mostri! All'inizio non ci sono mostri! Quelli che chiami mostri sono forme superiori al di fuori della tua concezione. Forse che gli dèi non sono mostri? E l'uomo geniale non è forse un mostro come la tigre, il ragno, come tutti gli esseri che vivono al di sopra delle menzogne sociali, nella splendente e divina immortalità delle cose!".

Pubblicato nel 1899, questo libro ha qualche pregio provocatorio nel suscitare una vera e propria ripugnanza per il narratore, mezzasega figlio di comme...more

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Dec 22, 2012 Sponge Finger rated it 5 of 5 stars

To the priests, the soldiers, the judges
to those people
who educate, instruct and govern men
I dedicate these pages of Murder and Blood

‘Torture Garden’ is one of the most extreme, lurid, sickening and beautiful books ever written.

It’s divided into three sections.

The first:
(view spoiler)

The second:
(view ...more

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Apr 21, 2013 Michael Zendejas rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel is an exploration of the fine line between lust and violence. However, the sadism Mirabeau portrays is so overwhelming that it often detracts from the work as a whole, and the conclusion left me feeling as though it could've definitely used some work. I felt as though he was reaching a deadline of some sort and so he simply made a conclusion within a few minutes! The entire first half of the novel is an allegory, but for those who know nothing of French politics during this era it'll...more

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Sep 01, 2007 Clint rated it 5 of 5 stars

A simple story about a jaded guy who meets this crazy-ass woman in China who takes him to this amusement park of torture. Absolutely spectacular imagination! And the ending is so strange...

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Mar 05, 2013 Andrew added it

Shelves: 19th-century-french-fiction, french-language-fiction

OK, it's probably both borderline racist and borderline misogyny-- let's get that out of the way before we start in.

But it's also supremely fucked up and awesome and lushly descriptive, sadomasochistic but also kind of not really, vaguely political (there's a political message in there somewhere...), simultaneously Nietzschean and anti-Nietzschean, bizarre, unclassifiable, and just generally kickass. Pain is life is sex is death, and we try to impose categories to make sense of it-- whether or n...more

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Sep 11, 2009 Tim Mayer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: karl-wagner-memorial-library

"Fin-de-siecle decadence at its best. At one time one of those 'suppressed' books and now chiefly remembered as one of Frank Frazetta's better paperback covers"
-Karl Edward Wagner, 1983

"In a broader sense the expression fin de siècle is used to characterize anything that has an ominous mixture of opulence and/or decadence, combined with a shared prospect of unavoidable radical change or some approaching 'end.'"- Wikipedia

First published in 1899, Torture Garden still leaves a taste of decadence i...more "Fin-de-siecle decadence at its best. At one time one of those 'suppressed' books and now chiefly remembered as one of Frank Frazetta's better paperback covers"
-Karl Edward Wagner, 1983

"In a broader sense the expression fin de siècle is used to characterize anything that has an ominous mixture of opulence and/or decadence, combined with a shared prospect of unavoidable radical change or some approaching 'end.'"- Wikipedia

First published in 1899, Torture Garden still leaves a taste of decadence in your mouth. Written by a French journalist disgusted with the pomposity of his own society, he shows us a foreign one equally beautiful, equally deadly. Mirabeau was famous for writing about forbidden subjects and shoving them in the reader's face. In this book, he decided to examine the connection of sex and death by way of art and beauty.
Torture Garden begins with a discussion about law and society among a gathering of cultured guests. As it turns to punishment, a quiet guest begins to tell his tale of a trip he recently took to China.
But first he gives us his back story:
After being raised in by a ruthless businessman of a father, our hero suddenly found himself penniless while still a young man (dad's shady business deals having caught up with the family). So he becomes a patron of the only man more twisted than his father: a government minister he went to college with. His political friend, named Eugene, becomes worried the narrator will become a lead weight on his career, so he manages to send him on a government paid scientific mission to Asia. It doesn't matter that the hero of the book doesn't know a thing about his subject- embryology- the important issue is getting him out of France.
While traveling to China he meets an Englishwoman, the beautiful and sensuous Clara. Unfortunately for him, Clara has an unhealthy obsession with death. Once they reach China, she takes him to a the Torture Garden of the book's title: A massive garden outside a penitentiary. Those convicted by a Chinese judge are executed by bizarre and unusual means. After visiting and describing the gardens, he leaves with Clara. But Clara is so lost in her ecstasy she soon faints. A Chinese ferry woman, who has wittnessed Clara's swoons before, takes them both to the only place Clara can recover: a floating sex club. End of book.
There isn't a lot of plot or character deveopment in Torture Garden. Mirabeau was obsessed with hammering home his belief about French society being one big execution chamber. There is an interesting scene where the narrator and Clara encounter an executioner who fancies himself an artist and deplores the crude mass killings of gunpowder. I'm not sure if the description of the prision or the torture garden has any basis in relaity; I'll leave that one for late-period Manchu Dynasty scholars.
A fascinating example of "Decandent 90's" writing from the same decade which gave us The King In Yellow. (less)

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Jul 07, 2008 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who likes to boast they've read some shocking, underground fare

Recommended to Chris by: the nincompoops at Amazon.com

Recommended by Amazon.com, and when have they been wrong, aside from the last ten suggestions haphazardly tossed my way……

I picked this up hoping to be disgusted, to be so shocked, startled, and overwhelmed with mind-blowing perversity that I wouldn’t be able to turn my sickened eyes from it while plumbing the depths of depravity. What did I get? A bunch of botany and some pretty pathetic torture sequences. What happened to the ‘detailed descriptions of sexual euphoria and exquisite torture’ tha...more Recommended by Amazon.com, and when have they been wrong, aside from the last ten suggestions haphazardly tossed my way……

I picked this up hoping to be disgusted, to be so shocked, startled, and overwhelmed with mind-blowing perversity that I wouldn’t be able to turn my sickened eyes from it while plumbing the depths of depravity. What did I get? A bunch of botany and some pretty pathetic torture sequences. What happened to the ‘detailed descriptions of sexual euphoria and exquisite torture’ that publisher Olympia Press promised? And who the hell is Olympia press, anyway? Have you ever had the bargain-basement beer/swill known as Olympia “It’s the water” Lager? Olympia Press is the publishing equivalent; there are probably somewhere around 200 errors in the editing, printing, and translation throughout; periods in the middle of sentences or following commas, forward-slashes and back-slashes appearing for no particular reason, capitalization where none is needed, individual letters in place of words (notably “j” and “m”, which I’m assuming the typist confused from “I” and “in” respectively, presumably while working off a moth-eaten, handwritten proof) and a whole bunch of misspellings which sometimes add a touch of humor to the story (he put his lips to her 'beast'? sexy). While I am hardly qualified to bitch someone out for their spelling and use of punctuation, the fact that even I noticed these things means that there are for more problems than met my sloppy eye. I’m not blaming the author for these errors; this is entirely the fault of half-assed production by the regrettable Olympia Press, who managed to churn out a truly piss-poor edition of “The Torture Garden”.

With the low quality of the copy in mind, it was up to the generally-unsung and twisted talents of Octave Mirbeau to save the day, and this turned out to be as promising as having a myopic, underdeveloped fifteen year old step to the mound at the bottom of the ninth to save a one-run lead for your preferred baseball team. I was hoping that “The Torture Garden” was completely insane, massively f@cked-up and revolting, and since it was published by some shitty indie press, I figured this was a good sign that no reputable publisher would dare release it under their name. Generally, I’ve come to expect that in circumstances such as this, this isn’t the case; it’s basically that the larger firms know that the book has almost no literary merit, won’t draw readership, and pretty much sucks.

The story begins with a group of affluent, cigar-smoking, brandy-sniffing stuffed shirts sitting around discussing man’s lust for the suffering, violence, and death of others, with several members of the group animatedly recollecting their experiences with the viciousness of mankind. One of the group, a man with a ravaged face, joins the debate with much to contribute regarding the ability of women to perform acts of unspeakable cruelty. When he is rebuked, he immediately whips out a manuscript from his fanny pack and offers to read his magnum opus to the group as support for his statements. The host calls for candles to be lit, fresh cigars, and full snifters to be distributed, and during this reading we can only assume a multitude of booze, wax, and ashes befouled the copy to the point that some poor pud at Olympia press would be unable to read about a quarter of the sacred tale within: “The Torture Garden”.

The story plods along for quite some time before anything resembling torture takes place. The narrator gives a thorough account of his upbringing, in which his father was a shady farmer that used every trick in the book to turn a profit, or ‘roping in’ the witless dunderheads that purchased his goods. Eventually, he sold the army some tainted goods and had his reputation ruined before kicking the bucket, leaving the narrator and his mother poverty-striken. The narrator turns to his friend, Eugene, a rising politician, for aide, and becomes a pawn in Gene’s underhanded dealings. As Eugene climbs higher in social standing, our narrator increasingly resents his success (borne partly of his efforts) and becomes openly hostile towards his chum when he fails to win a post of his own in an election in which Eugene steered his campaign. Ruined, the narrator threatens to turn over his documents concerning his dealings to the press and authorities, leaving Eugene no choice but to put as much distance between the two as possible. As a gesture of goodwill, Eugene sends the narrator off with false credentials as an able scientist in the discipline of embryology, and basically exiles him to Ceylon to go discover the origins of life on Earth.

En route to Ceylon, on the good ship Saghalien, our narrator busies himself with bullshitting a young English noblewoman, Miss Clara, who has been living in China to escape the senseless routine of European customs. While there are some interesting conversations between the passengers on the boat (most notably the formidable and inventive artilleryman) concerning savagery, cannibalism, and crimes during times of war, Mirbeau’s only strength here is to help the reader appreciate and experience the tedium and sluggish pace of nineteenth-century ocean travel. Our narrator, afraid of losing the lovely Miss Clara when he is to disembark, comes clean and informs her that he’s a fraud, he doesn’t know a thing about embryology, he’s not a naturalist, he’s just an unscrupulous scumbag that’s been the hapless tool of a more powerful scumbag. Miss Clara just giggles at him, and offers him to join her in China, where she intends to show him what true debauchery looks and tastes like. The narrator blindly obeys.

Now that the book was more than half completed, I was expecting Mirbeau to pull out all the stops and delve into sensational, stomach-turning horrors. What a fool I am; I’d simply been ‘roped in’ by the shrewd marketing of Olympia Press. Sure, there’s a little torture, but nothing shocking or very interesting. The rest of the book is basically a long discourse on the incredible botany skills of the Chinamen tending to the Garden, and the multitudinous flora of the area. And a shitload of peacocks. That’s really about it; the narrator endlessly contemplates his heightened appreciation of natural beauty after the disquieting events which take place during the couple of hours he spends at the Torture Garden. Seriously, the guy attends this grotesquery once, for all of an afternoon, and then spends the rest of the time in the goddam garden and naming each specimen and lauding its beauty. For a sham naturalist, the guy is surprisingly well-studied in identifying all forms of plant life, and I haven’t read anything so wholly dedicated to endless descriptions of flowers since Huysmans’s “Against Nature”. The only torture going on is inflicted upon the reader’s sense of literary acumen, a much more fitting title would have been “The Torture of Reading About a Garden”.

Overall, “The Torture Garden” was very disappointing, and my experience reading this was almost identical to that of “Story of the Eye” by Bataille, except that I’d have to say Mirbeau’s writing is far better. Both were acclaimed for some sort of underground status and applauded for their ‘disgusting and nauseating’ content, but both were just cheap and flimsy attempts to titillate.

I suppose it was fitting that I read this while attending the 6th wedding my girlfriend has dragged me to. That was torturous alright, and my behavior was probably more shocking and appalling than anything within this poorly-constructed volume. (less)

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Jul 11, 2010 Letterswitch rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Ah, yes! The Torture Garden! Passions, appetites, personal interests, hatreds and lies, along with laws, social institutions, justice, love, glory, heroism and religion. These are its monstrous and hideous flowers--instruments of eternal human suffering. What I saw that day, what I hear, exists and cries out and yells outside that garden, which for me is no more than a symbol of the whole earth. I have vainly sought a lull in crime and rest in death, but have found them nowhere."

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Nov 23, 2010 Andrew W.m. rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll be honest, this is pretty much my favourite book of all time.

A swingeing satire painted in lurid brushstrokes broad enough to appear crass to some. The depiction of fin de siecle French politics is perfect and the decadent ruminations on the nature of man could hardly be more attuned to my taste. Erudite, incorrigible and fresh enough to still be shocking, if this book became flesh there'd be a queue to join his gentleman's club.

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Apr 12, 2013 Ashura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I did not really get that much out of this book. At first it felt like the story is never going to get anywhere as so long is spent on the protagonist's background. Eventually, he and his lady friend end up in the Torture Garden but then the book will very abruptly come to an end.
During their visit in the garden they witness various cruel punishments which Clara holds a great deal of interest. While the protagonist tries to figure out her obsession about death and torture, he also finds beauty i...more

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Oct 29, 2012 María Huesca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Es un libro crudo que contrasta la belleza de la naturaleza en un paisaje situado en algún lugar de Asia con la crueldad y violencia humanas que pueden llegar a fascinar a algunos.

Un francés cuenta lo que vivió al lado de Clara, una mujer inglesa gustosa de los placeres carnales, la depravación y la tortura.

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Jun 01, 2011 Macksat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Found by chance in a give away pile at my hairdresser's, I thought it was a very intriguing read. I loved the obscure imagery, and inventive, concise story. The ending kept me thinking about this one for days though. A very delicious surprise. I'd recommend it for a "dark" romantic in a heartbeat.

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Mar 23, 2010 Libby Drew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My LJ bookclub book for March. Not an easy read, but a thought-provoking one. I believe the most disturbing parts, for me at any rate, were not the graphic scenes, but just how many truths about human nature are hidden (or not hidden) in the social commentary. I can't even imagine what stir this book must have caused when originally published in 1899.

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May 30, 2012 Daemonium rated it 5 of 5 stars

Adoro este livro, uma das poucas peças que não me canso de ler.
O conto tem como cenário o Oriente e tal como o titulo indica não é para os de fraco estômago pois de facto é um livro sádico, como muito pouco se encontra nos dias de hoje.

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Jan 05, 2011 Tait rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: french, literature

This book is not nearly as disturbing as it could have been, though for it's time period it certainly was one of the most shocking things ever written. Then again, if you've never tasted any literature of depravity before don't read it over lunch.

One of the flaws is that Mirbeau spends far more time describing the details of bureaucracy and floral botany than he does torture and lust. When he does turn to those subjects however it is merely in passive told description or explanatory dialogue ra...more

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Aug 16, 2011 Laura rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: decadence

Although this was in the vein of other decadent works that I have read and enjoyed (A Rebours, Venus in Furs), something about this book was kind of off. Perhaps it was poor characterization. Or perhaps this was just a bad translation. I found the character of Clara rather unconvincing, and also pretty annoying. The narrator was not much better.

That said, I liked some of the descriptions of the tortures and flowers.

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Jan 17, 2009 Natalie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-unpleasantry, do-i-make-you-horny

I expected a little more out of this one, since it's hailed as this shocking fin de siecle masterpiece. Maybe I'm jaded. It wasn't the best translation, either, and my copy has this ridiculous cover photo of a Catherine Deneuve-type from Belle de Jour, obviously meant to draw in and titillate, and which couldn't misrepresent the book and its premise any more.

Win some, lose some, I suppose. I'd probably have really dug this in high school, when I discovered Nin, Miller, and D.H. Lawrence, but I'...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Crystalline rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book makes you admire the act of murder, be surprised by yourself. The character of Clara is best described female character ever!

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Apr 13, 2012 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I like to consider myself hardier than most, but this story left me somewhat dazed upon completion. A century later, and Mirbeau still delivers on his promise.

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