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Originally published anonymously in 1725, and here presented in a fresh
translation by Brian Stableford, The Temple of Gnide is Montesquieu's
illicit smash hit from the Age of Enlightenment. The author, whose works
were all placed on the Index Prohibitorum by the Church, making it a sin
to read them, or even to know of their existence, composed this short
novel, or long prose poem, as an attempt to explore the psychological
operation of the sexual impulse, and to raise the question of how the
social management of that impulse might best be organized.
The Temple of Gnide is not only a symbolization of lust and its
psychological and social accommodation, but a symbolization of the narrativization
of the erotic, a story that is as much about story construction as it
is about the substance of the story being told, and for sophisticated
readers, that adds an extra dimension of depth to the narrative.
Published by Snuggly Books in May 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64525-096-8
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