Sade's masterpiece was The 120 Days of Sodom, which has now been published for the first time as a Penguin Classic. The great merit of this edition lies in the consistently excellent translation by Will McMorran and Thomas Wynn. It does not contain the false antiquated language of earlier English translations. Instead, it serves as a window that allows us to gain as clear a view as possible of Sade's mind and world.

Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), was a French aristocrat and writer who produced philosophically charged and often violent pornography, as well as some purely philosophical works.

Will McMorran is a lecturer in French and comparative literature at Queen Mary University.