Kurz nach der Verhaftung und Verurteilung des Marquis de Sade steht auch eine junge Frau vor Gericht: die Fächermacherin. Sie hat ihren Freund, den Marquis, nicht nur mit exquisiten - und äußerst frivolen - Fächern beliefert, sondern auch mit ihm gemeinsam an einem Buch über die Greuel der spanischen Inquisitoren gearbeitet. So stehen einander private und öffentliche Gewalt plötzlich gegenüber. Die Scheinheiligkeit der moralischen Entrüstung hier und der selbstverständlichen Duldung dort wird offensichtlich: Verboten ist eben nur, was nicht erlaubt ist - und erlaubt ist, was im Interesse der Mächtigen liegt. War der Verstoß gegen die Spielregeln das wahre Verbrechen des Marquis?
Rikki Ducornet Bücher
Rikki Ducornet ist eine amerikanische postmoderne Schriftstellerin, deren Werk sich mit Themen der Metamorphose und Identität beschäftigt. Ihr Schreiben, beeinflusst von ihrem künstlerischen Hintergrund, zeigt einen innovativen Ansatz zur Fiktion. Ducornet erforscht die Flüssigkeit menschlicher Erfahrung und Form, oft mit einer traumhaften und surrealen Qualität. Ihre ausgeprägte Stimme lädt die Leser ein, die Grenzen von Realität und Vorstellungskraft zu hinterfragen.







The Plotinus
- 88 Seiten
- 4 Lesestunden
A captivating allegorical tale about tyranny, conviction, and the remarkable power of human endurance. Upon setting out for a morning walk with his knobby stick in hand, a young man is arrested by a robot called the Plotinus and abandoned in a cell where one beam of sunlight slides through an air duct. Singular memories and fantastical encounters interrupt the spartan isolation of his imprisonment, and the line between fantasy and dystopian reality blurs. Rikki Ducornet delivers another unforgettable story illuminated by her hallmark wit, stylistic dexterity, philosophical acumen, and warmheartedness.
Jade Cabinet
- 158 Seiten
- 6 Lesestunden
Etheria's tale unfolds as she is traded for jade, revealing a childhood filled with whimsical influences and dark encounters. Her sister Memory narrates their experiences, including the bizarre courtship of Radulph Tubbs and their journey from Oxford to Egypt, where mummies await transformation. The narrative intertwines themes of memory, desire, and power within a tetralogy that explores elemental forces. An afterword offers insight into the author's inspirations and the overarching connections among the completed novels.
Entering Fire
- 168 Seiten
- 6 Lesestunden
This startling and brilliantly comic novel tells the stories of two men: a father and his estranged son. Lamprias de Bergerac is a gentle mystic and amateur botanist who spends his middle-aged years in an erotic utopia deep in the Amazonian jungle, collecting specimens of rare orchids and ultimately finding Cucla, the young and free-spirited native woman who has become the love of his life. Meanwhile, his demented son Septimus is raised by his mother in prewar Europe, seething with hatred of the father who abandoned him. He rises to power in Nazi-occupied France, where he goes mad in an obsessive pursuit of racial purity. Rikki Ducornet has a gift for combining the horrific with the hilarious, the realistic with the fantastic. Through a wildly inventive narrative, Entering Fire scrutinizes the sources of fascist mentality in nations and, potentially, in all humans.
The Monstrous and the Marvelous
- 144 Seiten
- 6 Lesestunden
Exploring the concept of Wunderkammern, this collection of essays delves into the monstrous and marvelous as seen through Rikki Ducornet's unique perspective. It examines how literature, art, and film reflect themes of excess, anomaly, and heterodoxy. Ducornet's open-hearted vision invites readers to embrace "otherness," expanding their understanding of the world and reimagining a regenerated Eden. The essays celebrate the allure of the extraordinary and challenge conventional perceptions.
The Deep Zoo
- 165 Seiten
- 6 Lesestunden
"Praise for Rikki Ducornet:A novelist whose vocabulary sweats with a kind of lyrical heat."-The New York Times"Linguistically explosive. one of the most interesting American writers around."-The NationThe Deep Zoo is a record of Ducornet's reading of the world, a gathering of alchemies where the unknown has become visible through the medium of art, be they Borges's tigers and Cortazar's lions, desire, mystery, or the grotesque.Rikki Ducornet has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, honored twice by the Lannan Foundation, and the recipient of an Academy Award in Literature"--
Stain
- 223 Seiten
- 8 Lesestunden
In "The Stain" Rikki Ducornet tells the story of a young girl named Charlotte, branded with a furry birthmark in the shape of a dancing hare, regarded as the mark of Satan. "Sadistic nuns, scatology, butchered animals, monkish rapists, and Satan" (Kirkus), as well as the village exorcist, inhabit this bawdy tale of perversion, power, possession, and the rape of innocence. Ducornet weaves an intricate design of fantasy and reality, at once surreal, hilarious, and terrifying.
Phosphor in Dreamland
- 192 Seiten
- 7 Lesestunden
Wildly comic, erotic, and perverse, Rikki Ducornet's dazzling novel, Phosphor in Dreamland, explores the relationship between power and madness, nature and its exploitation, pornography and art, innocence and depravity. Set on the imaginary Caribbean island of Birdland, the novel takes the form of a series of letters from a current resident to an old friend describing the island's seventeenth-century history that brings together the violent Inquisition, the thoughtless extinction of the island's exotic fauna, and the amorous story of the deformed artist-philosopher-inventor Phosphor and his impassioned, obsessional love for the beautiful Extravaganza. The Jade Cabinet, Ducornet's novel that was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, was described by one reviewer as "Jane Austen meets Angela Carter via Lewis Carroll." Phosphor in Dreamland can be described as Jonathan Swift meets Angela Carter via Jorge Luis Borges. This is Ducornet at her magical best.
Netsuke
- 128 Seiten
- 5 Lesestunden
Exploring the complexities of a troubled psychoanalyst's practice, the narrative delves into the depths of the human psyche and the challenges faced in therapy. As the protagonist navigates personal and professional turmoil, the story reveals the intricate relationship between therapist and patient, highlighting themes of mental health, vulnerability, and the search for understanding. The journey into the abyss not only uncovers the struggles of the mind but also reflects on the transformative power of therapy itself.
Trafik
- 128 Seiten
- 5 Lesestunden
From the singularly inventive mind of Rikki Ducornet, Trafik is a buoyant voyage through outer space and inner longing, transposing human experiences of passion, loss, and identity into a post-Earth universe. Quiver, a mostly-human astronaut, takes refuge from the monotony of harvesting minerals on remote asteroids by running through a virtual reality called the Lights, chasing visions of an elusive red-haired beauty. Her high-strung robot partner Mic pilots their Wobble and entertains himself exploring his records of the obliterated planet Earth, searching for Al Pacino trivia, unfamiliar recipes, and high fashion trends. But when an accident destroys their cargo, Quiver and Mic go rogue, setting off on a madcap journey through outer space towards an idyllic destination: the planet Trafik.