“[John Baxter is] a man with a great appreciation of what makes Paris tick.”
— Newsday
A “flip book” featuring two classic novels of sexual exploration, translated from French by John Baxter (Immoveable Feast, We’ll Always Have Paris): Octave Mirbeau’s The Diary of a Chambermaid and Alfred de Musset’s Gamiani, or Two Nights of Excess, classic erotic tales of pleasure and excess.
Octave Mirbeau (1848-1917) was a French playwright, journalist, novelist, and staunch supporter of the anarchist cause in France. His work was influenced by many, especially Molière and Dostoyevsky. He was also a lover of art and was one of the earliest supporters of Van Gogh, Pissarro, and Rodin.
Alfred de Musset (1810-1857) was a French poet, playwright, and novelist. He was born in Paris to a well-to-do family and turned to writing after first studying to be a doctor. Influenced by Lord Byron and Shakespeare, he fraternized with many great French writers such as Victor Hugo. He died in 1857 of a heart malfunction.