Librería 7. Estante 3.

What grips us in Gilles de Rais' death is the compassion. It seems that this criminal moved his audience to compassion; in part by reason of his atrocity, in part by virtue of his nobility and the fact that he was crying.

This observation occurs near the end of Bataille's summation of crimes and trial of the infamous de Rais. Following this is 150 pages of transcripts from the ecclesiastical and secular trials. What Bataille achieves in his Foucauldean burrowing is a 15C world where the devil or at least a diabolical affinity had to be culpable. His own analysis is rather Marxist, looking at the milieu of the gentry with its privilege and the subsequent marginalization of the peasantry. All of this transpired during a time of day incessant warfare between England and France. All of this contributes to a berserker medium of sexual experimentation.

Beyond that, it was largely inexplicable that this man who once fought alongside Joan of Arc would later seek to and succeed in sodomizing and murdering 140 children.

I should note that my subconscious appeared to be maladjusted by this gruesome experience. Be forewarned. ( )

Saggio sulle perversioni di Gilles de Rais e Giovanna d'Arco. ( )