The Princess of Darkness

Rachilde

Translated by Brian Stableford

Rachilde, the writer whose formal name was Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860-1853), is primarily remembered today for her sensational decadent novel Monsieur Vénus (1884), which was prosecuted as pornography in Belgium, where it was initially published, resulting in a conviction and a sentence of two years’ imprisonment imposed in absentia. She was, however, the author of numerous other works which, though less well-known, are of equal and sometimes even greater excellence.

One of the best and most striking of these is The Princess of Darkness (1895), here presented for the first time in English, in a superb translation by Brian Stableford. The novel, unquestionably one of the most daring works to come out of the Symbolist and Decadent movements, was written under Rachilde’ s other pseudonym, Jean de Chilra, and is at once a profound psychological study and a neo-Gothic masterpiece, featuring a haunted house and a family curse and other much more unusual motifs that are calculated to alienate readers as well as to challenge them, in a frightening treasure that any connoisseur of perversity is bound to savor and to think precious.

About the Author
“Rachilde” was the pen name of Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860–1953), one of the most important writers of the Decadent Movement. Her most famous work includes the novels Monsieur Vénus (1884), La Marquisede Sade (1887), and La Jongleuse (1900). She also wrote a 1928 monograph on gender identity, Pourquoi je ne suis pas féministe (“Why I am not a Feminist”).

Publishers Weekly Review August 31, 2023 – click to view

Paperback, 266 pages. Release date: August 1, 2023
ISBN-13: 978-1-64525-125-5
Price: US$21.00

Hardcover, 268 pages. Limited edition of 100 copies
Release date: August 1, 2023
Price: US$34.00