6 h 14 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when the call of pleasure meets a monastery’s vows of silence and withdrawal?
Saturnin tells his own story, from humble beginnings to a post at the gate of a Carthusian monastery. In The Doorman of the Carthusians, memoir becomes a vehicle for frank desire and bold satire. His account brings bodily appetite into direct conflict with the rules meant to contain it.
First printed anonymously in 1741 and usually attributed to Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche, this French libertine novel takes aim at church life. Its central claim is blunt: desire belongs to nature, and no vow can erase it. Sold in secret, condemned, and seized, the book also opens a window onto the Enlightenment’s underground book trade.
What you’ll discover
- Saturnin in his own words Follow a low-born narrator who presents his life as he claims it happens.
- Pleasure against piety Explore the novel’s challenge to rules that seek to silence natural appetite.
- The cloister under scrutiny Encounter sharp satire directed at a strict order associated with silence and withdrawal.
- A scandalous literary history Discover a novel whose condemnation and seizure only add to its reputation.
- Desire without polite disguises Meet a frank treatment of sexuality that refuses to soften its anticlerical edge.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers curious about banned books, French literature of the Enlightenment, and the long fight between pleasure and piety. It describes sex plainly and often mocks religion, so it may not suit readers who dislike explicit or anticlerical writing.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A confession told by a low-born man
- Desire is taught as natural
- The cloister under satire
- A banned book that kept travelling
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- Large print hardcover
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Il portinaio dei Certosini, ovvero Le memorie di Saturnino
by Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche· 1741
Saturnin recounts a life of desire and encounters with religion.
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Language: Italiano
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A confession told by a low-born man
The novel takes the shape of a memoir. Saturnin speaks in his own voice and tells his life as he claims it happened. This was a common device in the eighteenth century, because a first-person account seemed honest and close to the reader.
Saturnin is not a noble or a scholar. He comes from ordinary people, and his view of the world is that of someone who has had to watch, learn and make his way. That gives the book its cheeky, direct tone. He does not apologise for what he tells, and he often speaks as if to a friend who wants the plain truth.
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Questions about Il portinaio dei Certosini, ovvero Le memorie di Saturnino
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What is The Doorman of the Carthusians about?
It is a fictional memoir in which Saturnin, a man of humble birth, tells of his sexual education and his dealings with religious people. It is an erotic novel that also mocks hypocrisy in church life.
Who wrote The Doorman of the Carthusians?
It was printed without a name in 1741. Most scholars give it to Jean-Charles Gervaise de Latouche, a Paris writer who died in 1782, though the attribution comes from tradition rather than the title page.
Why was Histoire de Dom Bougre banned?
Authorities condemned it for its explicit sexual scenes and its attacks on monks and the church. Printing or selling such books could bring punishment, so it circulated in secret and was reprinted many times.
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