Justine

The Rest Is History brings up Justine in multiple contexts across three episodes, repeatedly framing it as de Sade’s signature work. In their episode on Le Marquis de Sade the hosts call Justine “the most notorious novel,” and describe it as a parody of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela in which, according to the episode quote, “virtue leads to suffering and vice leads to success.” Those explicit characterisations make the novel a natural focal point when the podcast discusses de Sade’s reputation and the polemical literary debates surrounding him.

The book is also used on the show as a cultural touchstone beyond a straightforward biography. In the Byron episode the discovery of a secret copy of Justine in Lord Byron’s trunk is cited to indicate what he was reading, while in the episode on the Diamond Necklace scandal Chantal Thomas is quoted calling a figure “the Justine of the pre-revolutionary epic.” These uses show the hosts employ the novel both as biographical evidence and as a shorthand reference for certain literary or historical characterisations.