Original title Le Diable amoureux Country France Originally published 1772 Genre Novel | Translator Judith Landry Language French | |
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Fantasy books Vathek, La Peau de chagrin, Treasurer of the Night, Essential Man‑Thing - Vol 1, Sector General | ||
The Devil in Love (French: Le Diable amoureux, 1772) is an occult romance by Jacques Cazotte which tells of a demon, or devil, who falls in love with a young Spanish nobleman named Don Alvaro, an amateur human dabbler, and attempts, in the guise of a young woman, to win his affections.
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French critic P.G. Castex has described The Devil In Love as "the very initiator of the modern fantasy story".
Canadian critic Carlo Testa has described The Devil In Love, (in review of Stephen Sartarelli's 1993 translation) as a "terminus a quo" in the history of the demonic subgenre".
The Le Diable amoureux started a literary style known as fantastique, where surreal events intrude on reality and the reader is left guessing whether the events actually occurred or were merely the product of the character's imagination.
Plot
Don Alvaro, a young, but wise man invokes Satan. Upon seeing the young Alvaro, Satan falls in love with him, and assumes the appearance of a young woman and follows him as his page. In the journey that unfolds, Satan disguised as a woman tries to seduce Alvaro, who rejects his advances lest of losing his precious virginity. He is unwilling to compromise his honour by sleeping with a woman before they are married, and he will first need his mother’s approval of the union.