Le diable au corps, sensuel et sans remords

The year 2023 marks both the hundredth anniversary of the publication of "Le Diable au corps" by Grasset and the early death of its author, Raymond Radiguet, at the age of 20, from typhoid fever, which helped to establish the novel as a literary myth. It depicts a guilty love, frowned upon by the morals of the time, between a young married woman, Martha, and a 15-year-old boy, Francis. The action takes place during the First World War. Marthe takes advantage of her husband's absence at the front to satisfy her desire for the teenager with an ambiguous personality. Published only five years after the end of the war, the novel shocked critics and public opinion.