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Product Description
Product Description
This work aims to get behind the myths and present the real Bluebeard, Gilles de Rais, one of the most enduring baddies of history. His infamy lives on, the precursor of our own time's serial killers and a founding father of the cult of the child-snatching bogeyman.
About the Author
Jean Benedetti was principal of the Ruse Bruford School of Speech and Drama and wrote a well-received biography of Stanislavski (Routledge, 1988), as well as works on the Moscow Arts Theatre and an edition of Cheklov's letters to Olga Knipper.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I read this book when it first came out, thirty-odd years ago, & I was gripped. I have since read many accounts of the life of Gilles de Rais, & I have to say that this is the best one I have read. The background of fifteenth century France is concisely drawn in, the story is told succinctly with no padding & no flinching from unpleasant detail & Benedetti even shows some sympathy for de Rais & the servants who were executed with him. However, the book was written in 1972 &, improbable as it seems, it is a little out of date. Twenty years later, Gilles de Rais was actually re-tried in France &, sensationally, found to be not guilty. Nobody can ever know the truth, but his original trial was highly irregular, de Rais' judges had a financial interest in his destruction, there was never a single body or fragment of a body found in any of his castles & the "confessions" were elicited under torture or the threat of torture. There is a strong likelihood, therefore, that much of this book is actually fiction & morbid fantasy. That said, for the person who has vaguely heard of Gilles de Rais & wants to know more, this is an excellent place to start. One day there will be a revisionist biography of Gilles de Rais in English, as there already is in French, & he may once more be known as an heroic Marshal of France & companion of Joan of Arc. Until then, read this, read between the lines & shudder at the thought that a good man may have been brought low & turned into a monster for all the ages by petty political intriguing.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"Gilles de Rais was not a monster". So says the author in the introduction to this remarkable history. Yet he proceeds to paint a picture of Gilles which can only be described as monstrous. The scion of one of France's most wealthy and powerful aristocratic families, Gilles grew up pampered but unloved, a pawn in his family's economic power games. With his every material whim satisfied, he developed a lifestyle which was more extravagant than anyone else in France, or Europe at the time. Proving himself a brave and able soldier, as well as one who revelled in the violence and gore of battle, Gilles fought alongside Joan of Arc in the French campaign against the English, even saving her life twice. But after the campaign was over, Gilles no longer had an outlet for his bloodlust and began his career as a paedophilic murderer, luring some 140 victims, mostly the children of the peasantry or wandring orphans, to their deaths. It was to be Gilles' extravagance that lead to his downfall. As he squandered his vast fortunes, his castles were taken from him one by one to pay his phenomenal debts, and, with Gilles turning to black magic for help and spiralling deeper and deeper into depression, his murderous passions were finally laid bare. Throughout his life, Gilles de Rais was an evil and pathetic figure. But remarkably, at his trial he seems to have recovered some shred of humanity and showed genuine remorse for his crimes. And so, perhaps, the real Bluebeard was not after all the monster of legend.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Just wonderful!
11 April 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book captures the life of an incredibly complex real-life character. So many times I've tried to read a biography of someone who died hundreds of years ago, and it's boring enough to make me levitate in frustration. Not this one! Every page is fascinating. Not to be missed.
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