If you believe in evil, then you have committed it. All men are liars, talkers, hypocrites, proud and cowards, lustful, worthy of contempt. All women are cunning, boastful, insincere, curious and depraved. But the most sacred and sublime thing in the world is the union of these imperfect, disgusting creatures. The appearance of Alfred de Musset’s novel “Gamiani, or Two Nights of Voluptuousness” on the book counter made a stunning impression on his contemporaries. Only a few experts and connoisseurs were able to discern in the scandalous work a unique and subtle parody of the outdated literary canons of romanticism.