Mary MacLane a dix-neuf ans quand elle publie en 1902 son premier livre, Que le diable m'emporte, un journal intime tenu sur trois mois. OEuvre anticonformiste à la liberté souveraine, ces confessions aussi sulfureuses que courageuses firent sensation à l'époque, puisque cent mille exemplaires se sont vendus dès le premier mois de leur publication. Mary MacLane y décrit l'ennui et les aspirations à contre-courant d'une jeune fille de Butte, petite ville minière du Montana. Tour à tour drôle, poétique et sensuelle, elle y fait étalage de ses fantasmes et proclame son génie tout en défendant des idées philosophiques scandaleuses. Que le diable m'emporte est ici traduit en français pour la première fois.

Described as "the first blogger", Mary MacLane lived a tortured life, ahead of her time. Her beloved father died when she was a young child, and at the age of 8, her stepfather moved the family from its home in Winnipeg, Canada to Montana in the United States, where young Mary had a hard time making friends. Her sensational autobiographical style of writing was considered scandalous, as she told of her bohemian lifestyle, feminist politics and open bisexuality. Although popular during her lifetime, among a sensation-seeking public, and being credited with influencing such writers as Scott Fitzgerald and Edith Wharton, her work lost its popularity after her death at the age of 48. - Summary by Lynne Thompson

"At the age of 19 in 1902, MacLane published her first book, The Story of Mary MacLane. It sold 100,000 copies in the first month and was popular among young girls, but was strongly criticized by conservative readers, and lightly ridiculed by H.L. Mencken. She had always chafed at living in Butte, which was a small mining town, and used the money from sales of this book to move to Greenwich Village where she continued to write books and newspaper articles. Some critics have suggested that even by today's standards, MacLane's writing is raw, honest, unflinching, self-aware, sensual and extreme. She wrote openly about egoism and her own self-love, about sexual attraction and love for other women, and even about her desire to marry the devil. (Summary from Wikipedia)"