Justine and theory-- It was both what I did and did not expect. I expected lots of violent, women hating sex, and it certainly provided that, but more in the guise of monks, gay men, and strange representations of the 7 deadly sins attacking women. I did not expect a scathing take on virtue works of the time or the philosophy he puts behind his characters actions and deeds. He uses his parody to explore the fanatical nature of sex in the upper classes as inflicted upon the poor, while continually stressing that the world is evil and those who try to be good at every turn will be broken by it. Therese, never learns a damn thing throughout the whole book which is wholly infuriating, but then again, feminism didn't exist in 18th century France. The masterpiece of this book lies in its duality as being "one of those books you read with one hand" and like [Lolita] forcing you to look past the gratuitous (and boy are they ever) sex scenes into Sade’s philosophy on surviving in a hard, rough, immoral world. I now understand why so many people are obsessed with him. ( )

Sade's is one of those philosophies (if you want to call it that) that works better in theory than in practice. But one can, in these works, appreciate the, er, "expansiveness" (not to say imaginativeness) of the man's way of thinking.

The classic erotic writings of the strange Frenchman.