Marquis de Sade (1740–1814)
Author of Justine
About the Author
The Marquis De Sade was born in Paris, France on June 2, 1740. He fought in the French Army during the Seven Years War before being tried and sentenced to death in 1772 for a series of sexual crimes. He escaped to Italy but upon his return to France in 1777, he was recaptured and thrown into the show more prison at Vincennes. De Sade spent six years at Vincennes before being transferred first to the Bastille and then to Charenton lunatic asylum in 1789. He was released from the asylum in 1790 but was arrested again in 1801. He was moved from prison to prison before returning to Charenton in 1803, where he later died on December 2, 1814. A French novelist and playwright, he is largely known for his pathological sexual views and ethical nihilism. His works include Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, Juliette, and Aline and Valcourt or The Philosophic Novel. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Marquis de Sade
Zoloé en haar twee trawanten, of enkele episodes uit het leven van drie mooie vrouwen (1973) 10 copies
Ideas sobre la novela ; El autor de «Los crímenes del amor» a Villetorque, filiculario (1971) 5 copies
Franc ʹais, encore un effort... : extrait de "La philosophie dans le boudoir". pre ce de de L'inconvenance majeure /… (1965) 5 copies
Cuentos, historietas y fábulas ; Los infortunios de la virtud ; Filosofía en el tocador ; La marquesa de… (2013) 5 copies
Sadistisk testamente 5 copies
Oeuvres complètes, tome 11 : Notes littéraires, Couplets et pièces de circonstance, Notes pour les… (1991) 4 copies
Opere complete, vol. VIII: La marchesa di Gange ; Adelaide di Brunswick ; Isabella di Baviera (1994) 3 copies
L'oeuvre du Marquis de Sade: Zoloé, Justine, Juliette, La Philosophie dans le boudoir, Les crimes de l'amour, Aline et… (1909) 3 copies
De Sade: Selected Writings 2 copies
Justine oder Die Leiden der Tugend gefolgt von Juliette oder die Wonnen des Lasters. Roman aus dem Jahr 1797 (1989) 2 copies
Decameronul frantuzesc 2 copies
La nouvelle justine vol. 2 2 copies
جوستين 2 copies
Escritos políticos 2 copies
Oeuvres complètes,tome 5 : Aline et Valcour ou Le Roman philosophique, lettres xxxvi à lxxii et documents… (1986) 2 copies
The Story of Juliette. Volume One. 2 copies
Teatro 2 copies
Diario ultimo 2 copies
Die 120 Tage von Sodom. - Die Philosophie im Boudoir oder Die lasterhaften Lehrmeister (2023) 2 copies
Scritti sull' ateismo 2 copies
Opere scelte 2 copies
Le sventure della virtù 2 copies
120 dnů Sodomy 2 copies
Briefe 2 copies
Aline et Vaucour IV 2 copies
Léonore e os Portugueses 2 copies
Markis de Sade antologi 1 copy
Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, (Ernestine; Augustine de Villeblanche; Il y a place pour deux; Dialogue… (2016) 1 copy
The marquis de Sade 1 copy
Selected writings 1 copy
Sade Le Opere 1 copy
La Marquise de Gange 1 copy
Auswahl: Die 120 Tage von Sodom - Die Philosophie im Boudoir - Justine - Die Geschichte der Juliette (1965) 1 copy
Contos Morais 1 copy
Los crímenes del amor. Volumen I. Traducción de J. F. Vidal Jové. Introducción por Rafael… (1972) 1 copy
Marquise de Gange 1 copy
Tres novelas ejemplares 1 copy
Filosofia na Alcova 1 copy
Novelas Trágicas 1 copy
Los crímenes del amor. I 1 copy
Los crímenes del amor. II 1 copy
Los 120 dias de Sodoma. I 1 copy
JUSTINA 1 copy
Les Institeurs Immoraux 1 copy
Justine 1 copy
Crimele iubirii 1 copy
A Verdade 1 copy
HLe Isventure della virtu 1 copy
Les Crimes de L'amour 1 copy
Los 120 dias de Sodoma. II 1 copy
El Alcahuete y Otras Historias Eroticas [The Procurer and Other Erotic Stories] (Texto Completo) 1 copy
Les Malheurs de la Vertu 1 copy
Le 120 giornate di Sodoma 1 copy
ZHYSTINA 1 copy
Journal inédit; deux cahiers retrouvés du Journal inédit du marquis de Sade (1807, 1808, 1814) 1 copy
Journal inédit 1 copy
Os Infortúnios da Virtude 1 copy
Minski The Cannibal 1 copy
Lettres aux femmes 1 copy
Zoloé et ses deux Acolythes. 1 copy
El libertino y la revolución 1 copy
Les Crimes de l'Amour, t. 2 : Faxelange, Florville et Courval, Rodrigue, Laurence et Antonio, Ernestine. (1961) 1 copy
Les Crimes de l'Amour, t. 3 : Dorgeville, La Comtesse de Sancerre, Eugénie de Franval, Villeterque 1 copy
I crimini dell'amore 3 1 copy
Contes licencieux. 1 copy
Marat 1 copy
Die Kastanienblüte 1 copy
The thought and themes of the Marquis de Sade : a rearrangement of the works of the Marquis de Sade 1 copy
Francon Duclos 1 copy
La philosophie dans le boudoir, ouvrage posthume de l'auteur de Justine. ... Volume 1 of 2 (French Edition) (2010) 1 copy
Marquis de Sade Auswahl 2 - Die neue Justine,111 Notizen zur Neuen Justine,Aline und Valour, Verbrechen der… (1962) 1 copy
Misfortunes of Virtue 1 copy
Iron Youth Reader 1 copy
Oeuvres : Justine ou les Malheurs de la vertu. Dialogue entre un prêtre et un moribond. Eugénie de Franval. Idée sur… (1960) 1 copy
Obras completas I y II 1 copy
Marqués de Sade: Relatos 1 copy
Los 120 días de Sodoma 1 copy
Justíne 1 copy
Ideas sobre la novela 1 copy
Justine - Bok I 1 copy
Marqués de Sade 1740-1814 1 copy
Obras Completas, Tomo I 1 copy
EZHENIA E FRANVALIT 1 copy
IDEAS SOBRE LA NOVELA 1 copy
Justine - Bok II 1 copy
Filozofia w buduarze, t.2 1 copy
Il giudice beffato 1 copy
Die Tage von Florbelle. Persönliche Notizhefte. Briefe und Dokumente. Biographie. Zeittafel. Quellennachweis (1972) 1 copy
Uitspraken 1 copy
I crimini dell'amore 1 copy
Les Crimes de l'Amour, t. 1 1 copy
Zbrodnie miłości 1 copy
Le sventure della virtù (Justine) Con la prefazione di Guido Piovene e un saggio di Jean Paulhan (1967) 1 copy
Lettres provençales 1 copy
The Bedroom Philosophers. 1 copy
Liefde's misdaden 1 copy
16 09 17 1 copy
Marquis de Sade 1 copy
Gesammelte Werke 1 copy
Novelle amorose 1 copy
Filosofía en el tocador 1 copy
De Sade Quartet 1 copy
Eugenie - 15 år 1 copy
The Logic of the Passions 1 copy
Associated Works
The Libertine Reader: Eroticism and Enlightenment in Eighteenth-Century France (1602) — Contributor — 69 copies
The Graphic Canon of Crime & Mystery, Vol. 1: From Sherlock Holmes to A Clockwork Orange to Jo Nesbø (2017) — Contributor — 34 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Sade, Marquis de
- Legal name
- Sade, Donatien Alphonse François de
- Other names
- Sade, D.A.F. de
- Birthdate
- 1740-06-02
- Date of death
- 1814-12-02
- Burial location
- Malmaison, France
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- France
- Birthplace
- Paris, France
- Place of death
- Charenton, France
- Places of residence
- Condé Palace, Paris, France
Charenton, France
Chateau de Lacoste, Provence, France - Education
- Jesuit lycée
- Occupations
- politican
philosopher
writer
soldier - Relationships
- Sade, Jacques de (uncle)
Members
Discussions
Marquis de Sade in Legacy Libraries (August 2014)
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 449
- Also by
- 16
- Members
- 10,965
- Popularity
- #2,158
- Rating
- 3.4
- Reviews
- 141
- ISBNs
- 865
- Languages
- 24
- Favorited
- 55
It sounds like a very cheap excuse (like reading Playboy for the interviews), but I read this primarily out of historical interest (and okay, maybe a little curiosity too). I'm just going to say it straight: this is gross, but really gross, extremely gross, in ways you can barely imagine. And it is not only the unimaginable sexual escapades that de Sade describes, but mainly the ever-increasing violence, and the sickening way in which other people (especially women and children) are degraded to mere objects.
To be honest: I mainly read the run-up to the book and most of the 'stories' of the first cycle (the first of 4), and even then, gradually I began to read diagonally, skipping the worst passages. I didn't have the stomach for it to begin with (some scenes really make you feel sick), and also, after a while the endless descriptions of the excesses really started to get boring. That also says something. Moreover, according to de Sade, that first cycle only contains a description of the “simple passions”. From the schematic overviews of the next three cycles (which he did not write out, thanks heaven), it can be concluded that after that first ‘simple’ cycle, it only goes crescendo into gruesome torture, up to and including the most beastly mutilations and even murder.
Curiously, all this is presented by de Sade as a kind of scientific experiment. The core of the story is that 4 friends (rich and powerful men) isolate themselves in a Swiss castle, together with about 30 victims, and for 4 months indulge themselves in an endless series of sexual and violent deeds, and while doing that, meticulously recording and sharing all their emotions and experiences. Regularly they debate on, for instance, what brings the greatest pleasure (the act or the desire for it), and its moral implications (or rather, the lack thereof), almost like in a Platonic dialogue.
So, even amidst these excesses occasionally interesting things can be found, I mean on a philosophical level (imagine!). For instance, they conclude that their happiness comes from the fact that others (their victims) cannot enjoy what they can, in other words: inequality and domination are basic goods. Or that good and evil are completely arbitrary, and that therefore everything is allowed. Striking, but not unexpected, are the fierce attacks against the church and against religion in general: only Nature (with a capital) counts, because, by making possible the most terrible acts, nothing (and certainly not God) stands in the way of doing just that, and therefor every evil is justified. It is the libertine “natural philosophy” that de Sade keeps coming back to.
Now, one of the points I was curious about is to what extent de Sade can be seen as an exponent of the Enlightenment of the 18th century, a thorny issue. Ok, he was part of the nobility, and therefore thoroughly rooted in the ‘Ancien Regime’, but so were other Enlightenment philosophers. And agreed, his focus was certainly not on higher reason, but on the contrary on the dark side of the human species. But his approach exudes the rationalistic-mechanistic view that is so typical of the French 'philosophes' of that period. Only look at the thoroughness with which the four ‘masters’ perform their brutal deeds, in a systematic-premeditated order, report on them and discuss them. In a way you can surely say that de Sade also exposes the dark side of Enlightened rationalism, eventually leading to the Holocaust (I'm not saying anything new, here).
Naturally you wonder: what was the personal motivation of de Sade to write all this, and especially why in that excessively explicit way? I know: libraries have already been written about it. And the views on this range from “de Sade just had a sick mind”, to “he wanted to provide a brilliant insight into the seething, stinking pit that hides inside each of us, but which we usually keep hidden”. I guess, all these views are valid. And so I definitely came to understand why the figure of Sade, and his writings, continue to fascinate, even after more than 2 centuries. But if you want my (completely non-binding) advice: beware, if you want to read this, know what you're getting into.
Annex: I have now also read his Justine ou Les Malheurs de la vertu (the reworked version from 1797), and I must say that it is on a much higher literary level (ok, this sounds very “I read Playboy for the interviews”-ish), it is a little bit less explicit, and, actually contains a little less violence, although it remains very rude and particularly derogatory of the female species. But above all it contains many more well-developed passages that philosophize about the (im)moral aspects of libertine behavior, and in that sense it is much more interesting.… (more)