Marquis de Sade Books

Angela Carter, is the premier feminist, but this book wasn't quite for me. I had no idea who Marquis de Sade was until I read this book, and I slightly wish I never had. Angela Carter tries to bring life to De Sade's female characters, which she does, but I just couldn't get passed the section where she talks of the women licking men's butts and being connisiuers of poop. Really, I just wish Marquis de Sade's work would be swept under some carpet and never be read.

Angela Carter (1940-1992) has written a feminist reading of the Marquis De Sade. Carter has also used the work of the Marquis as a springboard for her own insights on the relation of sexuality to power. She is able to demonstrate that sexuality is constructed not from gender but rather form a relationship between power and politics. A must-read feminist classic.

A very thoughtful book which puts Sade's work in a whole new light. Thoughtful, evenhanded and intelligent. This one is worth the read for anyone interested in going beyond the superficial with Sade. There is a lot of nonsensence about him -- finally, someone with something important to say!

I just had a very brief comment.

I mostly just dipped into the book here and there to get some idea of the count's prose and the overall tenor of the book. By the standards of today, the infamous count's tales don't seem so shocking. But one can only imagine how they'd have played to the pre-60s generations, but which were tame by say, Roman standards. This story, about a young girl's education and conversion (if one can call it that) to de Sade's libertarian ways, still has some power despite our overall jaded, post-60s, post-AIDS, and post-20th century attitudes toward the carnal pleasures and desires.

I especially agreed with the count's portrayal and extensive litany of various mass atrocities committed by military commanders and rulers throughout history as proof that mankind is not a noble creation or being but essentially a destructive and uncontrollably violent animal himself with a bigger brain--a brain which he too often puts to evil use. I find myself in agreement with the count here and can only point out as supposedly advanced humans it's all too often the case that we live down to our baser natures and lowest impulses rather than to our higher conscience--and which I'm not convinced even exists, anyway. But overall, a book whose view of human nature I seem to agree with even if I probably won't read the entire novel for its full literary effect and value (which is something I don't claim to be that erudite about, anyway).

El libro es super interesante. Se ve en el a una joven que pasa por terribles retos ante los cuales lucha para mantener su virtud. Al compararlo con uno mismo podemos ver que en cada uno de nosotros reside algo, la escencia, una pequeña parte de esa Justine que nos muestra Sade. Al final sucede algo imposible de imaginarse. El libro mantiene al lector bajo suspenso todo el tiempo. Muy bueno para leer en ratos de soledad y reflexionar acerca de la manera de comportarse y de los impulsos del ser humano.

After having seen the film "Quivers" about de Sade with Geoffrey Rush, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the writer by reading his writing. The guy is obsessed with sodomy--it gets tiresome. His writing, though intelligently presented, is eclipsed by his incredibly juvenile and obsessive sensibilities. Not a favourite tome.

He is a freak and that is why I like his writing.
What a life this guy led.

As one of the introductory authors mentioned "that those who read know of Sade, but very few ever actually read Sade." I was this person until I finally read this book. My one complaint is that prior to this I had never read Sade, so reading the introduction was a bit daunting. I didn't fully understand their references, those from his literature or historical. So if this is actually your first book of Sade's, or any of the others from this publisher, skip the introduction and read it at the end. The introductory essays seem to be written from the perspective of someone that expects their readers to be fairly well versed in Sade, a terrible thing if you never read Sade until now. So read them at the end and it won't ruin anything for you, rather they will enhance the work for you upon reading them in the end.

I will say this about the introductory material though, the section with the historical time-line was superb. I found it very interesting as well as useful. I have a couple other editions of De Sade's works and this one appears to be the best by far, aside from the fact it's not very friendly from a portable stand-point, but the writing/translations seem better than some others I've come across.

I would still say Sade is quite the controversial author and I've been getting into books of that nature as of late. As I am also currently reading Mein Kampf as I write this. I think a vast amount of people have opinions on these kinds of authors, but have never read their works. De Sade, for example, I think is typically unjustly demonized by a great many people. Hitler is a little more justified in being demonized, but I still think people should read his book before they start to exult some opinion on the person in detail. Sade, on the other hand, is little more complex and less obvious. His main problem is that he wrote Justine and in 18th century thinking, that is a grave enough sin in itself. Not so in the 20th century, though I don't think sadistic pleasure has fully outdone Sade yet, because he set a pretty strong precedent. Though, if he was going around doing the things he wrote about to women in "Justine," his demonization would be far more justified. As it is, he was involved with one girl, that was apparently willing at first, but changed her mind later. However, what was done is nothing compared to what he writes about or what is done to people nowadays, of course in that era, it was probably seen as far worse and shocking.

Either way, the French government went through lengths to try and destroy his works, but thankfully for those astute readers they are here for us to enjoy, or be reviled by, as it is up to the reader to decide. I stress that it is up to the reader, opinions on works not being read are useless in my point of view, all you can merely say at that point is that "it is not something that interests me," but one should not delve into a conversation about the work in question!

The first text is "Philsophy in the Bedroom," and what an interesting work that is. It is a mixture of philosophy, politics, and gratuitous sex. I will admit the homosexuality brought up in the writing caught me off guard at first, for it was unexpected. I typically do not go after that sort of writing, but the philosophical aspect is what kept me turning the pages. Though I must admit my own general deviancy, because some of the scenes were quite well done when the characters were not philsophizing. The part I struggled with though were the political discussions, I'm not an avid follower of politics in the 20th & 21st century, so I know quite a bit less about historical politics, unfortunately. I think a lot of the political discussions taking place between the characters focused on politics of that era (and are very specific to France), so any student of historical politics will likely find this vastly fascinating. The discusions on philosophy, such as the philosophy of crime leading to true freedom is quite a bit more interesting to me as I am more interested in philosophy in general. (Not that Sade has truly convinced me to go out and commit criminal acts by any means.) It shows that Sade was very well thought out in his writings because he makes fairly convincing arguments, though in terms of liberation, I believe it is up to the person. If you choose to live by such societal restrictions and your inner inhibitions coincide with the populace then you are free by your own point of view. If you find these things extremely limiting, then you are not free. I suspect Sade found societal normalcy a trapping that he sought to escape, thus he had a far different view on criminal acts.

The next two sections were relatively short, especially the discussion between a Priest and a Dying Man, which is essentially a satirical work. It clearly shows the lack of love Sade has for the church. Since I essentially agree with this sentiment, I had no problems with this, but those people out there who are religious may have an issue with this. However, I can't see the devoutly religious enjoying Sade's work and sexual vulgarity in the least to begin with. Next we have "Marie du Franval", also known as "Incest" from another publisher. This story is quite different than some of his other works, it's not nearly as explicit, but it does cross one of the more extreme taboo lines between father and daughter. Interestingly it does have a fairly unhappy ending for his main character who ends up losing what he loves most. A curious ending for Sade, since Sade preaches full liberty in most of his stories (regardless of who it would hurt). Perhaps this was merely written creatively to switch up his usual works, a break from the norm and to show, as an author, he can work outside of his comfort zone (so to speak).

The final part of this collection is the great apex of Sade's works. This is one of his most well known works and flows in conjunction, to a degree, with "Juliette." Here we have "Justine" the work that was Sade's undoing and got him put in prison, but made his works live on in infamy. This was, personally, my favorite tale in this entire collected works. That opinion, of course, may change as I read more, but so far I am summarily impressed. Justine has the greatest story and best blend of demented sex and philosophy in all the book. I can see why they saved this until the end. Justine is a lost child who seeks to guard her virtue above all other things. However, she is thrust through a sequence of very unfortunate circumstances and is debauched in some of the worst ways imaginable. However, all of her captors seem to be more than just a lout who is merely exacting pleasure for no reason. No, these characters a typically well educated, some are wealthy, and think about the philosophy and motivations of their particular desires. Not only do they think about their internal motivations, they are also happy to expound on this at length to their captives! The pinnacle of this is by far when she is taken captive by the monks, and I won't ruin it for anyone, but I'm sure this particular section is what did Sade in. Justine can never seem to "get saved" but rather goes from clutches to clutches of various captors, when all she wants is to live a wholesome life that she can be proud of. This will never be the case for her, and she is very disillusioned with life by the end. In the end the reader feels it is a very tragic tale over all. However, we'll see a wholly different perspective with her sister Juliette.

A lot of people see the sadism and the lascivous sex as the trademark of Sade's work, others walk away having a different perspective on life in general. I feel I am one of the latter, because I had never particularly thought of the philosophy of commiting crimes. While some of the sexual deviancy is very strong, I felt I could stomach them better because they were written (of course doing a lot of this stuff in real life is very illegal, and some would likely kill a person), but if you are particularly weak hearted then this may be a text to avoid. All some people want to read are the sex scenes and they want to skip the philosophy, this is probably a lot easier to pull off. I would say the works are typically about half and half in terms of philosophy versus sex, and I found the mixture is really what kept me turning the pages. I always wanted to find out what the next antogonist of vices had in store for me next, and how would Justine react to that particular philosopher! All in all, I would recommend this great work, but I realize that this is surely not a work for everyone, so if what I've said appeals to you, read it, if not, don't read it.

While it is interesting how the Marquis works in his philosophy (about 30 pages of orgy, around the same length of the most well-endowed man reading aloud from a political pamphlet one of them just happended to pick up on the way, followed about 30 more pages of orgy and so on), the desired effects are accomplished: the reader is left satisfied on the intellectual, philosophical, and yes, sexual levels.

As for Justine, one can definitely feel for the main character and itch to read Juliette, a wonderful companion which is also available here at Amazon. Some of Sade's descriptions are not for the weak at heart though, but that's part of life and the risk you take in leafing through a book like this.

I didin't really know a thing about actual libertinage before I read this book, but that certainly isn't the case now! I had only expected to be enlightened on a half-way intellectual level; I bought this book without considering the possibilites of the content suggested by the title.

Sade's refreshing view of sex and world-view (which ranges from indifferent to - surprise - "sadistic" in every sense of the word) was indeed way ahead of his time. While you probably won't agree whole-heartedly with him, he definitely gives the reader something to think about as far as the darker side of the human mind is concerned. Enjoy!

In one of the introduction essays in this collection, the translators write that those who read know of de Sade, but so few of those have actually read any of his work. People know who the Marquis de Sade is. He's referenced constantly in film, TV, and literature, and it's always some childish, snickering S & M reference. If his work was simply for shock value, it would have long been forgotten about. This is a man of ideas and philosophy. A terrifying vision, no doubt, but a unique and fascinating one, for those who can take it. This is an excellent compliation, including the complete version of Justine, the excellent Philosophy in the Bedroom, the hilarious Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man, and the superb Eugenie de Franval, one of de Sade's most respected short stories. Grove Press (who also put out Henry Miller's banned work) has also Juliette, the companion piece to Justine, and The 120 Days of Sodom and other writings as well. This book is the best of the three, in terms of its content (even thought Sodom's prose is much better than Justine. Justine is a more thought out book). It is a difficult read, and it's terrifying to be in de Sade's universe. But he also displays a dark humour (especially in Philosophy and Eugenie) that most people never give him credit for. And as one reviewer noted, the movie "Quills", while entertaining, is historically inaccurate. De Sade did die in Charnenton, but nothing like it was in the film. He died quietly in his sleep. Read this man's work. We're lucky to have these works, as most of his work was destroyed....

This book is everything said below. It is incredible. It is horrible. I apologize for the cliche, but is like watching the wreck you can't help but look at, and it can hit you hard or bore you to death. More than anything it is the ultimate answer to the question of the effects of surrendering to unlimited excess, not only in the story, but in the structure of the book itself. The characters are demonstrating a life without control, a life of excess (importantly, de Sade recognizes that social class and material wealth are no barrier to such a life), and their actions are chronicled in excess. Strictly speaking, the book can be easily described: 50 pages of libertine sex, followed by 50 pages of philosophy, then 50 of sex, etc etc on and on for over 1000 pages. After about the third repetition you realize de Sade hasn't all that much to say; worth hearing, for sure, but not at such length.By any artistic standard, it is as self-indulgent as the characters in it.

As for the characters, in the end you see that whatever their embrace of excess enabled them to do, it was really rather limited - in the end, all came out the same (partial pun intended). So you see them do the same few (despite the many times de Sade repeats them) things over and over. The people they torment are ciphers, not people, nothing to be identified with, so they all really mean nothing. The final impression of his characters are husks of thorough emptiness.

The repetitive structure of the book has the same effect. A less self-indulgent writer would have cut the book by 90% and included everything de Sade has to say, both philosophically and sexually. As it stands, for whatever combination of fascination and incredulity it may hold, it is a slog to get through - one of those books that you get into and you feel you HAVE to finish rather than WANT to finish.

Nevertheless it gets 5 stars. It is quite frankly not for everybody. It is not for the faint of heart - or stomach - and one must be able to confront the darkest part of oneself. For, as has been noted by others (and is in any case painfully obvious), it is really all about power over others, and that is a side most of us can identify with, even if the means de Sade uses are a bit too much. It exposes the solipsism of the darkest side of the human soul, and takes it to its logical extreme and outcome - the logical outcome of excess.

P.S. to those who find this review excessive, I apologize. :)

1200 pages. Its been said that actually reading Sade from cover to cover like you would an `ordinary' novel is a test of one's mental and even physical endurance. The seeming endless catalog of escalating violence and perversion in a series of episodes so outrageously obscene they begin to border on the comic, so obsessively repetitious they become mind-numbing is said to make *Juliette* virtually unreadable. It took me two-and-a-half weeks to finish this marathon of horrors and Im delighted to report it wasn't nearly as grueling as advertised.

What often goes unremarked is that Sade is a surprisingly funny writer. Yes, funny. It's hard not to miss the hyperbolic parody of much of *Juliette,* although many do, especially those who haven't read Sade in his entirety or in context. The prudish, those easily offended, they'll have a hard time finding anything to laugh about here, too. Sade is a literary shock-jock. But what's also surprising is how many of Sade's social positions are not only quintessentially "enlightened," but serve as the very foundation of a considerable amount of "liberal" thought. Sade is pro-choice, against capital punishment, a champion of homosexuality, free love, and feminism, a fierce enemy of monarchy and the Church and all forms of fundamentalism--he envisions a society of liberated men and women pursuing their individual happiness outside the moral censure of both the majority and the minority. Sade could, in fact, be considered the grandpappy of our me-first, me-only age.

Of course, Sade carries his radical position of extreme personal freedom to its logical end--in rape, theft, and murder. And, perhaps, the most overlooked aspect of Sade is that his philosophy of mayhem is the "logical" end of personal freedom, its ultimate justification.

Far from advancing his ideas in the manner of a raving lunatic as he's often portrayed, Sade does so with cold, exacting, rational arguments. At times, *Juliette* reads like a satanic version of Plato's dialogues. But whereas Plato based Western civilization on his rational "proof" that reason is synonymous with good, Sade does the exact opposite, using rational deduction to prove that reason is synonymous with evil. What lends Sade's argument its shattering power is that whereas behind Plato's there's always the ghost of an a priori teleological principle of dubious and ultimately unprovable existence, Sade bases his conclusions on the indisputable facts of observable nature--a nature, he's always quick to point out, that is red in tooth and claw. Grounding his dialectic in every creature's natural self-interest, he can never be proved wrong in thinking the "worst" of man. For everything, even pity, generosity, love, and self-sacrifice can be seen as self-interest. The only thing that checks our instinctive and insatiable appetites are fear, superstition, social-conditioning, oppression, and stupidity. And it's the rulers, priests, and rich who make certain the rest of us remain in the dark, a.k.a. living "morally," while they, shielded by their wealth, power, and hypocrisy feed off the rest of us poor fools.

Taking a look at history, at the world today, it's hard to argue. Indeed, it seems a fact: we live in a Sadeian universe and convince ourselves we don't with the comforting lullabies of religion, social and political idealisms, and fuzzy fellow feeling. We want to believe that reason is synonymous with good, truth with beauty, but the key word is "believe." We want to believe it because the alternative, with exaggeration for effect, is the harsh world Sade reveals to us in *Juliette.*

What makes Sade so revolutionary is not only that he writes scenes of sexual violence that can still shock, disgust, and outrage contemporary sensibilities--I refer the reader in particular to Juliette's sexcapades with the Pope!--but that by proving that reason can be used just as easily, if not more effectively, to justify evil as it originally was used to justify good, Sade stood all of western morality on its head. Reading through the extensive philosophical speculations connecting all the dirty parts of *Juliette,* the reader recognizes the ideas of many of the most prominent thinkers and writers of the next two centuries already prefigured. There's a reason that Sade has been one of the seminal figures for generations of our most prominent philosophers and authors--his sordid outpourings of blood and semen have directly or indirectly fertilized minds with the seeds of that tree upon which grows the most forbidden fruit of all.

One of those rare books that truly has the power to shake your most firmly held beliefs and even change your life, *Juliette*is the Bible of Evil, probably never to be equaled, certainly impossible to surpass. I don't think it an exaggeration to say that no reader of intelligence and culture should die without reading this book.

Vicente Munoz Puelles's The Arch of Desire was an excellent referral to Marquis de Sade's work. This exquisitely dark novel about the workings of an evil genius's mind enthralled me. No sooner did I start reading this book than it consumed me until its final pages.

Various arresting matters are brought on in Juliette, and they all mix erotica with dark messages that somehow sound logical. Marquis de Sade states that doing evil leads to personal fulfillment. He relies upon the success of various political dictators and powerful people with no scruples to illustrate his opinion. Also, he assures the reader that acting upon the most taboo subjects - murder, atheism, incest, rape, hatred - will free you from all inhibitions. In other words, crime, not truth, shall set one free. He illustrates the aforementioned horrid details from a young woman's vantage point. Juliette is quite a character.

Marquis de Sade was one of the best, albeit underrated, literary authors out there. His work is just as, if not more, controversial than Nietzsche, and he possessed the same sort of disarming genius. This novel's content is not to be agreed upon, but for sheer intellectual stimulation it can't be beaten. I look forward to reading more of his work, especially Justine - the counterpoint of Juliette - with utmost anticipation.

As a work of pornography, "Juliette" can certainly hold its own. But as literature, it doesn't compare to "Justine" which is a much better written novel. Regardless, people looking for Sadeian erotica will find it here, as well as Sade's philosophy. I was surprised and pleased by the amount of lesbianism in this book, something one would not expect from an author who has always been described as a bisexual interested in male sodomy. But in late works like "Juliette" he seems to have acquired a taste for lesbian sex, or at least an understanding of it's popular appeal as erotica, and this is evident in this book as well as surviving notes from his "The Days of Florville", a mammoth pornographic work and perhaps Sade's masterpiece, which he wrote in his last days at the asylum in Charenton and which was ordered to be burned by his son after Sade's death.

"Juliette" is a long novel, covering the story and fate of Juliette, the virtuous Justine's libertine sister, and her sexual and criminal adventures out in the real world.

David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"

The god of Evil, the Marquis has stunning words that are absolutely beautiful, simultaneously the epitome of disgust. I worship his literary genius.

The style of the book took some getting used to, but the actual story is pretty interesting.

A female fan-maker in Revolutionary France befriends the ever-licentious Marquis de Sade, and makes fans with "provacative scenes" depicted on them. The whole story is told in an interrogation setting, when the fan-maker is on the stand in court testifying about her relationship with the Marquis.

"The Fan-Maker's Inquisition" is an exploration of the thoughts and passions of the Marquis de Sade through letters and journal entries written during his imprisonment and a transcript of the fan-maker's trial. Its prose is lush and its topics various, flowing from page to page in vivid succession. As a series of words, sentences, paragraphs, ideas, the book is a marvelous success.

But as a story, it's a dismal failure. There is no discernible plot. The book cowritten by Sade and the fan-maker (interspersed in sections throughout) - without a doubt the most engaging, and easiest to follow, component of this novel - is too thinly spread to be memorable and bears too little relationship to the rest of the story to resonate meaningfully with it. The remainder - pages and pages - is comprised largely of lists of hedonistic pleasures, primarily food and sexual escapades. While this is certainly believable as the preoccupation of an imprisoned Sade, it makes for unexciting reading.

On its jacket, and in its other reviews, "The Fan-Maker's Inquisition" is billed as a revolution in thought, in the art of thinking and living passionately. It certainly has the beginnings of such an accomplishment, with its deft use of words, its vivid descriptions, and its wide range of subject matter (its purview includes, besides food and sex, religion, the settlement of the Americas, and the crafting and uses of fans). But without a plot, and a definitive ending, the book languishes in its own excessive use of ideas.

I picked this up because of the title. Sadly, the fan-maker's detailed explanation of her trade was the only bit I found particularly interesting. The book is filled with lush description, yes, but that's nearly all there is; the plot, if there was one, escaped me and the characters were only sketchily developed. I have the feeling I would understand more of what Ducornet is babbling about if I'd actually read anything of de Sade's, but I haven't, and anyway that's no way to write a novel; it ought to stand on its own.

Dancing alone in your kitchen. 'Do not grasp the bird too tightly...' Think of the way water implies depth through color and movement. This book muscled it's way into my reading schedule and kept me thinking and re-thinking. I can only relate how this book felt inside of me, but as with all books that leave you feeling, sensing and imagining there is the urge to send this out to others. It is the Hero's plight. I felt, sensed and saw all these marvelous things. Can you experience them as well?

The Fanmaker's Inquisition mixes tv courtroom drama, sexual intensity, imagination and ideas against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Ducornet manages to bring a live a partucularly dramatic peice of political and social history in this novel as well as exploring contemporary ideas of sexuallity and identity.
This is a beautiful, well researched, and powerfully convincing book, and I would recomend it to everyone except my dear grandmother.

First let me say that I'm not a sadist, but I have become interested in the period in history, specifically French 17th and 18th century, in which "Libertines" walked, and social practice and behavior was highly questionable. I think the book "Perfume" really opened up my head as to my interest, and I've always been interested in aberrant behaviors. The Marquis de Sade was a man highly speculated, and seldom understood. His thoughts and views were outlandish for the times, and reading this has really made me question how valid so many of the points of some of his writings are. Little did I know when I began this book how often I would find myself re-reading some of the passages, realizing his point on so many things to be so close to accurate that I almost hate to admit it. Anyone who has ever had any interest in what was surely of such scandalous a period should enjoy the perils in the stories of this book.

This book reveales the dark side of a society, the blackness corner of human soul. It is higly recommended to read because it enriches one's knowledge and knows more about the immortal, hopeless reality during Sade's time.

Sade, long known for being the unprintable,unpublishable and,in the words of Henry James, the great "unnameable", continues to be avoided by the mainstream, as well as the syllabuses of academic literature courses. Several university professors have even frankly confessed to me that they wouldn't touch Sade with a pair of tongs. This is due to his delight in all manifestations of evil, his notorious enjoyment of cruelty and self-inflicted pain, his immoralism and his picture of a loveless and destructive cosmos. For Sade, the universe has no features: there is no God, no goodness, no truth, no unity. Nature, the great aristocrat, is indifferent and the bad and strong triumph while the small and weak go to the wall. These sentiments, presented in their most bald form, may strike us as banal, though they do contain an essential germ of truth and right. The main story in this collection, amply illustrates this theme, as a pious, intensely moral girl, upon meeting with adverse circumstances, travels through life enduring the most agonising injustices imaginable, ranging from slavery, robbery, beating, mutilation and rape by a group of lecherous monks she had ostensibly sought out for aid. Nevertheless, she refuses to yield to the temptations of revenge and hate of the world which so cruelly treats her, but holds fast to her religious and moral principles. As a result, Sade has her punished for her virtues. Other tales touch on Sade's preoccupations with evil and good, including one that touches on lesbianism, though the overall selection is not as dark as it seems, containing a number of episodes of genuinely original humour and irony. "Dialogue between a Priest and a Dying Man" is one such story, employing the fashionable eighteenth century form of the dialogue. It consists in a dying man outarguing his priest, eventually convincing him of the advantages of vice and converting him to atheism. It's a shame that Sade is so underrated as a humourist.

This is arguably the best starting point for one who is interested in the Marquis' writings.

This collection of short stories proves that the Marquis de Sade was a real writer, and a brilliant one. Some of these stories are excellent example of storytelling. They were written in his earlier days before he started writing the violent pornographic novels on which his reputation stands. In these stories, Sade shows great range--satire, low farce, sophisticated comedy, morality tale, mystery tale, documentary realism, and even a touch of mythology as he puts his own twist on the Faust legend in one of the stories. This volume also includes Sade's infamous mockery of God and religion "Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man" as well as a shorter, "clean" version of "Justine."

The Marat Sade is truly misery made beautiful, where else can the hero be made to suffer as much as Marat does. Through the course of the reading one can not help but desire to emulate the characteristics of Marat, this and the conflict between Marat and Sade are the elements of the story that keeps interests and stimulates thoughts. Weiss argues both the points of view of Marat and Sade well and ultimately delivers an interesting message.

The Marat Sade does have a captivating message, but much of the beauty in the delivery of the message may have been lost in the translation. Translations are difficult to accomplish, especially when many words do not translate from one language to another, and when verse or meter is concerned, especially verse or meter that rhyme it is nearly improbable. However, the story did have its moments of intrigue especially some of the monologues. To be truly understood The Marat Sade needs to be seen. This realization is probably what inspired someone to make the play into a film.

The film about was not stimulating aside from a few moments of irony in the simplest form made out to be humorous. The story is meant to be seen on the stage. The time period that the film was made in was not equipped well enough with special effects ,not that there was need for this in the Marat Sade but it could have made some kind of impact. The Low budget appearance of the film added to the melancholy of the film that appeared worse than the disorder of the mental patient playing Charlotte Corday and defiantly makes the viewer experience moments of sudden and involuntary sleep. If done today and well budgeted as well as directed the play could be portrayed through cameras in a most pleasing manner. Still, the play is meant to be seen on stage, this is the true way for the audience to feel the experience that Weiss wanted otherwise he would have written a film script.

I do not claim to be an expert on Marat Sade or some official critic or well read for that matter but neither is the general public and that is who an artiest should want to reach considering they are the majority, even though they fall to rule. This play is a product of the past. I feel that most American people would not be able to relate to it and they would fall to be lured into the story. The martyr roll has been over used - after all many people were force fed a similar story since birth.

Marat/Sade, by Peter Weiss, is a play centering on the murder of Jean Paul Marat. Weiss sets the play in the Asylum of Charenton, where both Marat and the Marquis de Sade are inmates. Before reading this play, I did not have much knowledge of Marquis de Sade or Jean Paul Marat. The French Revolution was a topic that I had studied, however not these members specifically. For the reading of this work, not much understanding of these ideas is needed. Some knowledge of Modernism would be helpful for insight into the motivation and reasoning of the play, however that is not needed either. The plot of the play is very thin and does not do much for the reader. There does not seem to be much action involved in the play. The characters mainly discuss and wax philosophical about the French Revolution and whether or not it was successful. It is the characters themselves and the dialogue that are most intriguing. Characters that are patients in the asylum are the driving force of the work. Many off the wall topics and rants are shouted by any number of patients. Clever use of the director of the asylum gives the reader a better sense of how a play produced in an asylum might work out. The format of the work is what seems to be an extended poem. The rhyme scheme, which is at points non-existent, can be carried from one character to the next. This is at times confusing, however it does give the work a somewhat psychotic feel. The work is a relatively easy read, however it does at times get to be a bit confusing. Because the plot is so thin, the reader is bombarded with confusing dialogue, rather than constant flowing action. The work leaves something to desired, as the reader waits for some twist of fate or action that may create some interest. Personally, I was not impressed with the work as a whole from an entertainment aspect. However as a writer I could see the work is definitely that of a talented author. There is a political aspect to the work that focuses around Sade. The many conversations between Marat and Sade focus on the Revolution and its positives and negatives. Commentary is given on the state of affairs during this time, as well as the idea that revolutions do not work on a general basis. Other such ideals are discussed throughout the work, however Sade seems to be more of a reactionary and Marat seems to be more of an idealist. On a whole this work does accomplish its goals in discussing sadism and other such ideas. Modernistic works such as this, often do not have much entertainment value, however they are quite intellectual and original; the two best points of this work.

The world in which we live operates on systems of inequalities which are overtly justified by the minor inequalities of people's intellegence, motivation, appearance, etc. However, the relative personal inequalities among people are in no way commensurate with the unequal material conditions in which we live, to a degree which is often tragic and criminal in the truest sense of that word.

In Peter Weis's play "Marat/Sade", the character Marquis de Sade states that it was in trying to understand our criminal society, and personally disadvantaged by self-hatred, he became a criminal himself, and this outsider position forced him to focus on personal escape through brilliant, inventive, one-time sensual or artistic acts. The character Jean Paul Marat, more of an idealist, believed escape could only be successful if everyone escaped together, through the restructuring of all of society, by sudden powerful intervention. These two approaches are opposite. Everyone agrees that sure, the world could be better, but the question of "how" leads to conflict. This is the central conflict of "Marat Sade", one of the world's greatest conflicts, and I think it is fascinating.

When the character of Marquis de Sade shouts out at Marat, "Can't you see this patriotism is lunacy/Long ago I left heroics to the heroes/I turn my back on this nation/I turn my back on all the nations. . ." the reader can truly sense what the play of Marat/Sade is all about. As the reader gets lost in the production of a play within a play, the idea of surrealism presents itself almost at once. The reenactment of the killing of Jean-Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday seems to be a secondary plot alongside of the chanting and screaming of idealism concerning the revolution and liberty. A division of strategies regarding revolution develops between Marat and Sade. Marat advocates fast action, while Sade preaches that it is hopeless or fruitless to even bother to act. Of course, the cries of the asylum patients tend to distract, but it all adds to the surreal, bizarre nature of the play. I felt that one of the aspects the play touches on is how the revolution affects those living within it. The ideas of liberty, freedom, and revolution all make for interesting debate, but I felt one of the themes that struck me was the reality of revolution as it affects those who live around it day in and day out. One of the more striking scenes of the play, for me, came when Charlotte is in the middle of a monologue, describing children playing with toy-like guillotines. The very idea of children treating such a deathly object as a toy is disturbing, but also brings to life the desensitization that revolution brings about. The play reminds the reader that the death of masses makes the value of life and the impact of an individual death meaningless. That alone is a very somber and surreal thought. There are literary techniques throughout the play that seem to remind the reader that the dramatization depicts things which took place in the past, but threaten to become a part of our future. Marat/Sade attempts to mock the aristocratic classes that seem to catalyze such mass movements of revolution in the first place. The play seems to slap the hand of those in power through the action that takes place throughout. Every time that the characters in the play (the asylum patients) seem to become too excited or outspoken, when the truth behind their madness seems to get out of control, the "Herald" of the play speaks out to placate Coulmier, the director of the asylum. I believe that Weiss tries to make the play more socially acceptable by presenting it in a way that mocks and brings out the weakness of the debacle of government that followed, in this case, the French Revolution, but actually cuts across so many more layers than just one isolated revolution.

Our society will always have people who have large amounts of material wealth, and those who do not. That is an injustice that we must rise above, and change ourselves. Whether our means of change is reached through violence and upheaval or through escape within oneself, this is the core dialectic that the play tackles. Although at times this play is a little hard to follow or even outlandish, the play offers a look at how society deals with its corruption and injustice once it escalates to what may seem to be a point of no return. The element that seems to be the most surreal in my mind is that the ranting of the characters within the play, although they are asylum patients, reveal more truth and brutal honesty than the audience would like to admit. I think Weiss is clever to choose some very clear and controversial themes and present them in a way that is socially appropriate. He does this by blatantly speaking out against established forms of government and rule, but discrediting the characters speaking by placing them in an insane asylum. It is true to say that there are many elements of the play that never seem to completely gel in the end, or come together nicely as in most plays. But to be honest, if the story had come together neatly in the end, the essence of the play would have been lost. I think the point of the play is to show that although people may have conflicting ideals of how to handle a revolution, whether of government or ideology, things do not always work out as we had hoped. People may preach liberty and justice, but when the reality is murder and riots, there are two conflicting messages being handled at once. I believe that is what this play shows rather well. In a very surreal and bizarre way, Weiss enables the reader to see that society hardly ever practices what they preach, and although our goal might be change, in the end, upheaval and disarray may be the only things truly achieved.

Although this translation doesn't have the annoying archaisms ('twas, thou art, 'tis etc) of the Wainhouse/Seaver translations, this one is faithful to the tradition of dodgy 1960's Sade translations that omit the philosophical discussions that distinguish Sade's texts from any other sort of pornography. Almost unbelievably, the mock-serious philosophical pamphlet included with Sade's Philosophy in the Bedroom- easily the most interesting part of the work, is missing- because "Meredith X" (the translator) has decided that it disrupts the 'continuity and flow' of the text. In the body of the translation itself there are in fact words and phrases absent from the French.(ie 'Crimson! F...ing Goat of Satan! etc) And at the end of the book there is a section transplanted from the 120 Days of Sodom- more or less a catalogue of tortures and degradations. An appalling cash-in.

While the repetition wears thin after a little while, the joyous nihilism of Sade's work is infectious. Dolmance, the purveyor of vice and hedonism, corruptor of youth and highly sexed being, argues eloquently (does anyone get this philosophical during an orgy?) for murder, incest, and a host of other actions civilization has put the ban on. Let's hope for the sake of things in general that everyone is not convinced, but watch as the master of debauchery tramples happily on all of our most tenaciously held ideals.

I loved Marquis de Sade's Juliette and I looked forward to reading another one of his mind-blowing, thought-provoking erotica novels. Philosophy in the Bedroom has a rather warped, ironic humor when describing the bedroom exploits. Oddly enough, the erotic occurrences in the book do seem rather philosophical. For instance, I love the passage that says, "Imagination is the spur of delights." This describes the novel's explicit exploits down to a tee. The dark humor is second to none. I can't believe I hadn't discovered Marquis de Sade before. I shall look forward to reading more of his memorable work.

Philosophy of the Boudoir is an interesting look at what (possibly) happens behind closed doors. Sade's to-the-point descriptions leave little to the imagination aside from what could possibly occur next. But on a much deeper level, this novel borders that oh-so-fine line between pornography and art; the language, scenes and descriptions are extremely liberal and could be viewed as offensive to many. But the religious (or anti-religious) undertones, the emphasis on the individual and the attention to instruction, precision and detail take Sade's sketchy introductory scenes (with basically little to no plot) into a more developed foundation as the novel progresses. If one can get past the brutal language and over-determination of sexual roles and stereotypes in this book, it would certainly be an eye-opener and a learning experience.

Sade uses repetition to the extremes: Madame, Eugenie and Dolmance are doing the same things over and over again, each time "learning" of the pleasures the exploits can provide and the "tricks of the trade," like how to avoid pregnancy from acts of libertinage, how to keep your actions secret from your husband and what a woman's "duty" in life is. A reader could very easily bore from reading the same action over and over, but one should find it comical that these characters are so into what they're doing that they can never quite realize and achieve this "goal" of ultimate pleasure. The direct language--especially Dolmance's constant "staging" of his lovers--is also comical, because its almost as if these characters were acting out something, wanting their performance to be perfect for an audience, and not for themselves. Again, the "goal" is unrealized. Eugenie is educated in the ways of the libertines, but she is now just one of many who will constantly be in search of that (non-existant) ultimate pleasure.

Again, this book is an eye-opener, not intended for the conservatively-minded. Those with a strong sense of humor will find the repetition and instruction comical, but others will just find it boring and have a hard time finishing the book.

Donatien Aldonse Francois, Marquis de Sade, had the dubious honour of being imprisoned by three entirely different French governments: the Old Regime, the First Republic, and the Empire. He also nearly survived them all, dying (in prison) in 1814. He wrote a fantastic amount - his first and most notorious book, The 120 Days of Sodom, was inscribed in microscopic writing on a gigantic roll of paper. Lever's biography steers carefully clear of both condemnation and canonisation, presenting the Marquis as an aristocratic anarchist - totally incapable of bowing to authority or of being "useful" in the robotic utilitarian fashion advocated by the Revolutionary authorities. Accused of no real crimes other than "immorality" and a rather trumped-up charge of assaulting a prostitute, he seems to have been incarcerated mostly thanks to the malignancy of his thoroughly unpleasant mother-in-law; and if Lever does not portray him as particularly likeable, he certainly comes across a!s having wit, plenty of principle and more than his share of guts. And it's hard for any writer to resist admiring a man who produced so much of interest under such adverse conditions. Lever has thoroughly studied the Marquis' letters (at one point he gives a hilarious list of the nicknames Sade bestowed on his wife) and the historical background, which makes for a long, fascinating epic, filled like the Marquis' books with power philosophy, lavatory humour and the invigorating crack of the whip.

Ah, de Sade. Extremist by name, extreme by nature. And there's no doubt that he was extreme. This novel is noteworthy, not because it explains his works, or even attempts to explain the man, but because it details his life in context. It explains Sade, not as the villian that we would expect from his novels, but as a member of the arisocracy of France during the French Revolution. Despised by his contemporaries, this book discusses his life as a real man, and not as a mythical monster. It will be something of a disappointment for those eager for a smutty read, although many of the more sordid details of his exploits are discussed. Instead, it explains his life in the context of his time, and as a result says a lot more about the morals of his persecutors than it does of Sade himself. This is not a sympathetic novel. Rather it is a fascinating account of the life of one of history's blackest names, in one of history's blackest times. A wonderfully readable read.

I read this book hoping to gain some insight into the pervasive cruelty in humans, which is so alien to me. I thought that in an examination of one of the most famous cruel people, the rottenness of humanity would make more sense to me. But alas, it didn't work. I give Lever credit for a thorough examination of Sade. The details of his life and actions are laid out, along with Lever's attempt to explain the thought process that went into those actions. Lever portrays Sade as both a product of his environment (growing up arond the politically and morally chaotic French revolution) and a uniquely twisted individual. That seems accurate. He makes clear that the material in Sade's most infamously "Sadistic" writing is almost all based on Sade's fantasy instead of a protrayal of his actions. Lever demurely doesn't give us excerpts of Sade's more salacious writings, and spares us the details of Sade's own salacious behaviour, except when those actions caused pivotal turns of fate in Sade's life. Lever attempted to explain Sade's psyche as thoroughly as anyone could hope to, yet through it all, Sade remained an alien character to me. When Lever at last described Sade's death, I didn't feel the slightest bit of sadness or sympathy. Sade was just a plain old jerk. The man's nature was so different from mine that no valiant effort at explanation could ever really make me understand him. Though I appreciate Lever's effort.

This book was my introduction to the Marquis de Sade. I was expecting (and hoping for) a narrative portrait of the cruel beast so often alluded to in popular culture and vernacular speech, along with a laundry list of his misdeeds. What I got instead was a fascinating life history of a man who was at best a product of his own culture and upbringing, an avaricious, often petty noble, who took the libertinage of many of the members of the Ancien Regime to incredible lengths; at worst he was a captive of his own twisted fantasies, a soul who arguably lacked the even the most basic of built-in moral "stop signs" that most members of society both acknowledge and use as guidance. The most interesting aspect of this voluminous work was the thorough narration of the familial, political and administrative twists and turns that Sade endured during his life. The accurate and detailed accounting of the buildup to the French Revolution was enthralling and unexpected. In summary, if I had thought I was beginning a nearly 600-page history of societal and governmental France, I doubt I would have made it past the Prologue. Having just finished the book, though, I can say that this is one of the most satisfying and informative reads I have ever undertaken.

This is better than the last book I read of Marquis de Sade's. However,...I have discovered that the other book was one of his worst but was still great. This book is about many sexual encounters that many people have. It's just very interesting and highly recommended. Can't say more than that.

Like other eighteenth-century "libertine novels," especially Laclos's Dangerous Liaisons, The Crimes of Love tells us what happens when extremely virtuous characters collide with extremely evil ones. And as with other classic writers of the late eighteenth century, the French here is easy for foreign readers. But by contrast with the novels (and the real-life acts) that have given Sade such a bad reputation, these stories are economical and interest us far more through psychology than through cruelty or perversion. To the five entertaining stories he has selected, Michel Delon adds the author's "Idea on novels" and an informative dossier.

This review is based on the French edition published in Gallimard's Folio series. The only recent translation (out of print) was published in the textually unreliable Bantam Classics series. A new translation of these stories would be a worthy project for an intermediate or advanced student of French.

I really enjoyed this book. Generally, the stories are great. The first few tales are very, very good. Towards the end of the book, Sade loses steam, but that doesn't mean that the stories are any less imaginative. I guess I thought it was hard to follow up "Florville and Courval".

I would definitely recommend reading the "essay on novels" thoroughly before reading the stories. Also, read the explanatory notes! Sometimes, it is trivial biographical/historical information, but occasionally there is some very insightful analysis of the text that help explain the point Sade is trying to make. A few of the devices that Sade employs will seem like cliches, but it should be kept in mind that much of his writing is reactionary.

Finally, his stories should also be read in the context of France immediately after the revolution. As the biography points out, Sade escaped the guillotine on a technicality. Hence his disillusionment with liberal republican ideals.