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The Life and Ideas of the Marquis de Sade
A study of the life, writings & philosophy of the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), whose sexual proclivities are still controversial today (from his name is derived the term 'sadism', which indicates sexual pleasure derived from harming others).
203 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 28, 2015
During high school my primary historical self identification was with the French of the second half of the eighteenth century, with their
'Enlightenment' in particular. Indeed, our European History classes were focused on revolutions, the American, the French and the Russian mostly. Somewhere along the line, along with Rousseau, Diderot, Babuef (my favorite), Voltaire, Marat etc., I had heard about the Marquis de Sade. When Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade started circulating among my friends, I not only read it, but also memorized many of its lyrics. Coincidentally, de Sade's works had been published, with much fanfare, in paperback by the Grove Press .
There was a dearth of pornography in my household. I was virginally obsessed with the erotic, but ambivalently so, at once drawn to it and adverse to it. Dad's copy of one of the volumes of the Grove Press edition was the only 'sexy' book on the shelves in the living room. I strongly suspect Dad had never read the thing or it wouldn't have been so publicly displayed. I, however, starved for erotic reading material, read it--or parts of it--again and again during shameful bouts of what used to be so quaintly termed 'self-abuse'. It was certainly not optimal. Indeed, it was perplexing. Fortunately, I was old enough not to have been affected much by the direction of de Sade's erotic imagination. I just stopped before he got into the descriptions of sodomy, sewing and the like.
De Sade is not, as Gorer points out, much of an erotic writer. With the exception of the beginning of his Philosophy of the Bedroom, written to sell while he was in dire financial straits, there is little straight sex in his ouvre. There is, though, in the author's opinion, quite a bit of philosophy, sociology and sexological nosology draped upon his fictional narratives, themselves often of the character of theatrical pieces, de Sade's favored creative medium. Gorer takes both very seriously, declaring de Sade a genius far ahead of his time.
Personally, I'd maintained some interest in de Sade since those high school days owing to his being so incredibly weird. Just as I have studied Hitler and the other ideologists of Nazism in order to understand how they thought of and justified themselves, so too I'd long sought some explanation for the notorious de Sade. Beauvoir had done the introduction to the Grove edition of his works. It was beautifully written, but, for me, unilluminating. So, too, Bataille. Geoffrey Gorer, however, has seemingly gotten to the core--at least plausibly so.
In Gorer's representation, de Sade indeed was, by our standards, a pervert--or what he himself thought of as a 'libertine'. He was into sexual experimentation, into anal sex, humiliation, whipping and being whipped. He was not, however, much of a criminal, the only substantiated charges against him being, again by our standards, not much if anything. Having spent much of his adult life in institutions, most of his sexual experimentation--and probably all of its extremes--occurred in his head. And even then, as Gorer would have it, de Sade maintained a clear sense of what was criminal, what not and an acute philosophical appreciation of the difference between the immoral and the illegal. For Gorer, de Sade as a thinker was very much within the tradition of radical Enlightenment philosophy. Indeed, for Gorer, de Sade prefigured much of modern post-Freudian thought.
This all is not to maintain that The Life and Ideas of the Marquis de Sade is definitive. It is, however, a start in understanding this exceptional person.
'Enlightenment' in particular. Indeed, our European History classes were focused on revolutions, the American, the French and the Russian mostly. Somewhere along the line, along with Rousseau, Diderot, Babuef (my favorite), Voltaire, Marat etc., I had heard about the Marquis de Sade. When Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade started circulating among my friends, I not only read it, but also memorized many of its lyrics. Coincidentally, de Sade's works had been published, with much fanfare, in paperback by the Grove Press .
There was a dearth of pornography in my household. I was virginally obsessed with the erotic, but ambivalently so, at once drawn to it and adverse to it. Dad's copy of one of the volumes of the Grove Press edition was the only 'sexy' book on the shelves in the living room. I strongly suspect Dad had never read the thing or it wouldn't have been so publicly displayed. I, however, starved for erotic reading material, read it--or parts of it--again and again during shameful bouts of what used to be so quaintly termed 'self-abuse'. It was certainly not optimal. Indeed, it was perplexing. Fortunately, I was old enough not to have been affected much by the direction of de Sade's erotic imagination. I just stopped before he got into the descriptions of sodomy, sewing and the like.
De Sade is not, as Gorer points out, much of an erotic writer. With the exception of the beginning of his Philosophy of the Bedroom, written to sell while he was in dire financial straits, there is little straight sex in his ouvre. There is, though, in the author's opinion, quite a bit of philosophy, sociology and sexological nosology draped upon his fictional narratives, themselves often of the character of theatrical pieces, de Sade's favored creative medium. Gorer takes both very seriously, declaring de Sade a genius far ahead of his time.
Personally, I'd maintained some interest in de Sade since those high school days owing to his being so incredibly weird. Just as I have studied Hitler and the other ideologists of Nazism in order to understand how they thought of and justified themselves, so too I'd long sought some explanation for the notorious de Sade. Beauvoir had done the introduction to the Grove edition of his works. It was beautifully written, but, for me, unilluminating. So, too, Bataille. Geoffrey Gorer, however, has seemingly gotten to the core--at least plausibly so.
In Gorer's representation, de Sade indeed was, by our standards, a pervert--or what he himself thought of as a 'libertine'. He was into sexual experimentation, into anal sex, humiliation, whipping and being whipped. He was not, however, much of a criminal, the only substantiated charges against him being, again by our standards, not much if anything. Having spent much of his adult life in institutions, most of his sexual experimentation--and probably all of its extremes--occurred in his head. And even then, as Gorer would have it, de Sade maintained a clear sense of what was criminal, what not and an acute philosophical appreciation of the difference between the immoral and the illegal. For Gorer, de Sade as a thinker was very much within the tradition of radical Enlightenment philosophy. Indeed, for Gorer, de Sade prefigured much of modern post-Freudian thought.
This all is not to maintain that The Life and Ideas of the Marquis de Sade is definitive. It is, however, a start in understanding this exceptional person.
November 16, 2022
Perhaps one of the most underrated philosopher of our time. De Sade ideas on crime and morality is century earlier than that off Focault and Nietzsche. It is almost a crime that his name are almost forever lost, tainted with a tinge of perversion.
Gorer's semi-biographical, semi-analysis of De Sade is a perfect primer for those who wanted to know the man behind the name and perhaps an introduction to the philosophical ideas behind Sadism. It is totally not what I was expecting and in fact it is quite a thought provoking that should be explored by anyone interested in philosophy.
Gorer's semi-biographical, semi-analysis of De Sade is a perfect primer for those who wanted to know the man behind the name and perhaps an introduction to the philosophical ideas behind Sadism. It is totally not what I was expecting and in fact it is quite a thought provoking that should be explored by anyone interested in philosophy.
December 23, 2019
A positive overview of the life and philosophy of the Marquis de Sade. Claims Julien Offray de La Mettrie was a major influence on him and his most important psychological contribution was the conception of constructive/destructive Sadism i.e. the pleasure derived from the acts of creation/destruction. De Sade went beyond mere pornographic description and tried to get at the actual motives.
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November 7, 2024Excellent . Should do more reading from Sade himself someday.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews