Donatien-Alphonse-Francois, Marquis de Sade 1740-1814, remains a
man whose name is instantly recognized but whose life is obscure.
Born close to royalty in the age of aristocratic decadence, he
precipitated sexual scandals in the grand manner. Alleged poisoning
and unnatural practices with a group of girls in Marseilles earned
him a death sentence. While hunted by the law he contrived a winter
of pleasures that led to further accusations of sexual crimes.
Imprisoned on six separate occasions, De Sade spent twenty seven
years under detention, escaping the guillotine while within sight
of it. and spending his last years in the dubious comfort of the
asylum of Charenton. For a brief period after the revolution De
Sade also became a judge, opposed the death penalty, and saved some
of his sworn enemies from prison or execution. He was loved to the
end by women who knew the worst of him, and he was fearless in his
defiance of injustice.
What manner of paradox was this man? Was he a monster or was he
a man of his time, driven to excess and persecuted by his
contemporaries? De Sade, an aristocrat, lived through the waning
days of Louis XVI, the Revolution, the Terror and the early years
of Napoleon's reign. His literary. output fills a library shelf,
and even now a English-language edition of his complete writings is
in the planning stages.
In this illuminating and dramatic biography, Donald Thomas puts
De Sade in perspective, unraveling his complex life and thought
against the turbulent background of revolutionary France and
considers his legacy in the context of our own time. What manner of
man could have written Juliet, Justine and 120 Days of Sodom? This
book offers a key.
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