The Passionate Philosopher, A Marquis de Sade Reader - Softcover

Marquis De Sade

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749390883 ISBN 13: 9780749390884

Publisher: Minerva, 1993

Synopsis

The Marquis de Sade is one of the most maligned, yet misunderstood figures in world literature, and his novels continue to arouse fierce debate nearly 200 years after his death. This book on de Sade includes extracts from "Justine", "The 120 Days of Sodom", "The Philosophy of the Boudoir" and "Juliette" among other works. De Sade is revealed as an embittered, vengeful man, whose extremist vision of the world nonetheless contains profound truths about human nature.

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

From Publishers Weekly:

Unabridged, the lewd writings of the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) can be wordy, repetitious and sickening. Taken in the small doses gathered in this tart, eye-opening anthology, however, they prove the adage that less is often more. Along with the libertine who explored the extreme limits of sex, we meet the utopian social philosopher who, in Aline et Valcour , portrayed a South Seas island paradise where all social customs are democratized; here Zame, the novel's white-haired sage, delivers a defense of vegetarianism. In stories, dialogues and extracts from novels, Sade airs his defiance of all forms of authority, vents his atheistic, anticlerical beliefs and sets forth a principled rejection of the death penalty. Juliette, the eponymous heroine of one of his novels, is a mass murderer preoccupied with sex, crime, power and money; her obsessions prefigure modern neuroses and social ills. Crosland, translator of two volumes of Sade's stories, provides a candid introduction and running commentaries that persuasively depict Sade, imprisoned 27 years, as an iconclast revenging himself on society by highlighting humankind's capacity for cruelty.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Minerva
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0749390883
• ISBN 13: 9780749390884
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 182
• Editor: Margaret Crosland