Neil Schaeffer – The Marquis de Sade - Review

 

Schaeffer's Sade is a noble and successful attempt at historical revisionism; this work painstakingly strips away the mythological Marquis de Sade as [a] monster, and elegantly reveals a literary genius, a victim of the aristocracy, whose life mission was to explore and rationalize the dark side of human nature.

One would not be remiss in calling the Marquis the father of libertinism. His life and work exemplifies the libertine ethos, that is, "rules are meant to be broken, that the laws of religion and society are artificial limitations without intrinsic value, and that the only law is the law of nature that authorizes any action for the sake of pleasure." (359) The irony, however, is that the king of libertinism spent the majority of his life behind bars, pushing the boundaries, breaking the rules of imposed morality with only his pen and an imagination geared to fulfill his every bent desire.

As Schaeffer points out, the greater irony was behind the 18th century pomp and circumstance of the French aristocracy, de Sade's '120 Days of Sodom' barely scratches the surface of how these privileged wigged lunatics really spent their time.

De Sade's true nemesis was a woman: Mme de Montreuil - de Sade's mother in law. She wanted the man out of the way, and she succeeded without question.

As a study of character and how the human mind reacts while incarcerated, this book is a revelation. Of course, similar to most criminals, de Sade believed himself to be innocent; his predicament was always someone else's fault. To a large extent, he was right. But paranoia is a strong emotion, an exaggerated fear of the world against you: jailed for decades for no apparent "real." reason, one's mind will find a reason. Conspiracy theories provide answers and meaning to one's life - or at least an explanation for one's suffering. Sade's theories, understandably, went beyond the pale. If anything, this biography is a fine study of how far a creative mind will reach for answers when backed against a wall.

The letters between de Sade and his wife, Renee, while in prison, would be substantial material for any in-depth study or research project on the intricacies of paranoia. Renee would be the subject of another biographical study of equal stature to de Sade. What a fascinating individual. Reading only the fragments of these letters in the book is worth the time.

The Marquis de Sade wants us to believe that he is a martyr, a victim of hypocrisy and social power. This book certainly argues this view well. But de Sade is about extremes, taking our base desires, making them realities, and philosophically justifying these base desires as natural. This argument doesn't work because we must abide by the social contract because to live in society - otherwise, there is no society.

Sade, through his literature, showed us how far the imagination can travel to its darkest depths. Compared to the horrors of the twentieth century, however, de Sade's sexual and cruel exploits seem almost quaint.

Reading this book is well worth the effort if one is interested in the nature of power, the intricacies of paranoia, and an honest account of a man of letters who ranks amongst the best.