The Marquis De Sade by Simone de Beauvoir
This critical study reconstructs the life, works, and thought of the notorious 18th-century aristocrat, treating his pornographic and violent fiction as a coherent philosophical project that radicalizes the notion of individual liberty into absolute domination and cruelty. It situates his ideas in their historical and social context, interrogating the interplay between sexual fantasy, political revolt, and moral transgression, and shows how his writings expose contradictions in Enlightenment rationalism while revealing deep anxieties about freedom, responsibility, and gender. Rather than simply excusing or condemning him, the account offers a nuanced portrait that highlights both disturbing philosophical provocations and the human destructiveness entwined with them, weighing the ethical and existential implications of his legacy.
- Published
- 1954
- Nationality
- French
- Length
- Unknown
- Pages
- Unknown
- Original Language
- French
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- Alternate Titles
- - Le Marquis de Sade
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