Justine, Philosophy in the Bedroom, and Other Writings

This collection of the Marquis de Sade's writings includes "Justine" and "Philosophy in the Bedroom". The latter is a "dialogue" about a teenage virgin girl's indoctrination into the ways of sex, basically. Some hands-on lessons soon turn this young innocent into a well-trained debauchee. Next, we have the novel "Justine." In this story of virtue vanquished by vice, "good girl" Justine leaves the convent to find herself molested by a wicked outside world of cruelty and perversion. The over-arching idea or message that Sade was trying to get across here was: doing good only leads to bad consequences, and besides, it's more fun to be evil and perverted. I don't believe in Sade's philosophy because even his apologists and sympathizers will admit that it is all about completely unleashing the beast within us, and the 20th century more than any other has taught us that that can only lead to total anarchy, and end in total annihilation. It is a doctrine of extreme nihilism based on selfish and compassionless self-gratification. Another problem is that all of Sade's villains are the same--their sexual proclivities, their philosophies, their social status, etc etc. Not much variety. Another fault some have found is that his plots are quite predictable and repetitous (same thing over and over: Justine meets a man who first seems good and decent on the outside, but turns out to be a real villain, which she only discovers after he has taken her to his secluded mansion, monastery, or some other place from which there is no escape for her). Of course, virtue is always punished by vice, and each time Justine begs for mercy, she is paid back for it with violent abuse and lust. In Sade's works, he makes it look like 9 out of 10 people, particularly men, are wicked, perverse, violent beasts. Also, there is a strong undertone of misogyny, sodomy, sadomasochism, and the hatred of all standard morality. Sade's ideas often have a seemingly convincing evil logic, but they are the thoughts and fancies of a clever and philosophical madman or serial killer, weakened at times by inconsistencies, contradictions, and platitudes. Sade writes from the perspective of a gifted writer who has been babied and pampered all his life, who has never worked, who has been able to satisfy his every desire, who has spent most of his life in jails and an asylum, and thus has lost touch with reality and the human race (and this shows clearly in his writings which are usually much more implausible than realistic), who has lived in complete comfort even in his confinement. Even the food which his wife had sent to him and which he ate behind bars would have suited a king. I believe Sade was an unfeeling, heartless wretch because his mother abandoned him at a very very early age, and he never learned love in childhood, so was unable to give it in adulthood. I give this book 5 stars for its intellectual daring and originality as a documentation of the philosophy of evil, and because it is more

This collection of works is an illuminating collection of Sade's best. The critical introductions are excellent, along with the massive chronology of Sade's life. Sade's letters and Last Will & Testament also give insight into one of France's most controversial literary minds.The collection begins with "Dialogue between a priest and a dying man", perhaps the shortest, and least depraved, of his works. The dialogue is a concise evisceration of Judeo-Christian philosophy, advocating the supremacy and amorality of Nature."Philosophy in the Bedroom" follows, which is Sade at his most philosophically eloquent and sexually twisted. Every taboo is torn to pieces (sometimes literally) while the characters engage in philosophical dialogues about Nature, religion, politics, and, obviously, sex. There is a political treatise in the middle of the dialogues. The treatise is Sade at his most learned and compelling. Amid the erotic carnage, Sade displays himself as one of France's greatest philosophers. Foucault? Whatever.Eugenie de Franval is next. It is a romantic tale about the love between a father and his daughter. It pre-dates Balzac, although it has a realistic style familiar to anyone who has read Pere Goriot (another tale of familial love, but not about incest).Justine closes out the collection. This version is considerably longer than "the Misfortunes of Virtue" in the story collection of the same name. Sade fills the story with copious monologues discussing the stupidities of religion, the nature of fetishism (pre-dating Freud and Krafft-Ebing by a long shot), and the glories of crime. Depraved? Yes. Entertaining? Absolutely. Justine is comedy at its blackest. You'll laugh at all the misfortunes Justine gets herself into and her abundantly sentimental character. Kind of like "Pride and Prejudice", but totally messed up.Reading Sade has opened my eyes and my mind to his scorched earth brand of philosophy. Nietzsche pales in comparison to the furious directness of Sade. Also, check out the chapter on Sade and Rousseau in Camille Paglia's "Sexual Personae" for more insight than this silly little review.Quality reading. Pick it up now!

It is little wonder that the Marquis De Sade spent the last years of his life in a madhouse. Anyone as far ahead of his time as he was is sure to be considered insane by his contemporaries. This collection of his work is exhaustive, and deliciously exausting. You not only get "Justine" and "Philosophy in the Bedroom", there are many shorter works and a collection of De Sade's letters. All of these paint a picture of a man and a philosophy that was at least 150 years ahead of the morals and thought of his period. Sade not only anticipates Freud and Niezche, he goes beyond them. He declares homosexuality natural and advocates a woman's right to choose. The cruelty Sade is known for is the natural outgrowth of his philosophy and the pervailing attitude toward Nature during his life. Nature is the only real ruler of man, he says. Nature is sometimes cruel, indeed in the view of Western Civilization, Nature is always cruel. Therefore, says the Marquis, humans, if they are to be in harmony with the only true governing force, must allow themselves to at least imagine being cruel. Now, while one might criticize the Marquis for not being able to cross the rubicon with his views on Nature as he did with homosexuality, the fact remains that the conclusion is logical within De Sade's framework. This is not a collection for those seeking light erotica. Indeed, some of the situations described are the exact opposite of erotic. Read as philosophy, as the Marquis intended, his work is an earth shattering precursor to the modern and post modernist movement. This colection goes a long way in wresting Sade's name away from the pathology that unfortunatly bears his name.

Although other works by Sade are included in this volume, _Justine_ and _Philosophy in the Bedroom_ are the best known of the collection. _Philosophy in the Bedroom_ is the about two men and a woman who quite thoroughly pervert a fifteen year old virgin. The most notable thing about this story is that a substantial portion of it describes Sade's sociopolitical philosophy. _Justine_ is the story of a young woman who lives a life governed by virtue. As she goes through life, she encounters a series of evil people who use and abuse her. Even though she continues to believe in virtue, she is continually beaten down, while those who inflict evil upon her continually prosper. Though an interesting read, Sade tends to get tediously repetitive when trying to justify (over and over) perversion in the context of Nature. And yes, this is as nasty and sexually perverse as one might expect, covering practices ranging from sadism to autoerotic asphyxiation.