Customer Reviews

The Marquis de Sade: A Life

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Schaeffer's De 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, who's 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 bounderies, breaking the rules of imposed morality with only his pen and an imagination geared to fulfil 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 priviliged 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 the way 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. De 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 would like us to believe that he is a martyr, a victim of hypocricy and social power. This book certainly argues this view well. But de Sade is about extremes; taking our base desires and making them realities, and philosophically justifying these base desires as natural. This argument doesn't work, because to live in society we must abide by the social contract - otherwise there is no society. De Sade, through his literature, showed us how far the imagination could 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. Neil Schaeffer should be commended.

Having seen the movie Quills some time ago I was interested to learn more about the historical Sade. Schaeffer provides a very thorough account of Sade's 74 years. The numerous excerpts from his letters give the reader an opportunity to get to know the real Sade. Much of the myth of this interesting writer is dispelled, but one can clearly see how they came into existence. My final impression of Sade is of a man of extremes, especially in his literature, who desperately sought to find his place in a society that he found too conservative for his liberal sexual views. Overall the book was an enjoyable and interesting read. I came away not only with more knowledge of Sade, but also of the French Revolution and prison practices during that era. I recommend this book to history buffs and those who enjoy biographies. The Marquis de Sade was definitely not you average ordinary French aristocrat.

Schaeffer has clearly done his homework on the Marquis de Sade however I didn't want to know every single piece of information he found. Far too much of the book is spent covering the same areas, like Sade's ongoing financial issues, while the end of Sade's life is covered comparitively briefly. There is also an assumption that all readers are fluent in French. I'm not so a lot of titles and French expressions were lost on me. There may not be exact translations into English but giving at least a general idea of the meaning would be helpful.

This is a very good and in depth book regarding The Marquis. I think the author did and extraordinary job. I would also recommend you read Dark Eros by Thomas Moore.

I really wanted to like this biography. After finishing Sade's CRIMES OF LOVE, I realized that there was a whole lot more to Sade than is popularly known. However, this book delves into his life in such minute detail that the person who lived seems to be lost. The narrative also suffers from Schaeffer's continual psychological studies of Sade's actions. A decent book, but not a starting point for someone interested in a general life of Sade.

I picked this book up to learn more about one of history's infamous characters. His name has become synonomous with debauchery and defilement of sexual partners of all persuasions.

Unfortunately, the author attempts to give us an all-encompassing view of the man, but mostly fails.

He does cover the chronology of Sade's life, but the writing tends to be tedious and choppy. What should be a fascinating subject, becomes a labor to move through.

We do learn why he is impisoned, how he completes his writing on toilet paper (do not be confused with the toilet paper which Mr. Whipple used to squeeze in the grocery store, which brings a whole new comparison to modern times versus those Sade lived in), and how his marital life fell apart, but I never quite came to understand what really drove the Marquis De Sade, what made him tick.

Obviously, this is a difficult objective to understand, as there are no living friends, relatives or neighbors to interview, but as well studied and versed the author is in the subject's life, I would have appreciated at least his conjecture.

Save your time on this one, I am sure there are better reads on the subject.