Must We Burn Sade? [Paperback]

Deepak Narang Sawhney (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

This intriguing collection of essays seeks to examine Sade for what he was - a writer of novels and letters, a creator of plays and stories, and an author of essays and political manifestos. The contributors examine the literary, theatrical, political, social, and philosophical aspects of Sade's work, acquitting him of the false accusations and trials that have plagued his name by revealing his influences and motivations, and by providing an understanding of society's fear of Sade. What is so alarming about Sade's books that civilised society has felt compelled to disassociate itself from his works? This volume forces us to rethink Sade. Included are essays by Kathy Acker, David Allison, Georges Bataille, Catherine Cusset, Lucienne Frappier-Mazur, Annie Le Brun, Alphonso Lingis, Stephen Pfohl, Deepak Narang Sawhney, Philippe Sollers, and Alistair Welchman.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Any scholar of Sade and any lover of literature will enjoy this collection of essays..." -- American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 262 pages
• Publisher: Humanity Books (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573927392
• ISBN-13: 978-1573927390
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,014,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simone de Beauvoir and Sade, September 28, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Must We Burn Sade? (Hardcover)

SdB wrote a book on Sade entitled Faut-il Bruler Sade? (Must We Burn Sade), and the title of this collection comes from hers. Sade is a great concern among the French left. Somehow they think that he is an important moralist (this is how SdB closes her book on him, and why she says we mustn't burn him, but must read him, and hold him close to our hearts).

I've read a lot of Sade's work, and a lot of this collection, but am left wondering whether once you dispense with God, whether this is all that's left.

Feminism has always struck me as institutionalized sadism. It burns men, and destroys them. This is the essence of it. Sade is a great justifier of acts as he puts a moral spin on what is the equivalent of getting fun out of hurting other people.

Women in recent years have turned towards Sade as a great explicator and justifier. This is why men on average are living five years less than women. It is all the things they do to us, and have always done, but that are now institutionalized. The feminist-sadist guru is Simone de Beauvoir, who loves the Marquis de Sade, and considers him to be a great moralist.

Read this book and smell the burning flesh of the concentration camps of the universities, the high schools, and the elementary schools. Sadism is the centerpiece of the left, and the very centerpiece of feminism. It is the black heart at the center of all the piety and self-importance, a black hole of rage that gets satisfaction through the humiliation, torment, and destruction of men and boys.