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NOBLEMAN OF FREE WILL AND EVIL ADLIGER DES FREIEN (UN)WILLENS PLEMI SLOBODNE ( NE)VOLJE
2 JUNE 1740 2 DECEMBER 1814
Vortrag von Konstanza Tage der Tantrischen Gruppen, Linjan, April 2012
MARQUIS DE SADE
His Life: sacandals imprisonments sentence to death political engagements
S C A N DA L S A N D I M P R I S O N M E N T S I
1763 (23) several short imprisonments because of sexual mistreatment of prostitutes 1768 (28) exiled to his chateau at Lacoste 1768 first major scandal; case Rose Keller Sades mother in law obtained a lettre de cachet from the king 1772 (32) sentenced to death in absentia for sodomy and poisoning flight to Italy Imprisoned and ecaped
S C A N DA L S A N D I M P R I S O N M E N T S I I 1776 - returned to Lacoste 1777 imprisoned in the Chateau de Vincennes 1778 successfully appealed his death sentence but remained imprisoned escaping and being recaptured 1784 transferred to the Bastille 1786 transferred to the insane asylum at Charenton 1790 (50) released and divorced
IMPRISOMENT
Vincenne
LA BASTILLE
SHORT FREEDOM AND POLITICS 1790 1803: time of freedom Published several books 1790 until death 1814: relationship with Constance Quesent 1790 elected to the National Convention 1793 removed and imprisoned because critics to Robespierre 1794 released after the execution of Robespierre
1801 (61) Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the arrest 1803 declared insane and transferred to the asylum at Charenton (Constance lived there with him until his death) Staged several plays with inmates as actors 1809 deprivation of pens and paper (!) Sexual relationship with Madeleine Leclerc (13)
NAOPLEON BONAPARTE
Justine
PSYCHIATRY
Hospital de Charenton
PORTRAIT IMAGINAIRE
Sade prisonnier
PROSE
(CHOICE)
Dialogue between a priest and a dying man (1782 / 1926) The 120 Days of Sodom or the School of Licentiousness (1785 / 1904)
OTHERS
Hitoriettes Essays Plays Political pamphlets Letters and personal notes posthumously published
JUSTINE
Classic novel, no standard version Napoleon called Justine "the most abominable book ever engendered by the most depraved imagination" Destruction of the book ordered 1815 Offenders: monks, judges, bankers raping, tortuing the virtuous Justine, who never gives up in being virtuous
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
Justine
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
Juliette
T H E 1 2 0 DAY S O F S O D O M
OR THE SCHOOL OF LIBERTINISM
Novel The work remained unpublished until the 20th century 1904 by the Berlin psychiatrist Iwan Bloch: equated it with Krafft-Ebbings Psychopathia Sexualis (1886) Due to its topics of sexual violence and extreme cruelty it has often been banned; 1955 still French authorities wanted to destroy it Written in the Bastille
T H E 1 2 0 DAY S O F S O D O M
Offenders: aristocrat, bishop, judge, banker Victims: daughters of the offenders; 8 boys and girls 12-15 years old; 4 elderly women; 4 studs
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT
11cm wide
Partially readable only with lupe Lost in the Bastille... ...and found again in the Bastille
Man is governed by his nature Man can only exhibit and enjoy to the full his true nature when he is freed from all moral and social restraints Man's artificial laws dictate what was right and wrong The crime of the Marquis de Sade was not what he did, but that he spoke of it publicly.
the hierarchy and inequalities within a class system the corruption of the church, the justice system and most major institutions
MODERN RECEPTION
Geoffrey Gorer the first reasoned socialist Simone de Beauvoir radical philosophy of freedom; focus on sexuality as motive force Guillaume Apollinaire the freest spirit that has ever existed Pierre Klossowski precursor of nihilism Jacques Lacan Kant avec Sade Camille Paglia Sade is responding to Rousseau Feminist reading of Sade
Contradictory positions: individual joy is based on the joy of others the biggest misery of others causes the biggest individual pleasure
Idee du Mal To derive sadism from Sade was a mistake
S TA T E A N D S O C I E T Y
Central problem: the evil Moralty of the atheists is superior to the religious ones Negative utopia: tyranny, despotism, fanatic priests, all historic defects of mankind united Positiv utopia for whole Europe: no class-system, no property, no religion, no prisons, no death-sentence; autarcic economy, no money only barter trade; no luxery; equality of men and women.
120 Days of Sodom is the Metaphora for the tortuing and burning of witches through Chatholic church and the state 1885 still burning of witches in France
SURREALISM
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Sade articulated the dark side of humanity and also the worst fears; he visualised hell
You can only transcendend what you know
Absolute evil and by implication absolute innocence: some readers write about the religious experience of reading de Sade
Sex-hate
- desintegration of the Ego through Pain and Destruction - (short) feeling of unity through destroying the other being and melting with the liberating life force
in contrary to:
Love
- desintegration of the Ego through Love and Creation - (long-lasting) feeling of unity through giving oneself to the other being and melting with the all-pervading life force
TA N T R I C - S P I R I T UA L I N T E R P R E TA T I O N B Y M A K A JA ( Ju s t i n e )
Demon of ascetizm and demon of hedonizm = 2 faces of destruction and death Demon of ascetizm: breaking the flow of Holy Spirit through the physical body human gets weak
Demon of hedonizm: taking so much as possible energy and puting out through sexual organ human kills oneself