Marquis de Sade in popular culture

Last updated
Depiction of the Marquis de Sade by H. Biberstein in L'OEuvre du marquis de Sade, Guillaume Apollinaire (Edit.), Bibliotheque des Curieux, Paris, 1912 Sade-Biberstein.jpg
Depiction of the Marquis de Sade by H. Biberstein in L'Œuvre du marquis de Sade, Guillaume Apollinaire (Edit.), Bibliothèque des Curieux, Paris, 1912

There have been many and varied references to the Marquis de Sade in popular culture , including fictional works, biographies and more minor references. The namesake of the psychological and subcultural term sadism , his name is used variously to evoke sexual violence, licentiousness and freedom of speech. [1] In modern culture his works are simultaneously viewed as masterful analyses of how power and economics work, and as erotica. [2] Sade's sexually explicit works were a medium for the articulation of the corrupt and hypocritical values of the elite in his society, which caused him to become imprisoned. He thus became a symbol of the artist's struggle with the censor. Sade's use of pornographic devices to create provocative works that subvert the prevailing moral values of his time inspired many other artists in a variety of media. The cruelties depicted in his works gave rise to the concept of sadism. Sade's works have to this day been kept alive by artists and intellectuals because they espouse a philosophy of extreme individualism that became reality in the economic liberalism of the following centuries. [3]

Contents

There has been a resurgence of interest in Sade in the past fifty years. Leading French intellectuals like Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault have published studies of Sade. There has been continuing interest in Sade by scholars and artists in recent years. [1]

Plays

Films

Visual representations of Sade in film first began to appear during the surrealist period. [5] While there are numerous pornographic films based on his themes, the following is a list of the more significant representations:

In art

Many surrealist artists had great interest in the Marquis de Sade. The first Manifesto of Surrealism (1924) announced that "Sade is surrealist in sadism". Guillaume Apollinaire found rare manuscripts by Sade in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. He published a selection of his writings in 1909, where he introduced Sade as "the freest spirit that had ever lived". Sade was celebrated in surrealist periodicals. In 1926 Paul Éluard wrote of Sade as a "fantastique" and "revolutionary". Maurice Heine pieced together Sade's manuscripts from libraries and museums in Europe and published them between 1926 and 1935. Extracts of the original draft of Justine were published in Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution. [5]

The surrealist artist Man Ray admired Sade because he and other surrealists viewed him as an ideal of freedom. [3] According to Ray, Heine brought the original 1785 manuscript of 120 Days of Sodom to his studio to be photographed. An image by Man Ray entitled Monument à D.A.F. de Sade appeared in Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution. [5]

Other works

Related Research Articles

<i>Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom</i> 1975 Italian horror film by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, billed on-screen as Pasolini's 120 Days of Sodom on English-language prints and commonly referred to as simply Salò, is a 1975 political drama art horror film directed and co-written by Pier Paolo Pasolini. The film is a loose adaptation of the 1785 novel The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade, updating the story's setting to the World War II era. It was Pasolini's final film, released three weeks after his murder.

<i>The 120 Days of Sodom</i> Unfinished 1785 erotic novel by the Marquis de Sade

The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage is an unfinished novel by the French writer and nobleman Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in 1785 and published in 1904 after its manuscript was rediscovered. It describes the activities of four wealthy libertine Frenchmen who spend four months seeking the ultimate sexual gratification through orgies, sealing themselves in an inaccessible castle in the heart of the Black Forest with 12 accomplices, 20 designated victims and 10 servants. Four aging prostitutes relate stories of their most memorable clients whose sexual practices involved 600 "passions" including coprophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, incest, rape, and child sexual abuse. The stories inspire the libertines to engage in acts of increasing violence leading to the torture and murder of their victims, most of whom are adolescents and young women.

<i>Quills</i> (film) 2000 film

Quills is a 2000 period film directed by Philip Kaufman and adapted from the Obie award-winning 1995 play by Doug Wright, who also wrote the original screenplay. Inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade, Quills re-imagines the last years of the Marquis's incarceration in the insane asylum at Charenton. It stars Geoffrey Rush as de Sade, Kate Winslet as laundress Madeleine "Maddie" LeClerc, Joaquin Phoenix as the Abbé de Coulmier, and Michael Caine as Dr. Royer-Collard.

The role of sadism and masochism in fiction has attracted serious scholarly attention. Anthony Storr has commented that the volume of sadomasochist pornography shows that sadomasochistic interest is widespread in Western society; John Kucich has noted the importance of masochism in late-19th-century British colonial fiction. This article presents appearances of sadomasochism in literature and works of fiction in the various media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Weiss</span> Swedish-German playwright and author (1916–1982)

Peter Ulrich Weiss was a German writer, painter, graphic artist, and experimental filmmaker of adopted Swedish nationality. He is particularly known for his plays Marat/Sade and The Investigation and his novel The Aesthetics of Resistance.

<i>Justine</i> (de Sade novel) 1791 novel by the Marquis de Sade

Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue is a 1791 novel by Donatien Alphonse François de Sade, better known as the Marquis de Sade. Justine is set just before the French Revolution in France and tells the story of a young girl who goes under the name of Thérèse. Her story is recounted to Madame de Lorsagne while defending herself for her crimes, en route to punishment and death. She explains the series of misfortunes that led to her present situation.

<i>Philosophy in the Bedroom</i> 1795 book by the Marquis de Sade

Philosophy in the Boudoir is a 1795 book by the Marquis de Sade written in the form of a dramatic dialogue. Set in a boudoir the two lead characters make the argument that the only moral system that reinforces the recent political revolution is libertinism, and that if the people of France fail to adopt the libertine philosophy, France will be destined to return to a monarchic state. In the chapter titled "Fifth Dialogue", there is a lengthy section where the character Chevalier reads a philosophical pamphlet titled "Frenchmen, Some More Effort If You Wish To Become Republicans". The pamphlet clearly represents Sade's philosophy on religion and morality, a philosophy he passionately hopes the citizens of France will embrace and codify into the laws of their new republican government. Continually throughout the work, Sade makes the argument that one must embrace atheism, reject society's beliefs about pleasure and pain, and further makes his argument that if any crime is committed while seeking pleasure, it cannot be condemned.

<i>Marat/Sade</i> 1964 play by Peter Weiss

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, usually shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1963 play by Peter Weiss. The work was first published in German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charenton (asylum)</span> Lunatic asylum

Charenton was a lunatic asylum founded in 1645 by the Frères de la Charité in Charenton-Saint-Maurice, now Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Alan Towers</span> British film producer (1920–2009)

Harry Alan Towers was a British radio and independent film producer and screenwriter. He wrote numerous screenplays for the films he produced, often under the pseudonym Peter Welbeck. He produced over 80 feature films and continued to write and produce well into his eighties. Towers was married to the actress Maria Rohm, who appeared in many of his films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Magee (actor)</span> Northern Irish actor (1922–1982)

Patrick George Magee was a Northern Irish actor. He was noted for his collaborations with playwrights Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter, sometimes called "Beckett's favourite actor," as well as creating the role of the Marquis de Sade in the original stage and screen productions of Marat/Sade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lina Romay</span> Spanish actress

Rosa María Almirall Martínez, known by the stage name Lina Romay, was a Spanish actress and filmmaker. She often appeared in films directed by her long-time companion, and later husband, Jesús Franco. She appeared in approximately 109 Franco films made over 30 years, between 1973 and 2010.

Mark Jones was a British actor, who appeared frequently in various films and television series.

<i>The Skull</i> (film) 1965 British film

The Skull is a 1965 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis for Amicus Productions, and starring the frequently paired horror actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, alongside Patrick Wymark, Jill Bennett, Nigel Green, Patrick Magee and Peter Woodthorpe.

<i>Marat/Sade</i> (film) 1966 film by Peter Brook

The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, usually shortened to Marat/Sade, is a 1967 British film adaptation of Peter Weiss' play Marat/Sade. The screen adaptation is directed by Peter Brook, and originated in his theatre production for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The English version was written by Adrian Mitchell from a translation by Geoffrey Skelton.

<i>Marquis de Sade: Justine</i> 1968 film by Jesús Franco

Marquis de Sade: Justine is a 1969 erotic period drama film directed by Jesús Franco, written and produced by Harry Alan Towers, and based on the 1791 novel Justine by the Marquis de Sade. It stars Romina Power as the title character, with Maria Rohm, Klaus Kinski, Akim Tamiroff, Harald Leipnitz, Rosemary Dexter, Horst Frank, Sylva Koscina and Mercedes McCambridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquis de Sade</span> French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman (1740–1814)

Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography. His works include novels, short stories, plays, dialogues, and political tracts. Some of these were published under his own name during his lifetime, but most appeared anonymously or posthumously.

Alice Arno, is a French actress, nudist and model, best known for her roles in European sexploitation and horror film genre.

<i>Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion</i> 1970 British film by Jesús Franco

Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion is a 1970 British sexploitation horror film directed by Jesús Franco, and starring Maria Rohm, Marie Liljedahl, Jack Taylor, and Christopher Lee. A modern-day adaptation of the Marquis de Sade's book Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795), the film follows a teenage girl who, after accepting an invitation to vacation on island with a woman and her brother, instead finds herself at the center of a series of disturbing sexual experiments.

Eugenie de Sade is a softcore film adaptation and modern-day update of the Marquis de Sade's short story "Eugénie de Franval" (1800) directed by Spanish filmmaker Jesús Franco in 1970 and released in 1973. It has often been confused with his earlier Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion (1970), an adaptation of de Sade's book Philosophy in the Bedroom (1795), as both films are often referred to simply as Eugenie.

References

  1. 1 2 Phillips, John, 2005, The Marquis De Sade: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN   0-19-280469-3.
  2. Guins, Raiford, and Cruz, Omayra Zaragoza, 2005, Popular Culture: A Reader, Sage Publications, ISBN   0-7619-7472-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 MacNair, Brian, 2002, Striptease Culture: Sex, Media and the Democratization of Desire, Routledge, ISBN   0-415-23733-5.
  4. 1 2 Dancyger, Ken, 2002, The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory, and Practice, Focal Press, ISBN   0-240-80225-X.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Bate, David, 2004, Photography and Surrealism: Sexuality, Colonialism and Social Dissent, I.B. Tauris, ISBN   1-86064-379-5.
  6. Raengo, Alessandra, and Stam, Robert, 2005, Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation, Blackwell, ISBN   0-631-23055-6.
  7. Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr. (1986). "Twenty-Two Answers and Two Postscripts: An Interview with Stanisław Lem". DePauw University.