The Sacrament of Penance in Sade's Writing: A Practice between Hell and Apathy

The Sacrament of Penance in Sade's Writing: A Practice between Hell and Apathy Muriel Schmid In his Histoire de la Sexualité, Michel Foucault traces the emergence of "sexuality" as a scientific and medical discourse on human behaviour back to the practice ofthe sacrament ofpenance. According to Foucault, Western culture constructed its knowledge of sexuality by gathering data from sexual sins that needed to be confessed to the priests. In the nineteenth century, this knowledge became the ultimate truth about sexuality and was organized into an elaborate scientific discourse. Western sexual discourse, thus entangled in moral categories, ascribed to sexual pleasure the potential of becoming evil. Foucault's opposition between ars erotica and scientia sexualis summarizes this perspective: whereas, in the former, initiation to pleasure is the basis for sexual apprenticeship, in the latter, sexuality is defined by the avowal and the classification of so-called deviant sexual behaviours. My approach stems from a theological reflection on Sade's literature ;1 therefore, a close literary reading ofSade's texts is beyond the scope and expertise ofmy analysis.2 The following argument advances 1 This article has evolved from a broader project on the need for a theological response to Sade's critique of Christianity. See Muriel Schmid, Le soufre au bord de la chaire: Sade et l'évangile (Genève: Labor et Fides, 2001). The analysis of confessional models is a new development in my work. 2 The literary criticism ofSade's writing can be divided into three main schools: a historical reading represented by, among others, Michel Delon and Béatrice Didier; a philosophical approach such as Maurice Blanchot's, and Pierre Klossowski's essays; and what might be EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FICTION, Volume 15, Number 3-4, April-July 2003 762 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURYFICTION in three steps. "Reconstructing Sex" briefly presents Foucault's argument. "Instructions on the Sacrament of Penance" looks at the historical and theological elements of the sacrament of penance. Finally, "The Traditional Sacrament ofPenance: A Gate to Hell" and "The ArsArtium" demonstrate that Sade's treatment of the sacrament of penance, through literary devices and theological references, challenges the linearity of Foucault's perspective and gives to confession another status in the construction of "sexuality." According to Sade, it is precisely by virtue of a scientific discourse that the libertine reaches the highest level of awareness and self-knowledge. Sade modifies the language of confession/avowal by a succession of three levels of discourses, in order to empower the one who speaks rather than the one who listens andjudges. Reconstructing Sex: From Confession to Scientific Discourse In 1976, Foucault published the first volume of his Histoire de la sexualité under the title: "La volonté de savoir."3 This volume serves as a general introduction to his study, presenting its overarching argument. Here, Foucault describes how Western discourse on sexuality, informed by the practice ofthe sacrament ofpenance, has become a scientia sexualis. After the fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which prescribed confession for every Christian as an obligatory and regular duty, the penitent was to describe his/her sexual conduct in explicit detail to the priest. This obligation was intended to help the priest evaluate the gravity ofthe sin and impose the correct penance. To that end, the confessor was advised to use a set of questions that would lead the penitent to a complete avowal: "Quis, quid, ubi, per quos, quotiens, cur, quodmodo, quando."4 As Foucault observes, it was a matter ofsaying "ce qui a été fait—l'acte sexuel—et comment" (p. 85) and to say it as precisely as possible. described as the apology, best illustrated byAnnie Le Brun's work. See, for instance: Michel Delon, Lesavoir-vivre libertin (Paris: Hachette, 2000), Béatrice Didier, Sade, un écriture du désir (Paris: Denoël/Gonthier, 1976), Maurice Blanchot, Lautréamont et Sade (Paris: Minuit, 1949), Pierre Klossowski, Sade mon prochain (Paris: Seuil, 1967), and Annie Le Brun, Soudain un bloc d'abîme, Sade (Paris:J.J. Pauvert, 1986). My theological interpretation presupposes that the religious allusions in Sade's texts deserve a special treatment as part ofhis literary style and an expression of his goals as a writer offiction. 3 Michel Foucault, Histoiredelasexualit...