The Marquis de Sade: A Very Short Introduction (review)

Sade is a writer associated neither with concision, nor — as yet — with the undergraduate syllabus. John Phillips's crisp, informative and often entertaining introduction is thus a welcome addition to the recent guides to, and translations and biographies of this complex and disquieting author. In analysis, breadth and style, this introduction is superior to Phillips's own How to Read Sade (2005), which it none the less echoes closely on certain occasions. His subject is not the predictable and laboriously mythical divin marquis, but rather 'the novelty and profundity of Sade's thought, and above all its fundamental modernity' (p. ii). Consequently, Sade is contextualized as heir to La Mettrie and D'Holbach, and viewed as precursor to Nietzsche and Freud. Working through a number of themes, including the figure of the author, atheism, politics, theatricality, femininity and of course sexuality, this short study draws on the major works, such as La Nouvelle Justine and L'Histoire de Juliette, as well as the less well-known and non-pornographic short stories, correspondence and political pamphlets. In this vein, further analysis of the author's apparently conventional historical novels and theatre might have been useful in detailing the plurality of the Sadean œuvre. Particularly effective are the sections on the early Dialogue entre un prêtre et un moribund, Les 120 Journées de Sodome and La Philosophie dans le boudoir, although if Phillips is attentive to these works' literary techniques, symbolic resonance and psychoanalytical implications, his emphasis on the farcical and 'knockabout' (p.79) humour tends to downplay the violence of the text. Indeed, one might argue that Phillips strategically downplays and transmutes the more horrific aspects of Sade's philosophy, politics and even biography. The Sade that emerges is a satirical, experimental and erudite thinker, working at the troubling limit of the materialist and libertine traditions, whose major achievement is, Phillips argues, to have located the truth of the human condition in the sexual body. Moreover, such is the range of Sade's works — characterized by dialogue, the rejection of absolute truths and ludic, self-conscious narrative structures — that he is ultimately an unknowable writer, whose texts resist any conclusive interpretations. An author who refutes authority, this then is a Sade well suited for our sceptical, liberal and postmodern age. The construction of this accessible book supports this engaged and open-ended reading; twenty illustrations from three centuries attest to the writer's enduring legacy and influence, and judicious citation presents the very meat of Sade's work; it should be noted, however, that as is the case with this series, all quotations are given in English, and that Phillips has occasionally and wisely modified the sometimes rather old-fashioned published translation. There is also a useful bibliography for material in English, although the few French sources that are cited are a touch lost in the 'References' section. This brisk and enthusiastic introduction should encourage and enable both the undergraduate and general reader to pursue Sade further.