The Marquis de Sade as a Key Figure of Enlightenment: How His Crystal Genius Still Speaks to Today's World and Its Major Problems discusses how the Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) stretched the dimensions of reputation and notoriety nearly obscuring his mastery in literature and philosophy while braving the Ancien Régime and Revolutionary France's «age of iron [hell]» with unheard-of determination to be read and taken seriously as not just a writer and a contributing citizen but as an engaged educator, a committed philosopher, and an uncompromisingly fierce moralist. Sade has been a strange combination of what society dreads and what it needs most for its salvation: mature enlightenment that is not afraid to see and face real problems so that there can be solutions. This book stresses how the literary and intellectual public needs to reconnect with the moral gems of this demon(ized) man, nowadays more so than ever, to explain our most critical issues and to reiterate the long-standing solutions Sade professed from the 1780s through the early nineteenth century. This work not only reestablishes the creative, literary, and intellectual Sade, it critically stages and highlights the philosophical Marquis as a world citizen trapped between theories of social classes and a loose-fitting messianism. It is evident throughout the work how Sade's deep concerns for humanity flatly contradict the popular rhetoric (of wickedness and perversion) recycled and amplified since his first writing days. The Marquis de Sade as a Key Figure of Enlightenment offers a new perspective on this complex writer and on the intimate workings of our human world. It is a valuable resource for courses on French literature, eighteenth-century studies, the Enlightenment, literary criticism, and gender and sexuality studies.

This book connects the philosophy of the Marquis de Sade—one of the most notorious, iconic, and yet poorly-understood figures within the history of European thought—with the broader themes of the Enlightenment. Rather than seeing himself as a mere pornographer, Sade understood himself as continuing the progressive tradition of French Enlightenment philosophy. Sade aspired to be a philosophe. This book uses intellectual history and the history of philosophy to reconstruct Sade’s philosophical ‘system’ and its historical context. Within the period’s discourse of sensibility Sade draws on the philosophical and the literary to form a relatively sophisticated ‘system’ which he deploys to critically engage with the two major strands of eighteenth-century ethical theory: the moral sense and natural law traditions. This work is of interest to: ‘Continental’ Philosophy, Critical Theory, French Studies, the History of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy, Literary Studies, the History of Moral Philosophy, and Enlightenment Studies.

Revered by Enlightenment and Victorian thinkers, de Sade was recognized as a founding father by the Surrealists, and holds a prominent place in the history of modernism and post-modernism. This selection of his early writings, some appearing in English translation for the first time, revealsthe full range of his sobering moods and considerable talents.

The Enlightenment Movement changed society forever, driving it forward through new and fresh ways of thinking about science, religion, history, politics, and culture. This dictionary offers a balanced overview and helps us to understand and appreciate the Enlightenment through its coverage of the basic assumptions and values that structured the movement; explanation of how these ideas were articulated; the paths of communication they followed; how its key ideas grew, developed and were refracted; and how new problems grew out of what were advanced as solutions to older problems. An engaging introductory essay along with hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries defines the significant persons, places, events, institutions, and literary works of the movement. A chronological table charts the progression of the movement by indicating the date, the main figures involved, the political or society events, and the science, arts, or letters that resulted. The comprehensive bibliography, with an introductory essay to the literature, categorized by subject complements this reference that will be valued by all seeking basic details about this important period.

The name Marquis de Sade conjures images of scandal and perversion, but behind the excesses lies a profound thinker whose writings continue to provoke and challenge. In "Marquis de Sade: A Life of Power and Perversion", Henry F. Morgan delves into the complex life and works of this notorious French nobleman. This book goes beyond the sensational tales that gave de Sade his infamous reputation. It explores his radical political and philosophical ideas, his views on freedom and power, and his unflinching critique of the moral standards of his time. With precise analysis and historical depth, Morgan paints a portrait of a man who pushed the boundaries of thought and was both admired and reviled for it. For readers eager to explore the ideals and controversies surrounding one of the 18th century's most fascinating figures, this book offers a comprehensive examination of de Sade's life, work, and legacy—compelling readers to reflect on power, freedom, and the darker aspects of human nature.

Philosophy in the Bedroom Marquis De Sade - Philosophy in the Bedroom is a 1795 book by the Marquis de Sade written in the form of a dramatic dialogue. Though initially considered a work of pornography, the book has come to be considered a socio-political drama. Set in a bedroom, the seven dialogues concern Eugenie, a virgin, who has been sent to the house of Madame de Saint-Ange by her father, to be instructed in the ways of the libertine. Along with Le Chevalier de Mirval, (Madame de Saint-Ange's 20-year-old brother), and Dolmancé, a 36-year-old atheist and bisexual, they all teach her their ways. When her mother shows up, she is punished for bringing her daughter up with 'false virtues'.

Even those whose knowledge of De Sade is limited to knowing that the word 'sadism' is derived from his name, or perhaps have been introduced to some of the practices associated with that word through reading the EL James book 'Fifty Shades of Grey', may wonder who the heck was this French guy anyway? And still a controversial figure even 200 years after he died! Well, here is a brilliant introduction; a fascinating biographical and historical account of his life, his work and the times he lived in—written by the man who coined the word 'sadism'; his first biographer Dr Ivan Bloch.Now published for the first time for Kindle, 'Marquis de Sade: The Man And His Age', explores in detail the core themes and prevailing cultural climate of France in the eighteenth century. De Sade was an aristocrat, philosopher and politician, as well as a writer of 'extreme' pornography. He was born in 1740 and lived through the most tumultuous period in French history—the end of the 200-year-old Bourbon monarchy under Louis XVI, during the revolutionary years, through to the meteoric rise of Napoleon in the new republican era.As a point in time, 'The Enlightenment' or 'Age of Reason' the period roughly between 1600-1800, was a collision of the old world religious order, pitched up against a new world of Newtonian physics and other profound scientific discoveries which introduced new perspectives on nature and man's place within it, challenging the very idea of faith, religion and intolerance in society, as represented by the Catholic Church—which he despised.This shift towards a more secular society gave the avowed atheist De Sade, an opportunity to rewrite the rulebook to suit him self. His logic was that if there wasn't a God, there was no justification for setting any limitations on human actions, thus legitimising all forms of sexual experimentation. De Sade was in this sense an example of 'Enlightenment' philosophy taken to its absolute extreme, advocating total freedom and recognising pleasure alone as the goal of life. He rejected private property, morality, religion, laws and authority because he believed they were the opposite of what true freedom was all about; a devotion to the pursuit of pleasure—for its own sake.Still a controversial figure, his works have been banned at some point by many governments and leaders across the world—fearful of what they all perceived would be the toxic effect his writings would have on 'their' masses. Even eminent contemporary Rousseau warned that 'Justine', would damn any girl who read but a single page, while he was hailed by Apollinaire as “the freest spirit that has ever lived.”Dr Bloch reveals with gripping detail the debaucheries, prostitution, pornography, perversity, crime and punishment of a France then awash with a coruscating amorality—a monarchy so corrupt and self serving it almost single-handedly bankrupted the country; a clergy that was lining it's pockets and engaging in the very 'unholy' sexual practices it purported to be against; and how Sade disseminated and satirized these events in his books, plays and writings, including 'Justine', 'Juliette' and 'Philosophy In The Boudoir.'From eye witness accounts of public executions to the most outrageous of Bacchanalian orgies, it is an unflinchingly depictive account of his life and times and (be warned!) will undoubtedly be, in parts an uncomfortable read for many because of the shocking level of detail it contains. Dr Bloch explains the satires and references the 'real life' scenarios his writings were alluding to—those he was attacking. Through the quickly circulated pamphlets and books and the subsequent public notoriety he gained in the process, his mockery of the monarchy and the church made him into an unlikely hero of the radical left and other critics of the Ancien Régime.Claimed as a precursor to Freud, The Surrealists, Baudelaire, The Existentialists, Nietzsche and Stimer, even today his influence ever pervasive.