Transcript The Marquis de Sade and Angela Carter - School

The Marquis de Sade and
Angela Carter
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade
(2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French
aristocrat and writer famous for his libertine
sexuality and lifestyle.
His works include novels, short stories, plays, and
political tracts; in his lifetime some were published
under his own name, while others appeared
anonymously and Sade denied being their author.
He is best known for his erotic novels, which
combined philosophical discourse with
pornography, depicting bizarre sexual fantasies
with an emphasis on violence, criminality, and
blasphemy against the Catholic Church. He was a
proponent of extreme freedom unrestrained by
morality, religion or law.
Sade was incarcerated in various prisons and in
an insane asylum for about 32 years of his life.
Many of his works were written in prison.
The term "sadism" is derived from his name.
The Marquis de Sade wrote many books,
one of which was called Justine- it is about
a girl who strives to be virtuous but is
nothing but abused, used for sex.
Her sister is corrupt but ends up receiving
less abuse than her ‘virtuous’ sister.
Sade’s books were written to shock and
make the reader question conventional
moral values.
In her most often discussed nonfiction work, The
Sadeian Woman: An Exercise in Cultural History
(1979), Carter examines the two feminine stereotypes of pornographic literature: the dangerous
temptress and the innocent victim.
Carter argues that the writing of the Marquis de
Sade, whose characters Justine and Juliette
embodied these stereotypes, can be read as
feminist satire of the sexual roles men create for
women.
Ultimately, however, Carter finds de Sade's quest
for the limits of acceptable behaviour a failure,
believing that he succumbed to an acceptance of
traditional sexual roles.
Carter's nonfiction illuminates many of the themes
and ideas about the dark side of human nature
and society that she sets forth in her fiction.